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by women and children, wh > carry bags, two fe^t long by eighteen 

 inches wide suspended round their necks, to put the cotton in. As 

 soon as the bags are full they are emptied on osnaburgh sheets, two 

 yards square. When there is sufficient cotton on these sieet- they are 

 folded across and the opposite corners tied together. The cotton is then 

 weighed and loaded on carts to be taken to the factory Picking cotton 

 is paid for by weight. The operation requires a little i i-actice, but the 

 picker soon learns the knock of extracting the content-; of the bolls. 

 An adult picker, who is expert at the work, picks from 100 to 150 

 pounds of seed cotton per day. Children of 12 yeais old pick from 20 

 to 30 pounds per day. 



Drying Cotton and Preparing it for the Gins. 



After the cotton is taken to the store-room, it is examined by the 

 pickers who take out all bits of boles, pieces of leaves, etc The 

 cotton is then spread on platforms oi arbours to dry. After it is suffi- 

 ciently dried, it it assorted and whi| ped Assorting co ton is taking 

 out with great care all immature aiid stained bolls, bits of leaf and 

 motes. Whipping cotton is staking handfuls of the seed cotton with 

 a whipping motion on a mesh galvanised iron wire netting strained 

 over a frame, 3 ft. long, 2 ft. wide and 6 in. deep During this opera- 

 tion, the boll-lobes are more fully opened and any extraneous matter 

 such as particles of soil, sand, etc., pass through the meshes. Whip- 

 pers should prepare 300 lb. of cotton per day. 



When the cotton is not properly prepared before it is sent to the 

 ginneries a charge of three dollars per 1200 lbs. of seed cotton is made 

 for picking, assorting and wliipping it. After the cotton has been 

 dried and prepared, it is allowed to remain sometime before it is ginned 

 in order that the lint may absorb a little of the oil from the seed. It 

 is thought thiit this adds to the silky lustre of the fibre. 



In James Island where there are comparatively small factories (but 

 all driven by steam) as soon as the cotton is made ready to be ginned 

 by assorting and whipping as described, it is tied up in osnabugh sheets 

 3 yards square and sent to the ginnery. On the mainland, where there 

 are large ginneries operating about 30 gins, the cotton is usually con- 

 veyed from the plantations lo the factories in clos d railway trucks. 

 From these the cotton is drawn up to the top storey if the factory 

 through large tubes from which the air is exhausted by means of a 

 revolving fan. 



Ginning. 

 On the arrival of the cotton at the factory it is weighed and hoisted 

 to the top storey of ihe building known as the cotton loft. The cotton 

 is then fed into shoots which pass through the floor just over each gin. 

 While the cotton is being put into the shoots, the women or bo\ s, in 

 charge remove any bits of leaves which may have escaped the pickers 

 and assorters. The object of feeding the cotton to the gins through 

 these shoots is that in case of fire it is not readily ignited. From the 

 shoots the cotton is fed to the gins as required Behind each gin 

 there is an endless band or conveyer about 5 ft. long on which the lint 

 falls as it comes from the gin. On each side of this conveyer, a woman 

 stands to pick out any motes which may still have passed through the 

 gin with the lint. Any bits of leaves or stained cotton which may 



