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<blockquote data-quote="simme" data-source="post: 1652150" data-attributes="member: 40418"><p>In these modern times, I have learned that there is a stigma associated with "picking cotton". Not sure why. I grew up "pickin cotton". It was the main crop in my area. The local farmers were influential enough that our local school had "summer school". What that meant is that the school year started in late July and continued until the cotton crop was ready for harvest. Then school was dismissed for 6 weeks in order that the students could "pick cotton". Our local school was the last school in the state to have this schedule. You had a burlap bag to put the cotton in. A folded piece of burlap bag was made into a strap that went over your shoulder like a sash and attached to the burlap bag holding the cotton. Pay was 3 cents per pound. A burlap sheet was placed on the ground and you dumped each bag of your cotton on your sheet. At the end of the day, opposite sides of the sheet were tied together to form a bag. The bag was weighed on a pole with "stillards" - a balance beam mechanism that had a fixed weight that was moved on notches on the the beam until the beam was horizontal. Numbers on the notches revealed the weight. You picked a row at a time. Nobody wanted the row on the top of the terrace since the soil was deeper and more fertile and the plants were taller and harder to pick. You could not keep up with your friends on the adjacent rows. "Pickin cotton" was hard back-breaking work. You made about 2 or 3 dollars per day depending on your productivity. Then the farmers got mechanical cotton pickers - one row pickers that attached on a standard tractor that was driven in reverse to pick the cotton. Glad that my cotton picking days are over. Did anyone else pick cotton? I suspect that tobacco work was even worse.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="simme, post: 1652150, member: 40418"] In these modern times, I have learned that there is a stigma associated with "picking cotton". Not sure why. I grew up "pickin cotton". It was the main crop in my area. The local farmers were influential enough that our local school had "summer school". What that meant is that the school year started in late July and continued until the cotton crop was ready for harvest. Then school was dismissed for 6 weeks in order that the students could "pick cotton". Our local school was the last school in the state to have this schedule. You had a burlap bag to put the cotton in. A folded piece of burlap bag was made into a strap that went over your shoulder like a sash and attached to the burlap bag holding the cotton. Pay was 3 cents per pound. A burlap sheet was placed on the ground and you dumped each bag of your cotton on your sheet. At the end of the day, opposite sides of the sheet were tied together to form a bag. The bag was weighed on a pole with "stillards" - a balance beam mechanism that had a fixed weight that was moved on notches on the the beam until the beam was horizontal. Numbers on the notches revealed the weight. You picked a row at a time. Nobody wanted the row on the top of the terrace since the soil was deeper and more fertile and the plants were taller and harder to pick. You could not keep up with your friends on the adjacent rows. "Pickin cotton" was hard back-breaking work. You made about 2 or 3 dollars per day depending on your productivity. Then the farmers got mechanical cotton pickers - one row pickers that attached on a standard tractor that was driven in reverse to pick the cotton. Glad that my cotton picking days are over. Did anyone else pick cotton? I suspect that tobacco work was even worse. [/QUOTE]
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