Vol. XL No. 2C8. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



247 



.such an opportniiity as wa^ provided to bring forward 

 their grievances and to make a nuive for higher jirices 

 in the future, cotton planters should do so. It should 

 V)e remembered, however, that the lucntion of complaints 

 alone, without any attention to the more attractive side 

 of the picture and to the lienefits that have been received, 

 is bound to canse those who hear such complaints to 

 go away with an exaggerated idea of their relative impor- 

 tance and to conclude that the matter consists of nothing Irtit 

 subjects that are crying for redress. The actual position is 

 quite otherwise, for though matters for dissatisfaction exist, 

 that should be easy of remedy, it might be remembered that 

 the West Indian Sea Island cotton industry has received from 

 the beginning advantages experienced by very few other 

 industries — the advantage that it found an open market 

 ready for it, from the first, and the advantage that it was 

 fostered by those who were in possession of skilled knowledge 

 that they were willing to apply in order to save the producers 

 every difHculty in the favourable disposal of their 

 commodity. 



states that the examination wa.s made with great care and 

 intelligence, and gave the results presented in the following 

 table, in which S and I) stand for Short and Dirt, 

 respectively: — 



THE WASTE IN COTTON-SPINNING, 



THROUGH IRREGULARITY OF 



STAPLE. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. .7. W. McL'onnel, of the 

 Fine Cotton Spinners' and 1 loublers' Assuciation, who was 

 one of the representatives of the Dritish Cotton Growing 

 Association at the Agricultural Conference held recently in 

 Trinidad, there has been received a memorandum dealing 

 vith the length of staple in \\est Indian cotton. Copies of 

 this memorandum have been also furnished by Mr McConnel 

 to the Agricultural Departments in St. ^'incent, Montserrat, 

 Antigua and St. Kitts. 



Mr. McConnel has provided this valuable memorandum 

 or. account of the circumstance that, during his visit to the 

 West Indies, he was asked several times what degree ot 

 irregularity in length of staple is compatible with the use of 

 fine cotton in spinning; that is to say, information was 

 required as to the limit to which spincers are obliged to 

 take out the cotton on account of its shortness, ia lint of 

 anj- given staple. 



It was felt by Mr. McConnel that some sort of an 

 answer to the question was due to those who are trying to 

 judge scientifically the suitability of cotton when it is grown 

 for use in a hne spinning mill. In consequence, on his 

 return to h^ngland, he explained the matter to the manager 

 of the card room in one of the most important mills using 

 West Indian cotton; and finally asked him to ascertain from 

 examination, as well as he could, the answers to the follow- 

 ing questions: — 



(1) What are the percentages of various lengths of 

 staple in raw cotton after ginning? 



(2) What are the percentages of the various lengths of 

 staple in the combed sliver after having been passed through 

 the drawing frame? 



(3) What are the percentages of various lengths of 

 staple in the waste taken out in the four processes of 

 scutching*, carding, and first, and second combing? 



The cotton used in all cases (or the tests consisted of 

 West Indian cotton of the best type usual in the West Indies, 

 but not the very fine St. Vincent cotton; and was judged in 

 the raw state to have a staple of IJ inct. Mr. McConnel 



*Scutehing niean.s beatibg the cotton, in bulk, before it is 

 carded; that is, hefure the hbres are fir.'^t opened out. The 

 other terms are c-x-plaincd below. — Ed., A.N. 



Total 1-6 22-4 192 22-6 13-6 1-6 16-0 3 0| 100-0 



As Mr. McConnel points out in forwarding the results, 

 the investigation was remarkably interesting, and the cor- 

 re.spondence between the percentages in the raw cotton, and 

 the totals of clean cotton and waste, is remarkably close. 

 He [loints out further that there was no chance of manipu- 

 lating the figures so as to obtain this correspondence, as the 

 reduction of the different percentages to a common basis, 

 and the addition of these, were performed bj^ himself from 

 the figures supplied. 



The hope is expre.ssed by Mr. McConnel that the results 

 will be of some assistance to those in charge of the experi- 

 ment stations in the West Indies; it must be remembered, 

 however, that they can only be considered to be approxim- 

 ately correct, as this is the first occasion on which such an 

 examination has been made. He points out that the waste.s» 

 when taken out, are all very irregular, particularly in the 

 earlier processes, and that the large proportion of the good 

 cotton still contained in the carding waste arises frorc the 

 kind of appliances that are used for removing the v/aste from 

 the machine. A curious feature is that the waste taken out 

 in the .«econd combing is shorter and poorer than that in the 

 first, but observant spinners have always noticed this fact. 

 The second combing is given with the object chiefly of 

 removing 'neps'; and as has been stated by Mr. McConnel en 

 several occasions, it is probable that the weak fibres in the 

 cotton are continually breaking up into short lengths while 

 going through the spinning mill. 



The whola matter is summed up at the conclusion of the 

 memorandum in the following words: 'Broadly speaking it 

 seems that the answer to the original question should, be that- 

 with cotton named 1; inch, the presence of 1| inch staple- 

 may be readily accepted and even of 1^ inch, but anything 

 .shorter than this ha.s to be almost entirely removed before 

 the cotton can be spun.' 



With this memorandum, there were presented by 

 Mr. McConnel, on behalf of the Fine Cotton Spinners' and 

 Doubters' Association, to this Department and the Agricul- 

 tural l)epartments in St. Vincent, Montserrat and Antigua, 

 cases containing firstly specimens of combed cotton, showing 

 neps, yarn and rovings, the last being slightly twisted bundles 

 of carded fibre; the specimens are mounted between glas.'i 

 plates. The main part of the cases is taken up by- 

 samples of the cotton that would be eventually worked up 

 into yarn, and of the part rejected. The former consists oE 

 samples of ginned raw cotton, card sliver (loose, untwistedl 

 fibres) and flat strips, first comber sliver, and second comber 

 sliver. Lastly, the samples showing the part rejected are 

 comprised of droppings (containing chiefly sand and. dust), 

 under tly and cylinder strip, first comber waste and second 

 comber waste. With respect to these samples, a matter o£ 

 chief interest is that, in the combed cotton showing nepa, 

 these are still to be seen although the lint had been passed 

 not only twice but three times, through the comber. 



