• 8"x 12" image size (10"x 14" paper size) / 370 prints / 14"x 18" matting size
• available as a Matted Calendar scene or as an ART-ament

Cotton ranks just behind corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay as the leading cash crops of US agriculture with the top cotton-producing states of Texas, California, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona. Cotton yields (pounds of fiber per acre) have increased from 175 in 1930 to over 700 in 1979.

The cotton gin, invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney, allowed seeds to be removed mechanically and rapidly from cotton fibers; a design so efficient, that it remains virtually unchanged. It made cotton production economical and led to a dramatic growth in the United States cotton industry. But, this expansion also contributed to an increase of slave labor in the US. Most of the cotton crop grown on large plantations in the 19th century used black slave labor. Following the Civil War, tenant farming was adopted but vanished as tractors replaced mules and sharecroppers left the farm to seek jobs in the city.

On small farms and in days past, cotton picking was done by hand. Men, women, and even children did their part. Seven-foot long bags with loops at the open end draped over one shoulder and trailed behind the pickers. An adult picker could average between 300 and 400 pounds a day. Picking was generally done in an atmosphere of good cheer with laughing, joking and storytelling.

Today, approximately 95 percent of the cotton in the United States is harvested mechanically with spindle-type pickers or strippers. The picker has vertical drums equipped with wire spindles that pull the cotton from open bolls. Strippers are "once-over" machines that pull the bolls from the plant.

Cotton is still a principal raw material for the world's textile industry, but its dominant position has been seriously eroded by synthetic fibers. In the US, cotton accounts today for about 35 percent of the materials processed in textile mills, against 80 percent before World War II.