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BEHAVIOR OF SEED COTTON IN FARM STORAGE.^ 



By Charles J. Brand, Physiologist in Charge, and W. A. Sherman, Scientific Assist- 

 ant, Farmers' Cooperative Cotton Handling and Marketing. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The (jiiostion of storing or bulking cotton in the seed for a time 

 before gmnuig is one in which considerable interest has developed. 

 Ginners, spinners in the cotton belt, and others have claimed that 

 many desirable results would follow from a general practice of storing 

 seed cotton for a period of two to five weeks before gmning. They 

 have also emphasized the probable benefits of "sweating out" and 

 aging, and called attention to savings that might result, such as 

 reduction in loss of time of men and teams from standing at the 

 gin awaitmg their turn, increased output of lint per gin stand, and 

 many other benefits. Apparently very few definite experiments 

 along this line have been conducted, and, so far as the writers know, 

 none have been described either m the cotton journals or in the 

 publications of agricultural colleges and experiment stations. 



In order to determine somewhat accurately the behavior of un- 

 ginned cotton picked at various times and under varying conditions, 

 a cooperative arrangement was made with Mr. E. W. Evans, of 

 Bennettsville, S. C, during the picking season of 1912.2 Mr. Evans 

 had slightly reconstructed one of his farm buildmgs for use in agmg 

 or stormg his staple cotton i)rior to ginning. The dimensions of 

 this buildings are 30 by 60 feet, and the ground floor had been 

 divided by complete jnirtitions into four compartments or bins, 

 each 15 by 30 feet. The arrangement of these bins can be seen in 

 figure 1. 



The well-floored loft above the storage bins was left without jmrti- 

 tions of any kind and the cotton pickings of each day were placed in 

 the loft, spread generally over the floor to an average depth of 18 

 inches. The purpose of this procedure was to give the various pick- 

 ings an opportunity to dry out to a moderate degree before they were 

 finally bulked and forked through the trapdoor into one of the bins 

 below. The building has a double wall, being sided with ordinary 



1 Issued Apr. 26, 1913. 



2 All temperature and moisture oliservations were made liy Mr. Chester A. Kotterman, formerly labo- 

 ratory aid in the Office of Farmers' Cooperative Cotton Handling and Marketing, who was stationed 

 at Bennettsville, S. C, during the greater part of the cotton-picking season. 



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