Feb 20 Sat Cotton Museum Lake Providence La

The Northeast part of Louisiana is very different from the rest of the state. It is so level and open that it reminds me of Saskatchewan. Not really as open but in many areas you can see for a maybe a couple of miles across the flat land. This area is along the Mississippi right into Arkansas . The area was originally all cotton but to day it is mostly corn, soybeans and to a lesser degree cotton. In order to understand the cotton industry we visited a cotton museum. Today they harvest cotton with huge tractors and special combines but the pictures below will give a idea of how it grows and gets processed.

There is no cotton in the fields at this time of year, this is basket of the cotton plant.
It looks just like cotton balls growing on a  bush  

This is what the cotton looks like after it is picked. The seed is still in side this cotton ball.

Removing this seed is called ginning

The earth is worked up , usually in the winter

Cotton is planted much like corn in rows about 30" apart

30 lbs to the acre and then thinned to about 10 lbs. With today's equipment

it would be planted in the correct amount right away.

Once the cotton plant is well started it is hoed to about 8" apart

It has to be weeded a few times until the plants are large enough

to shade out the weeds and prevent them from growing

The plants are then dusted to control the boll weevil in July

Originally the cotton was picked by hand but today they use combines

Ginning is the process of removing the seed.

Once the seed is removed the cotton is baled and ready for shipping.

This is the Ginning process

A refurbished Ginning Machine

One bale of cotton will make about 150 pairs of jeans

A boll weevil