tire
belt would curtail the size of the crop by 500,000 bales in a season,
as was the case in 1909 when about 32,000,000 acres were planted.
Light frosts and late frosts do little harm to the cotton-plant; in
fact it is contended that the late frosts do much good under certain
conditions of the crop, by opening the bolls that otherwise would not
open, and thus adding to the quantity of the late pickings. The effect
of frost upon the lint so picked is to produce tinged and stained
cotton. Early killing frosts occur in some seasons in the early part
of November, when much of the yield may be curtailed. When killing
frosts occur late in the season, when the fruiting is practically
over, it has little or no effect upon the yield except as regards the
color.

The ripening of the crop proceeds in three stages, the bolls nearest
the ground maturing first, then those around the middle of the plant,
and lastly the top crop. Pods half ripe are often forced open and the
fiber sent on with good cotton. East Indian is more highly charged
with unripe cotton than American. The work of picking is not heavy,
but becomes tedious from its sameness. Each hand as he goes to the
field is supplied with a large basket and a bag. The basket is left at
the head of the cotton row, the bag being suspended from the picker's
shoulder by a strap, and used to hold the cotton as it is plucked from
the boll. When the bag is full it is emptied into the basket, and this
routine continued throughout the day. Each hand picks from 140 to 180
pounds of cotton per day. The average yield in the South varies from
500 to 600 pounds per acre. Every boll of cotton contains seeds
resembling unground coffee; when these have been removed by the gin,
there remains about one-third the weight of the boll in clean cotton.

[Illustration: PICKING COTTON]

=Ginning.= The next operation to which cotton is subjected is that of
ginning, or separating the seeds from the fiber. This work was
formerly accomplished by hand, and so great was the quantity of seeds
that frequently an entire day was occupied by a workman in separating
them from one pound of cotton. At the present day the devices for
separating the lint from the seed are of two classes: roller gins and
saw gins. The former device is the more ancient, having been used from
the earliest times by the Hindoos. In its simplest form it consists of
two rollers made of metal or hard wood, fixed in rude frames, through
whic