You may have treated the cotton bolls so all opened at once..We didn't do that....Yes, I remember those sharp pointed cotton bolls tearing up my cuticles.....Some folks wore gloves with the fingers cut off to protect their hands..we didn't have any of those....By the time you got the cotton field picked over you would notice with disgust it was time to start all over again...And those patches of cockle burrs you had to work your way through...Had to not only put up with them scratching you, but you must remove them from the clingy cotton...Clean picked cotton paid more at the cotton gin...and when it was time to pick the bolls that didn't open good...We hated that...Cold weather would hit before all the bolls popped open, and those bolls would just be partly open....Had to pick all of them...and we were paid less, too...This was after we got big enough to hire out to make school money. None of us got a penny of allowance for any of the work we did. Heck, our parents were feeding us and taking care of us, right ? If we'd pushed that allowance deal we would be eating off the mantel that night....No worries..we'd never heard the word allowance. Ever think what your dad had to do to grow that cotton ? Daddy broke the ground with a single row plow..Then he disked it with a disk that covered 2 or 3 rows...then he raked it...small rake then he made raised rows..one at a time. Then he planted it with a one row planter. When it was big enough to hoe he went up and down each side of the row and scraped it...took off some dirt so just the row was standing tall. We hoed out grass and weeds and thinned the cotton if necessary. When the weeds and grass we had pulled out into the middle was dead our Dad went up and down each middle and tilled the weeds into the soil....Jeannie T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Wed, 6 Oct 2010 10:28:59 -0400 "MaryClyde" <maryclyde@comporium.net> writes: > Hmmm... sounds like your life was about like mine! I remember working in the fields of cotton...hoeing to keep the weeds out of it...I remember chopping down some of the plants and sticking it back down in the ground so Daddy wouldn't know... ____________________________________________________________ Refinance Now 3.7% FIXED $160,000 Mortgage for $547/mo. FREE. No Obligation. Get 4 Quotes! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4cad4db6507401817bm06duc

The closest I have been to cotton plants was when I was visiting relatives in the south. We also have cotton fields out here in AZ..plenty of them & people are always surprised to learn that many people make their living off of cotton which grows in AZ. I remember the first time I ever saw cotton...I couldn't imagine why these plants had white puffy stuff on them. I did end up going up close so I could actually see for myself how it grew. I really wish the children that I taught school, had this experience. Most of them didn't even have the slightest idea how or where cotton grew. I can understand how those plants could be quite hard on your hands. I never realized, however, that clean cotton brought more money . After my husband & I bought our first home & had built our 3 car garage out in back of our house...we put in a very large patch of strawberries which I guess you could say were ever 'bearying'. Paul & I used to come home from work every day & pick strawberries. My 2 sister-in-laws had gone in on it with me..but when it came to taking care of the plants..our even coming over to pick their share, they never had time. One day I ask this other insurance claims adjuster if he wanted to stop by my house after work & pick some strawberries. I knew that Joe had several sons & figured the kids would love the strawberries. Joe got to our house shortly after I did & he walked around our yard looking every where. Finally he asked where the strawberry trees were. I explained to him that the strawberries grew on the plants on the ground behind our garage. I think Joe went home with around 3 cash & carry bags that night. He said the next day at work that his boys had finished up nearly all that he brought home. Makes you wonder just how much children are taught in school...or if they are taught anything to begin with?? Maybe they didn't have strawberry plants in Mexico. ~J ----- Original Message ----- From: <askgranny@juno.com> To: <southern-chat@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 9:41 PM Subject: Re: [SOUTHERN-CHAT] Home made mattresses > You may have treated the cotton bolls so all opened at once..We didn't do > that....Yes, I remember those sharp pointed cotton bolls tearing up my > cuticles.....Some folks wore gloves with the fingers cut off to protect > their hands..we didn't have any of those....By the time you got the > cotton field picked over you would notice with disgust it was time to > start all over again...And those patches of cockle burrs you had to work > your way through...Had to not only put up with them scratching you, but > you must remove them from the clingy cotton...Clean picked cotton paid > more at the cotton gin...and when it was time to pick the bolls that > didn't open good...We hated that...Cold weather would hit before all the > bolls popped open, and those bolls would just be partly open....Had to > pick all of them...and we were paid less, too...This was after we got big > enough to hire out to make school money. None of us got a penny of > allowance for any of the work we did. Heck, our parents were feeding us > and taking care of us, right ? If we'd pushed that allowance deal we > would be eating off the mantel that night....No worries..we'd never heard > the word allowance. > > Ever think what your dad had to do to grow that cotton ? Daddy broke the > ground with a single row plow..Then he disked it with a disk that covered > 2 or 3 rows...then he raked it...small rake then he made raised > rows..one at a time. Then he planted it with a one row planter. When it > was big enough to hoe he went up and down each side of the row and > scraped it...took off some dirt so just the row was standing tall. We > hoed out grass and weeds and thinned the cotton if necessary. When the > weeds and grass we had pulled out into the middle was dead our Dad went > up and down each middle and tilled the weeds into the soil....Jeannie T > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > On Wed, 6 Oct 2010 10:28:59 -0400 "MaryClyde" <maryclyde@comporium.net> > writes: >> Hmmm... sounds like your life was about like mine! I remember working > in the fields of cotton...hoeing to keep the weeds out of it...I > remember chopping down some of the plants and sticking it back down in > the ground so Daddy wouldn't know... > ____________________________________________________________ > Refinance Now 3.7% FIXED > $160,000 Mortgage for $547/mo. FREE. No Obligation. Get 4 Quotes! > http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4cad4db6507401817bm06duc > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SOUTHERN-CHAT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message