WHERE TO START......KING COTTON......FIRST OF ALL, THE COTTON SACK. THE COTTON SACK WAS A CANVAS CLOTH CYLINDER SEWED UP AT ONE END, AND AFFIXED WITH A CANVAS STRAP ON THE OPEN END. THE STRAP SLIPPED OVER ONE SHOULDER, LEFT IF YOU WERE RIGHT HANDED, AND THEN TURN THE SACK INSIDE OUT AND PLACE THE STRAP OVER THE RIGHT SHOULDER IF LEFT-HANDED. BY STOOPING OR CRAWLING, ONE WAS ABLE TO REACH THE BOLLS WHICH GREW ON COTTON STALKS ANYWHERE FROM 6 INCHES IN HEIGHT TO 6 FEET, DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNT OF RAIN. COTTON GLOVES WERE WORN TO PROTECT THE FINGERS FROM THE SHARP TIPS OF THE BOLLS, BUT AFTER A FEW HOURS, THE FINGERS WORE THROUGH, AND ONE'S FINGERS WERE PRICKED, AND OF COURSE FULL OF DIRT.
THE REALLY GOOD "PICKERS" COULD PULL A THOUSAND POUNDS A DAY, AND THE AVERAGE WAS PROBABLY AROUND FIVE OR SIX HUNDRED. WHEN I WAS A YOUNGSTER, WE STARTED PULLING BOLLS AS SOON AS SOME OPENED, AND WE WOULD GO OVER THE SAME FIELDS TWO OR THREE TIMES. BY STOOPING AND PULLING THE SACK ALONG THE GROUND, ONE COULD EVENTUALLY FILL THE SACK WITH THE BOLLS OF COTTON. ONCE THE SACK WAS FULL, ONE PROCEEDED TO THE WAGON WHERE THE SCALES WERE LOCATED. (I USUALLY MANAGED TO FILL MY SACK AT THE FURTHEST POINT FROM THE WAGON). ONCE AT THE WAGON, THE SACK WAS WEIGHED BY A PEA SCALE BY ATTACHING THE SACK AT THE BOTTOM HOOK MADE OF BAILING WIRE WRAPPED AROUND A GREEN BOLL LOCATED IN THE CORNER OF THE SACK. WRAP THE STRAP OVER THE HOOK, LIFT UP TO THE SCALE, And SLIDE TO PEA TO THE PROPER NUMBER: THUS YOU HAD THE TOTAL WEIGHT OF THE SACK AND its CONTENTS. FROM THIS TOTAL WAS DEDUCTED THE WEIGHT OF THE EMPTY SACK, USUALLY 8 TO 10 POUNDS. ( MANY A TIME, MY DAD WHO DID MOST OF THE WEIGHING WOULD WEIGH MY SACK AND EXCLAIM "96 POUNDS LESS 12 POUNDS FOR SACK AND GREENINGS" WHAT THIS MEANT WAS DAD WOULD DEDUCT EXTRA FOR THE LEAVES AND GREEN BOLLS I STUCK IN MY SACK.
WHEN THE SACK WAS DRAGGED ALONG THE GROUND, NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE CANVAS WOULD WEAR AND EVENTUALLY HOLES WOULD APPEAR IN THE SACK. EVERYONE COULD SEW IN THOSE DAYS, SO THE WOMEN FOLK WOULD TURN THE SACK OVER AND ATTACH THE STRAP TO THE OPEN END ON THE OTHER SIDE. AFTERWHILE, THIS SIDE TOO WOULD BECOME HOLY, SO THE WOMEN FOLK WOULD TAKE AN OLD SACK AND PATCH THE "NEW" SACK AND ONE COULD KEEP RIGHT ON PULLING.
"PICKING COTTON" OR PULLING BOLLS AS WE SAID, WAS AND IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE HARDEST WORK EVER IMAGINED. WE WOULD START PULLING IN SEPTEMBER WHEN IT WAS HOTTER THAN BLUE BLAZES, AND WIND UP IN NOVEMBER WHEN IT WAS SO COLD IT WOULD FREEZE THE HORNS OFF A BILLYGOAT. IN SEPTEMBER THE STALKS WERE GREEN, AND THE FLIES AND MISQUOTES WOULD EAT YOU ALIVE. IN NOVEMBER THE STALKS WERE DEAD, AND WOULD SLAP YOU UP ASIDE THE HEAD WHEN THE BURR CAME LOOSE.
WITH REGARDS TO THE PRICE, A GREAT MANY FACTORS WERE CONSIDERED. THE STAPLE AND GRADE MADE A GREAT DEAL OF DIFFERENCE. A BALE OF COTTON WEIGHED APPROXIMATELY 500 POUNDS, AND THE AMOUNT OF COTTON TO MAKE A 500 POUND BALE WAS APPROXIMATELY 2,000 POUNDS OF COTTON IN THE FIELD. AS BEST AS I CAN REMEMBER, A BALE BROUGHT AROUND $200 WHICH FIGURED OUT TO ABOUT 40 CENTS PER POUND. OUR FARMS WHICH WERE LOCATED ABOUT 15 MILES NORTH OF TOWN WOULD PRODUCE ABOUT A HALF BALE PER ACRE ON A GOOD YEAR, SO WE FIGURED SOMEWHERE AROUND A $100 PER ACRE FOR A GOOD YEAR. CONSIDERING THE AMOUNT OF WORK, PLANTING, HOEING, PLOWING, PULLING, THE COST OF SEED, FERTILIZER, BOLL WEEVIL SPRAY, FUEL, TRACTOR REPAIR, ETC. IT'S A WONDER WE ALL DIDN'T STARVE TO DEATH.
ANYWAY, I AM THANKFUL THAT I HAD THE EXPERIENCE OF THE COTTON FIELDS, BECAUSE NO MATTER WHAT TYPE OF WORK COMES ALONG TODAY; I'VE ALREADY HAD AN EXPERIENCE WHICH PREPARED ME FOR IT. I'VE NEVER TALKED TO ANYONE WHO PULLED BOLLS FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME WHO DID NOT AGREE THAT IT WAS THE MOST LABOR INTENSIVE JOB THEY HAVE EVER HAD.
TONIGHT WHEN MY OLD BACK IS HURTING I THANK GOD THAT I DON'T HAVE TO GET UP IN THE MORNING, HOOK UP THAT OLD SACK AND HEAD TO THE FIELDS............DON MATHESON
1/13/2008
