2014 Photo Contest Cotton Fields from Slave Cabin Door

[18thVirginia]

I know, it's not a great photo but I liked the subject. Taken at Frogmore Plantation, Ferriday, Louisiana.

 

[RobertP]

Good looking crop. From the blooms and plant size it has to be mid-summer.

 

[18thVirginia]

Thanks, jpeg matron. The current cotton farm is about the size of the original plantation and the owners are very much "cotton" people who also own a gin company. They're very interested in the agriculture of the Civil War period and give everyone a cotton boll to try and remove the cotton and separate the seeds. This farm is about 10 miles west of the Mississippi.

It gave me a great sense of what it must have been like to stand there. What really struck me was what happened to many of the former slaves who were suddenly free but not literate, without skills other than working these fields.

 

[18thVirginia]

Good looking crop. From the blooms and plant size it has to be mid-summer.

Yes, it was mid-summer. Here's a close up of the cotton.

And one of the fields.

 

[18thVirginia]

It is very cool. I would love to see that. I would love to browse the farm and allow all my senses to soak in the different sights, sounds, etc. Yes, the sudden realization of freedom wasn't as great as the people of today like to pretend it to be. So thankful that so much progress has been made, but we have a long way to go.

It is an interesting place because the owners are focused on agriculture and you get a sense of what it takes to grow and harvest cotton. I had heard my mother talk about how horrible picking cotton was on the one day that she did it as a young person. But I got a sense of the intensive nature of growing cotton that you don't receive from just reading about it.

Here's a photo of the steam driven cotton gin that they've acquired.

 

[ole]

Oh wow! Sure wish I could experience that first hand. When you say that the owners are focused on agriculture, are you meaning they are dedicated to the preservation of the land? Or are they focused on profit? -- Sorry, I know that profit is a necessity. But my love of land and history is hoping the focus is on preservation. Do you have any history on the church picture?

Growing cotton is necessarily destructive of soil.

Today, cotton farmers use widely available fertilizers. Back then, there really wasn't much fertilizer available and what was, was expensive. (Note: Cotton farmers did not have barns full of cattle, horses, chickens and pigs for manure to use on their fields. The knowledge was there, but the ordure was not.)

Virgin land might be expected to yield several bales per acre. By the 7th year, the soil was exhausted. It would take about 14 years of lying fallow for the soil to be regenerated. During that time, we're looking at the growth of brush and saplings which had to be cleared when it was nearly time to plant cotton again.

So, in addition to having 1/3 if a plantation planted, another third lying fallow and another third being cleared, cotton was a labor intensive process.

Given that virgin land was desirable, by 1860, most of it was taken. Also given is that cotton cannot be grown much north of the southern Missouri border.

And that brings up many other questions to not be discussed in a Photo contest thread.

 

[ole]

Thank you! I appreciate the history and information.

My apologies for asking questions in a photo thread. I'll resume my curiosity in a different thread. ;o)

No problem, JPeg. It happens all the time on this board. And, if there was a fault, I compounded it by replying.

Note the "retired moderator" thingy. I ought to know better.