1927 | Agriculture
Agriculture
The mechanical cotton picker perfected by Texas inventor John D. (Daniel) Rust, 35, and his 27-year-old brother Mack will have a profound social impact on the South when marketing of the machine begins in 1949 (see Campbell, 1889). The Rust cotton picker inserts a long spinning spindle with teeth into the cotton boll, winds up the cotton, picks it out, and is kept wet to facilitate removal of the cotton from the teeth; it picks a bale of cotton in one day and will spur migration of blacks to northern cities as it reduces the need for field hands.
A survey of two Mississippi cotton-growing areas reveals that 94 percent of the farmers have their own milk cows.