Slave Life in Georgia - African American History

Slave Life in Georgia 92
24.03.2006
On rainy days the people do not pick at all, but are sent into the jin-house to jin
and pack. The jinning is for the purpose of separating the seed, which lies
closely embedded in the wool, and is not easy to get out. The jins I have seen
employed are the roller and saw-jins. Sometimes, however, the seed is extracted
by hand-picking. This is usually done at night, more to keep the slaves
employed than because it is the most expeditious
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mode of performing this operation; though, for saving the fibre, nothing can
come up to it.
The seed is used to make oil from, and also oil-cake, on which sheep and horned
cattle will do very well; but it is ruination to hogs. Sometimes, too, the seed is
crushed and mixed up in the "mush" that is given to the negroes; but it is
unwholesome, and soon brings them out in sores. I have been made to eat it,
thus mixed, in my food, until I broke out in great ulcers, from my ankle-bone
upwards. Experiments have been tried to ascertain what quantity a "nigger"
could bear to swallow in this manner. It was found that a very little soon sent
him a long way out of the reach of his master for ever; so, unless a man wants to
kill his "niggers," or make them unfit for work, or to spite them, I do not think
he would try the thing on any very large scale.
The cotton being jinned, is now ready for packing. There are two ways of doing
this; box-packing and bag-packing. The former mode is done in this wise. A box
of convenient dimensions is prepared, say about five feet by three; in a word, of
the same size as the bales which any one may see lying on the wharves in
Liverpool. This
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box is open at top and bottom, and a packing-cloth, made of what is called
"gunny," is placed inside, having cords which pass underneath, and hang over
the sides of the box. The latter is placed beneath a screw-press, or one weighted
by hydraulic pressure, and the cotton is thrown into the box, as regularly and
evenly as possible, and pressed down quite hard, so that its bulk is reduced to
the narrowest compass. The cords are then brought round and fastened, and the
bale is ready for shipment. Each bale may weigh, on an average, about four
hundred pounds.
Bag-packing is a different operation. It takes five yards of "gunny" to make a