Is it true that taking seeds out of cotton is easier than growing and harvesting it?

Collecting cotton fibers is done mechanically in modern farming, and is one of the least complex procedures in cotton production.

Prior to the invention of the cotton gin (cotton engine) by Eli Whitney in 1793, the removal of hulls and seeds was done by hand combing and was a laborious process. The gin changed that and triggered a vast increase in cotton production in the US South, which led directly to the importation of large slave populations.