* * * * *
PREPARING COTTON FOR MARKET.
The gin-house was situated about four hundred yards from "the great
house" on the main road. It was a large shed built upon square timbers,
and was similar to a barn, only it stood some six feet from the ground,
and underneath was located the machinery for running the gin. The cotton
was put into the loft after it was dried, ready for ginning. In this
process the cotton was dropped from the loft to the man who fed the
machine. As it was ginned the lint would go into the lint room, and the
seed would drop at the feeder's feet. The baskets used for holding lint
were twice as large as those used in the picking process, and they were
never taken from the gin house. These lint baskets were used in removing
the lint from the lint room to the place where the cotton was baled. A
bale contained 250 pounds, and the man who did the treading of the
cotton into the bales would not vary ten pounds in the bale, so
accustomed was he to the packing. Generally from fourteen to fifteen
bales of cotton were in the lint room at a time.
* * * * *
OTHER FARM PRODUCTS.
Cotton was the chief product of the Mississippi farms and nothing else
was raised to sell. Wheat, oats and rye were raised in limited
quantities, but only for the slaves and the stock. All the fine flour
for the master's family was bought in St.
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