I am always interested in how things are made,  most of all clothes.  And very interested in how the things that I use to make my clothes are made.  My Walt owns a farm in the panhandle of our state, and mostly they grown corn, wheat, sorghum (milo), winter wheat, soybean/legumes and some other grains, but mostly this type of crop.  Lately though something interesting has happened.  A company just north of his farm has purchased some major equipment and is providing services for growing and selling cotton.  They bought these huge behemoth crop pickers/strippers, a gin and have set themselves up to provide an economical service to the farmers.  Don't you just love entrepreneurs and the market that will support innovative thinking?


These people were able to put together a service that allows the farmers in the high plains of this area to economically grow cotton.  So much so that cotton becomes a very profitable crop to grow.  Here's how this works so that both the farmers and the company that serves the farmers can be profitable.  The farmer buys the cotton seed, plants the seed, fertilizes and waters it.  The company then comes in and strips the plant and hauls it to the gin, grades it and sells it for the farmer and usually the cotton seed is kept by the company as payment for the stripping, ginning and selling of the cotton.  Since the farmer is relieved of the expense of the stripping equipment, and the gin equipment, this becomes not only profitable for the farmer, but more profitable than corn, wheat and sorghum and voila - most of the farmers in the high plains are now growing cotton!


The advantages are hard to pass up.  This cotton crop takes less water, fertilizer and then of course less machinery to plant and maintain than the other grain crops, so becomes far less expensive and time-intensive. 
  The summer sees the blossoms (and they are extra beautiful) and then this turns into the pod or bowl (above).


As well cotton, the farmers still plant corn and this is typical of a good corn crop - Walt, above is checking out the corn, and it looks might fine!  His tenants planted one circle of cotton and one circle of corn.  A circle is how they irrigate up there, and in the corners, they will have dry crops like winter wheat or other dry crop that does not require irrigation.  Usually this is a animal feed grain. 



After the crop comes produces the bowl with the cotton in it, the cotton plant is killed.  This makes the stripping process easier.  Finally in November the crop is ready to be stripped.


Out come these horrifically huge machines - about 2½ stories tall, that will strip the cotton bowls from the plant and bale it in huge 4100-pound bales!  These machines are in constant need of cleaning and maintenance as the cotton lint gets caught in the machine - everywhere possible. 



These machines are enormously complicated as well.  Even the rear-view mirrors are complicated.  One pair is to see what's behind, another pair is to check on one level of equipment while still another pair is to check on the upper level of equipment.  I can't imagine having to keep track of 3 sets of mirrors while driving one of these things.  The good news is that they don't progress very rapidly - about 3 mph.



As they pass through the field, the front "teeth" or grid catches the plant and the brushes in between the teeth brush out the bowl and a vacuum in the machine pulls them up and into the very top of the machine.



As if all that wasn't complicated enough, the GPS planting program (and the farmers do use a GPS planting program to get the best efficiency for a circle of crops), is the same.  This means they can follow the exact same path that the farmer took to plant the crop.  This means they are going to hit every plant in the circle to make their passes through the field as efficient as possible.


A bale of cotton some of the hull and seed

A bale of cotton with the "junk" still intact.  This has to be ginned which means it will go to the cotton gin (invented by Eli Whitney)
As they pass through the field, they have a lever in back that catches a 4100-pound bale of cotton, and will hold it till they get to the edge of the circle and then dump it.  This makes it easier for the bale haulers to come pick up the bales (they can only carry 4 bales at a time), and take it to the gin.



The gin is an amazingly simple yet well-thought out tool, that has saved the cotton farmer a ton of cost and labor in processing the cotton from the plant.  This shows how this works.  The cotton is loaded at the top (A), and the weight causes it to fall down toward the guiding wheel (B) which will guide it into the two wheels C and D to have the initial separation of seed and  hull.  Below wheel D is a cup or holder that allows the seed to drop out on both sides of the D wheel.  The cotton is so light that it won't fall through the same vents that will allow the hull and seed to drop, and is propelled around wheel E that will feed it through another sieve and out the bottom of the machine with cotton lint that has the seed and hull and other junk removed. 
 
After the cotton has been ginned, then it is graded.  This determines the quality and therefore price of the cotton.  The longer the staple or lint, the better quality it is.



 Why?  Because the shorter the yarn the more ends that are exposed in the yard (a), while the longer the staple the fewer ends that are on the  yarn.  The fewer twists ends that don't show the shiner the yarn is. 
  Under a magnifying glass this is what some natural fibers look like.
A. - Linen fibers have cellulose structure in the stalk of their fibers which break up the linen so that even though it is longer and smoother than cotton, that cellular structure keeps the yarn fro being smooth, therefore it's not as shiny as other fabrics. 
B.  - Cotton can be short, but also long - the longer the staple the shinier the fabric.
C.  - Wool has animal cell-like structure that makes it bumpy too.  Wool also comes in basically one length and even though that will vary a little, wool basically has lots of little fuzzies when the yarn is twisted, so it will most likely be a dull or a lot less shiny than other fabrics.
D. - Silk  is so shiny because it is one long filament of the cocoon of the silk worm.
Not pictures -  Polyester and Acetate man-made shiny fabrics are that way because they are either pulled or forced through a small hole or spinneret into one long filament that has not fuzzies on it at all. 

After the cotton is graded, it's then sold for whatever the market is - usually determined by demand.  It's then taken to be combed and spun or twisted into threads that will be woven.   Mercerized cotton is a finishing process that makes cotton take dye better, increases tensile strength (a tech way of saying the fabric doesn't rip or tear as easily) and makes for a more lustrous (or shiny) fabric.  Mercerization saved the cotton fiber from extinction by not only making the dye take better on the fabric but making it more color fast through many more washings.  As well, it gave the fabric more luster making it look more expensive.  Although unmercerized cotton has a softer feel, the fabric doesn't last as long, and of course any color fades faster. 

So, this is probably more than you want to know.  But there's a lot to take away here. 

1. If you are anything close to a long-staple cotton and see it and think - WOW what is this - it can't be cotton, first, it's probably long-staple cotton, and second it's probably an arm and a leg above in price compared to regular cotton.
2. This also gives you a heads up if you want something that is going to last a long time and keep color fast and yet look very nice - as in a sateen or pima.
3. Explains why these delicate yet very expensive fabrics don't last too long.  Most long-staple fabrics are very VERY fine and thin and therefore the fiber breaks more than beds and this is what causes the deterioration in fabric.
4. Cotton may use up resources, however as the first law of Thermodynamics says, nothing is destroyed, it only changes, and with modern methods of farming, cotton can not only be a viable crop for further northern regions but it can be a profitable one as well.

Linen is probably the oldest fiber known to man, however cotton is right behind it.  Cotton is now one of the most plentiful fabrics available and it's astonishing how many varieties and uses it can have.  It breathable and wickable, which means it can be warm in cold weather and cool in hot weather.  Most plant and natural fibers are naturally wickable which makes them very useful for a variety of climates. 

Hopefully the next time you are in the fabric store and see cotton you will have a lot more respect for it, and also know what to ask for.  If you're in a very fine store, as for some long-staple cotton and put your hand on it, and you'll see what I mean by a fine cotton.  Only the very finest of shops will have it.  I've only found it online in one place (click here) and I ordered it and it is beautiful

So next time you see cotton, don't think it's such a plebeian fabric - there's a lot of history and beauty in those bowls!.