Cotton is harvested using two methods in North America.
The first is the cotton stripper:
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The other method is the cotton picker:
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Tractors, balers, grain carts, cotton harvesters, and combines.
cotton stripper
potato harvester
During the Civil War, there WAS no machinery to pick cotton- it was picked by hand. The machine that was used to separate the cotton fiber from the seeds was the Cotton Gin (as in engine).
The technical name for a mechanical cotton picker is a cotton harvester. Instead of having humans manually pick cotton, the harvester machine does it.
Its a machine that harvests grain and pulse crops.
It is called a cotton gin and is still used today in a modernized form.
Threshing machine
Cotton is natural as it comes froma plant called Gossypium.
The Cottin Gin.
The Cottin Gin.
Cotton comes from any country that grows and harvests cotton plants for fabrics. I would say the U.S., China, Europe and India manufacture the most cotton fabric.