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Notes |
Creator unknown. [On the plantations along the Lower Mississippi the work of "making a crop" occupies almost the entire year, and little or no attention is given to any other industry. Early in January the ground is cleared of the old stalks, which are gathered into heaps and burned, and when this has been done the ploughs are set at work. As soon as the ploughing is ended the fields are planted. The planting is done in long furrows, which are partially closed, so that the seed shall not be more than two inches below the surface. In a few days, if the weather is warm, the shoots appear, and when they have gained a height of about three inches the first "hoeing" takes place. A plough, or small harrow, is run between the rows, and is followed by the labourers, who, with their hoes, cut away the weeds and all superfluous plants, and heap the earth around the young stalk, to give it strength and support. From two to four weeks later there is a second hoeing, and on many plantations the cotton is hoed three times during the season. The growth of the plant is rapid. Before the end of summer it becomes a strong bush, and in some localities attains a height of five or six feet, and even more.
The first frost opens the bolls of the plant, and prepares the field for the "pickers." The labourers pass between the rows, and pluck the cotton from the bush, and there is great rivalry among them concerning their work. Success depends upon dexterity and rapidity; and it generally happens that the younger women show a better record than the men in the labour of cotton-picking. The scene in the fields at this season is one of great animation, and interesting to the stranger, as well as to the owner, whose profit for the year depends upon the prompt collection of his cotton. As fast as the cotton is picked it is carried to the "gin-house" where it undergoes the process of separating the fibre from the seed. The machine by which this is accomplished is known as a "gin" [a corruption of the word "engine"], and was the invention of an American named Whitney. Before his time, the separation was done by hand, a slow and costly process that gave a high price to the cotton fiber. The gin is propelled by steam on the larger plantations, and there are few inventions which surpass it in labour-saving capacity. One man with the new process can perform the work of two hundred men with the old, and can deliver the fiber in better condition.
Then come the processes of "moting" or removing bits of leaves and stalks: and "whipping" to mix the fiber thoroughly, which prepare the cotton for packing. That of "baling" the cotton-press is a simple affair, intended to compress the product into the smallest space, and to make it ready for transportation to market. The bale of cotton weighs from four to five hundred pounds. It is securely bound with cords, or with iron bands rivetted together. The bales are drawn to the nearest railway station or steam-boat landing, generally the latter, and are thence dispatched to one of the American cotton ports. Many of the steam-boat landings are at the foot of high bluffs, or banks, and the bales are allowed to slide down the declivity on a long inclined plane known as a "cotton-shoot." They descend with great rapidity and force, so that accidents sometimes happen, and thus labourers employed at the foot of the "shoot" have been killed by the falling bales.
By the navigation of the Lower Mississippi and its tributaries, the cotton is taken to New Orleans and is there landed on the Levee in front of the city. This Levee, during the cotton-shipping season, is a scene of great activity, and presents many features of interest.
There is a fringe of steam-boats and shipping at the water front, and hundreds of bales of cotton are lying about; white men and negroes are jostling each other; and thee is a general appearance of bustling industry. As we quit the Levee and walk into the city, we find the streets descending, and we observe that the water in the gutters runs from the river and not toward it. This is one of the many curious features of New Orleans. Much of the city is below the level of the Mississippi, and its drainage flows into Lake Pontchartrain, an arm of the sea about six miles distant. The levee protects the city from any unusual flood of the great rivers; but on several occasions there have been serious fears for the safety suffered considerable damage]. |
