A few years ago I was talking with a friend from Texas. We were discussing picking cotton. I mentioned how the pointed ends of the boll would hurt your fingers after a day of picking.
He said that in Texas they just pulled the whole boll off. That would sure make your sack weigh more. We got 3 cent per pound (My Uncle Buck was our employer) and it was pretty good money for a little kid back then.
LOL!
I was pulling a cotton sack when I was six years old.
My mom made one for me out of one of her's that had the part of the bottom drug out of it.
We pulled the bolls and all.
Our gins were equipped to handle the bolls and stems and leaves.
'Course when they started defoliating, there weren't many leaves left.
I have a picture of my dad standing in long staple Pima cotton in Bakersfield, Texas.
He was 5'11" tall. The cotton is over his head.