Cotton--Social Distancing Way Back When

When I was in junior high school in northern Texas, in1964 or 65 or so, my dad worked on a small farm. I say small, it was about the size of all the farms in that area, maybe 5 or 6 hundred acres. Not like the megagiant farms in this day and age.

Mostly he grew cotton, and some maize, and in later years they grew soybeans.

When the cotton was ready to pick, my dad would hook up the cotton picker to the tractor, and hook up a large wire side trailer(funnily enough called a cotton trailer) to pull behind the picker.  The picker had a chute pointing back into the trailer, and as my dad drove the tractor and cotton picker down the rows, the cotton would be thrown back into the trailer.  The cotton would all pile up in one spot, and my job was to pitchfork the cotton into the back of the trailer, and then stomp it down so we could fit more cotton into the trailer.

I used to hate that job.  I remember several Christmas days my dad and I would be out most of the day picking cotton.  I also remember not getting paid for doing that work.  I was my dad's helper and I was expected to help him. So help him I did. But the man my dad worked for was quite generous in other respects, so I believe it all worked out.

Where social distancing comes into the equation is the fact that my dad and I were the only  persons around for several miles. He was on the tractor and I was in the trailer. Can't get too much more distant than that can you?