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ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Total distribution of practical forms of the official cotton standards by States 



to and including June 80, 1916. 



During the fiscal year the amount of $4,875.80 was returned to the 

 Treasury as the result of the sale of practical forms of the official 

 cotton standards. 



INSPECTION OF SETS. 



In accordance with the rules and regulations governing the ad- 

 ministration of the cotton futures act, practical forms of the official 

 cotton standards now in use have been inspected by a duly author- 

 ized inspector. The certifications as to grade were canceled in such 

 of the grade boxes as were no longer in accord with the original 

 standards. The owners were advised to return to Washington for 

 correction such boxes of the standards as were found to be inaccurate. 

 On July 1, 1916, 288 sets had been inspected and 136 boxes, or about 

 5 per cent, had been returned to the department for revision. The 

 color in the standards, especially in the lower grades, bleaches out 

 more or less, which makes occasional inspection necessary. 



COMPARISON BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND VACUUM SET. 



In order to check by comparison the accuracy and uniformity of 

 the present practical forms of the standards, vacuum set No. 1 of 

 the standards for white cotton stored under conditions described in 

 Service and Regulatory Announcements No. 6, was opened January 

 19, 1916, and a comparison was made with the original set of the 

 official cotton standards of the United States now stored in a vault 

 at the Treasury Department. The sets compared favorably, showing 

 the original set of the standards to be in a satisfactory condition. 



PREPARATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF PRACTICAL FORMS OF STANDARDS FOR COLOR. 



On the promulgation of the official cotton standards for tinged 

 and stained cotton the office prepared a sufficient number of copies 

 of the practical forms for color and furnished them to the future 

 exchanges and to the bona fide spot markets for use in the determina- 

 tion of commercial differences. 



Ten copies of the standards, representing tinges and stains, have 

 been prepared and stored in vacuum tubes for future reference. 



