Growing up in the Deep South, I have known about cotton since I was a young boy. Cotton helped to build the South. We live in the cotton belt where cotton is grown and we love it. I have many friends and family members who are involved in the cotton industry.
I worked with a dear friend, Jim Reeves, on his farm for many years and we grew cotton every year. It was always fun getting the seed in the ground, watching it grow, tending to the crop and ultimately harvesting it each year.
We are knee-deep in the harvest season in our area right now. Cotton is being defoliated daily. The pickers are running as long as they can each day in an effort to get the cotton to the gin before rainy weather sets in. This time of year always brought great satisfaction to me because the fruits of our labor could be seen in those modules scattered across the fields.
This time of year, the harvest season can be very busy with a lot of hard work involved as well. Cotton harvesting has changed so much from its original form of being done by hand. It has evolved over time and doesn’t require all the labor it once did.
The machinery used to harvest the crop, the cotton pickers, have changed greatly over time. It has gone from being handpicked by workers to single row pickers mounted on tractors. Then two-row, self-propelled pickers came along which changed so much of the harvest process.
Next, there were four-row cotton pickers, and we thought the space-age was upon us. Getting the crop in the sack had become even faster, but then one day the six-row pickers appeared, and we all thought that was the pinnacle.
For many years we dumped cotton onto trailers that were taken to the gin. The cotton was unloaded by suction, and all was good. Then, module builders came along, which enabled everybody to “build” a module of cotton that was picked up from the field. A module truck came from the gin to pick it up and things were even easier.
Boll Buggies also came along which enabled farmers to dump the basket on the picker into a buggy pulled by a tractor. This saved even more time because the picker didn’t have to run back and forth to the builder. Cotton harvesting had become a very efficient process.
By doing it that way though, it required three men to run the equipment. One man on the picker, one man driving the tractor pulling the buggy and the other man running the module builder. Once the module was built it had to be covered with a tarp made to fit. The module cover would keep the cotton from getting wet.
I remember there were a lot of years Jim and I did not have a third man. Jim ran the picker. I ran the boll buggy and the module builder. It was a lot of fun, but in really good cotton it was hard for me to keep up. Somehow though, we always managed to get it done!
The harvest process evolved once more with the introduction of the roller-picker. Cotton picking had become a one-man show! It is a massive machine, picking six rows and making what we call a “round bale” all at once. Picking cotton has truly reached the space-age!
From where I live, there are cotton fields within walking distance and two different cotton gins. Every morning this time of year, I can hear those gins when they crank them up for the day. I hear the steady hum of a cotton gin right outside my door as I write these words. It is a very familiar sound in the fall of the year.
Farming and growing cotton are such integral parts of the South. Even if you aren’t involved in farming, you are most likely well-aware that harvest season is in full swing. You can see people out taking pictures in the cotton fields this time of year. A cotton field that has been defoliated, fully opened and fluffed out is such a wonderful backdrop for photographs. I don’t think there is anything that denotes our beloved southland more than a field of cotton
Everybody here seems to love those old cotton fields of home. Cotton fields evoke memories of a childhood well-spent for many. Memories of days, good days spent growing up on the farm. Those same cotton fields hold many memories for me as well as lessons learned.
Even as a child I loved clothes made from cotton. The look and the feel of cotton clothing have always been very comforting to me. I remember the first time I saw a t-shirt that read “don’t want no poly across my back”. I concurred with that statement and still do. Here in the South, cotton truly is the fabric of our lives in more ways than one.
