![]() She picked with both hands and with such surprising rapidity, that five hundred pounds a day was not unusual for her.Įach one is tasked, therefore, according to his picking abilities, none, however, to come short of two hundred weight. Patsey, of whom I shall have more to say, was known as the most remarkable cotton picker on Bayou Bœuf. Such hands are taken from the cotton field and employed in other business. ![]() Some of them seem to have a natural knack, or quickness, which enables them to pick with great celerity, and with both hands, while others, with whatever practice or industry, are utterly unable to come up to the ordinary standard. There is a great difference among them as regards this kind of labor. A slave who is accustomed to picking, is punished, if he or she brings in a less quantity than that. If it falls short, it is considered evidence that he has been laggard, and a greater or less number of lashes is the penalty.Īn ordinary day's work is two hundred pounds. He must bring in the same weight each night following. At night it is weighed, so that his capability in cotton picking is known. When a new hand, one unaccustomed to the business, is sent for the first time into the field, he is whipped up smartly, and made for that day to pick as fast as he can possibly. The baskets are carried to the field and placed at the beginning of the rows. This is to put the cotton in when the sack is filled. Each one is also presented with a large basket that will hold about two barrels. A strap is fastened to it, which goes over the neck, holding the mouth of the sack breast high, while the bottom reaches nearly to the ground. At this time each slave is presented with a sack. In the latter part of August begins the cotton picking season. The hoeing season thus continues from April until July, a field having no sooner been finished once, than it is commenced again. In fact, the lash is flying from morning until night, the whole day long. If one falls behind or is a moment idle, he is whipped. If one of them passes him, he is whipped. He is usually about a rod in advance of his companions. Now the whole space between the rows is ploughed, leaving a deep water furrow in the center.ĭuring all these hoeings the overseer or driver follows the slaves on horseback with a whip, such as has been described. About the first of July, when it is a foot high or thereabouts, it is hoed the fourth and last time. ![]() In another fortnight it is hoed the third time, throwing the furrow towards the cotton in the same manner as before, and killing all the grass between the rows. Only one stalk, the largest, is now left standing in each hill. ![]() This time the furrow is thrown towards the cotton. In two weeks more commences the second hoeing. Slaves follow with their hoes, cutting up the grass and cotton, leaving hills two feet and a half apart. The plough passes as near as possible to the cotton on both sides, throwing the furrow from it. This is performed in part, also, by the aid of the plough and mule. In the course of eight or ten days afterwards the first hoeing is commenced. When there are no cold rains, the cotton usually makes its appearance in a week. This is done in the months of March and April. Behind her comes a mule and harrow, covering up the seed, so that two mules, three slaves, a plough and harrow, are employed in planting a row of cotton. A plough drawn by one mule is then run along the top of the ridge or center of the bed, making the drill, into which a girl usually drops the seed, which she carries in a bag hung round her neck. The beds, or ridges, are six feet wide, that is, from water furrow to water furrow. The women as frequently as the men perform this labor, feeding, currying, and taking care of their teams, and in all respects doing the field and stable work, precisely as do the ploughboys of the North. Oxen and mules, the latter almost exclusively, are used in ploughing. The ground is prepared by throwing up beds or ridges, with the plough-back-furrowing, it is called. There he learned the art of growing the white gold. Northup was carried to Louisiana, where he toiled on the plantation of Edwin Epps. Rising demand and soaring prices for cotton tempted slave traders to acquire, by almost any means, black men and women for transport to the cotton regions of the South. Solomon Northup had been a free man in New York before being kidnapped into slavery in the early 1840s.
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