by Terry Thornton
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com
[Note: Hill Country is a column from the Monroe Journal, Amory, Mississippi. My articles appear there every other week. After the column appears in MOJO it is then published here on the blog. I am happy to be writing in the newspaper of the Hill Country, the Monroe Journal. Here is the column from September 3, 2008.]
When King Cotton Ruled Hill Country
As August turns to September and cotton blooms turn to cotton bolls, I'm reminded of the days when cotton was still King in Monroe Country.
Growing up in the rural hills around Parham meant that the pattern and rhythm of my early life revolved around the planting, cultivating, harvesting, and ginning of cotton. Talking and thinking about cotton consumed many conversations.
Every lad knew the definition of a cotton bloom, a cotton square, a cotton boll, a cotton burr. Most had helped pick many bales of cotton. Every lass dreamed of being the Maid of Cotton. And all knew the difference between chopping cotton and hoeing cotton.
Cotton was, at one time, the life's blood for many of the small farms in the Hill Country.So important was cotton to our way of life that in the spring farmers couldn't wait to see which farmer of the county could grow the first cotton bloom.
So important was cotton to our way of life that in the fall farmers couldn't wait to see which farm of the county could gin the first bale of cotton.
And the Amory Advertiser and the Aberdeen Examiner would report this important news to the world.
Yes, there would always be someone to fume that the first bale was ginned out of last year's crop, that some publicity seeker held back one field-house full of cotton just so he could claim to have grown the first bale produced in the fall. I always dreamed that one day I'd get to help harvest the first bale of the year.
Cotton harvest was a time for rural schools to switch to a half-day schedule. We went to school in the morning and we went to the cotton patch in the afternoon. This seems a logical arrangement since early morning dew makes picking cotton in the very early hours of the morning a problem --- we learned our three "Rs" while the cotton dried enough to be picked.
There was an old saying if a cotton bloom opened during August, it would produce a boll of cotton before harvest ended. And a drive recently through the Hill Country in August showed several fields of cotton plants dotted with blooms.
On the other end of the cotton season, spring time, many schools stopped for a few weeks so children could help with the chopping and hoeing of cotton. A split schedule allowed the schools to dismiss for about six weeks --- and then, after the crops were "laid by" school would resume for a short time in the heat of the summer.
And at the local gins in August, work was in progress to ready the equipment for the non-stop ginning season just ahead. The country-side was dotted with gins --- and the ginning crews were busy repairing and pulling maintenance on the ginning equipment or adding new gin stands to increase their capacity. Within weeks the gins which stood empty and with little activity all spring and summer would be teeming with farmers, workers, teams of horses and mules pulling wagon loads of cotton, tractors with trailers, and trucks loaded with white, hand-picked cotton waiting to be ginned.
Sometimes the wait at the gin was so long that numbers were assigned and the wagonload of cotton left in the gin lot to be ginned during the late night-time hours.
Yes, at one time, ginning was so necessary that the operation ran night and day throughout the harvest season.
And in August all the local stores got a new supply of cotton pick-sacks to sell --- or homemakers were busy sewing up pick-sacks to be used in the fields.
I remember those late fall days when the sides of all the roads leading to a gin were covered with fluffs of cotton blown from passing loads and thinking, "That looks like snow right along the edge of the road."
And that thought was always followed by a childish wish, "I hope it snows this winter."
Much of the hard handwork of growing and producing cotton is now mechanized. But during this Labor Day week I think it only appropriate to stop and to remember and to give thanks to all those individuals who once worked and labored in the production of cotton, King of the Crops in Hill Country history.
Terry Thornton is a retired college administrator and former Amory Middle School principal who resides in Fulton. He can be contacted at his blog Hill Country of Monroe County or at hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com .
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9 comments:
Our cotton farms are down in the SE lowlands, i.e. the "Bootheel" of the state. Some years ago, I had an associate from north of KC whom I assigned project for the "Such and Such" Gin Company. Ultimately, the project necessitated a visit to the client. Turned out, the associate was surprised to find out there's a difference between a cotton gin and a distillery.
Cheers.
RANDALL, How funny --- and another indication of how our language sometimes gets in the way! I'll never drink gin again without thinking of your associate learning about cotton gin. LOL!
TERRY
Terry, this reminded me of when I was a pre-school boy and riding in the cotton wagon with my granddaddy to the gin. We spent the day and ate lunch at a nearby country store. There you could get a slice of cheese, free crackers, and soft drink for five cents. It was always a great adventure for a five year old boy to get to go to the cotton gin for the day. I even got to play in the cotton while we waited our turn.
Ronald
RONALD,
It was a treat, wasn't it, to play in the wagon full of picked cotton. I was always made to remove all objects from my pockets because of the fear that a lost rock or knife or coin etc would strike the ginning equipment and spark, starting a fire. I image you had an adventure with your grandfather goin' to the gin. Thanks for writing.
TERRY
'Don't have any experience in growin', layin' by, or pickin' cotton. I do remember the cotton wagons passing our home. I don't know how the mules could see where they were pulling the wagon after dark. Does anyone recall what kept a "faster-miving" vehicle from running into the back of cotton wagons (~1951)?
ANON, That was always a mystery --- often we drove home using moon-light to find our way and never even had a close call with a fast running motor vehicle. Luck!
TERRY
I distinctly remember those wagons having oil lanterns (real fire)swinging from a piece of wood afixed to the back corner at ~160 degree angle. The bail of the lantern had to have been in a "notch" in the wood or secured by some other means. Oh, what things we remember!
MA
MA, How interesting. I don't remember lanterns being hung but many cotton wagons had a sturdy piece of wood sticking out like that to hold the scales used to weigh the cotton (the pickers were paid by the pound --- the farmer needed to keep track of how many pounds was on the load in order to calculate if it sufficient for a bale before heading to the gin). Yes, a lantern could have been attached to that weigh arm.
Did you ever go on a hay ride in the fall? I don't remember any lights on the back of those wagons packed with couples either! LOL!
TERRY
I REMEMBER RIDING TO THE GIN WITH MY GRANDFATHER (DALLAS SANDLIN)ALONG WITH MY UNCLE (ALTON SANDLIN-WE WERE THE SAME AGE) THAT WAS LOCATED ACROSS THE ROAD FROM THE OLD FAULKNER STORE IN SPLUNGE.THE WAGON WAS PULLED BY AN OLD FERGUSON TRACTOR.POPPY SANDLIN WOULD NOT LET US JUMP ON THE COTTON.HE SAID IT WOULD PACK IT AND THE SUCTION PIPE WOULD NOT PICK IT UP.TODAY WHEN I SEE THE LARGE MECHANICAL PACKERS PACKING THE COTTON DOWN TO BE PUT IN LARGE "BREAD LOAF" UNITS ,I STILL FEEL "CHAPPED" ABOUT IT.
W.C.HARRIS,JR.
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