Scratching Cotton

Dry land farming in 1947 was backbreaking work. Most of my family had switched to tractors, which made life easier. Much more land could be plowed with a tractor than with a mule. A lot of hand work still was required.

One of my uncles had a tractor, but still used a mule for some tasks. When the cotton sprouts were ready to break through surface to sunlight, the dry, baked dirt was too hard to allow the sprouts to break through. The crust had to be scratched. Rather than buy an implement for his tractor that would scratch the surface, my uncle used a rig that he had built years before. He had 2X12 boards with nails driven through and protruding about an inch. The boards were weighted with large rocks. A harness was attached to the rig. A mule could pull the four-row rig.

My cousin and I would take turns riding that old mule, bareback, pulling the scratching rig. One of us would ride down the quarter-mile row and back. Then the other would take a turn. The one not riding, would rest in the shade of a Mesquite tree. Of course, a Mesquite tree does not provide much shade.

It took two or three days to scratch one of my uncle’s fields. The young cotton sprouts began breaking through on the first rows we scratched by the time we finished the field. Within another day or two the field was covered with young cotton plants.

We also scratched a couple of other farmer’s fields for something like $1 per field.

My uncle always had an old hunting dog with him. One time we were riding in the back of the pickup and the hunting dog was in the back with us. Sunflowers were growing high from the ditch alongside the road. As we barreled down the road, the sunflowers were slapping the side of the pickup. The dog started barking and snapping at the sunflowers. Finally, the dog caught a sunflower in his mouth. Instantly, the dog flew out of the pickup and was in the road behind us.

We hit on the cab and my uncle stopped. The dog caught up with us and jumped in the pickup. He lay beside my cousin and didn’t snap at any more sunflowers.

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