. A complete geography. Fig. picking cotton. begins. As many as two or three hundred negroes — men, women, andchildren — may assemble in one field, carrying bags and picking cotton,singing melodies, and chattering in the negro dialect the livelong day. When plucked from the pods, the cotton is attached to seeds, and thesemust be removed before the cotton can be of use. The seedless cotton istightly pressed into bales of about five hundred pounds, which are thencovered with coarse jute bagging, bound with iron bands, and shippedaway to the factories. 102 NORTH AMERICA. Fig.
. A complete geography. Fig. picking cotton. begins. As many as two or three hundred negroes — men, women, andchildren — may assemble in one field, carrying bags and picking cotton,singing melodies, and chattering in the negro dialect the livelong day. When plucked from the pods, the cotton is attached to seeds, and thesemust be removed before the cotton can be of use. The seedless cotton istightly pressed into bales of about five hundred pounds, which are thencovered with coarse jute bagging, bound with iron bands, and shippedaway to the factories. 102 NORTH AMERICA. Fig. of cotton at a railway station in the South. Rice. — This is one of the most valuable food products of theworld, being the main support or millions of people, as the Chinese,for example. Although it is not a staple food in the UnitedStates, we do not raise even enough for our own use. Rice re-quires a warm climate and a damp soil, such as prevail on thelow coastal and flood plains from the Carolinas to Texas. Althoughraised throughout that section, the largest quantity comes fromLouisiana. In the cultivation of rice, after preparing the ground, as for othergrains, and planting the seeds, it is usually necessary to flood the fieldsfrom ditches. As the plant grows, it forms a slender stalk, upon the topof which appears a head of seed somewhat resembling a head of oats, andcommonly reaching a height of from three and a half to six feet. Justbefore the harvest season the water is drawn off, so that horses may enterthe field, and the grain is then cut and the kernels thras
Size: 2692px × 928px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgeograp, bookyear1902
