COTTON FIBRE 49 



The last six quotations 'are names and prices mentioned in 

 the report of a committee of the Association of Sea Island Cotton 

 Growers, of Georgia and Florida, which met in September, 1906, at 

 Valdosta, Georgia. The names, as you will observe, apply only to 

 the inland Sea Island cotton. The term East Floridas does not 

 mean cotton grown on the islands along the coast of East Florida, 

 for cotton does not seem to be cultivated along the coast of either 

 Georgia or Florida.' 



Such, then, are the chief grades of each of the above-mentioned 

 classes as recognised by the Liverpool and Manchester Cotton 

 Brokers' Association and by the New York Cotton Exchange. But 

 length of staple is by no means the only criterion. Two cottons of 

 the same length, the one Upland American and the other Egyptian, 

 would not be classed as identical. The country of production 

 and species of plant grown are recognised as imparting distinctive 

 characteristics. 



Thus, for example, the Brazilian staples are collectively viewed 

 as harsh though strong. The Sea Islands of Georgia have not 

 only exceptionally long and strong fibres, but great uniformity in 

 thickness. 



Empirical Tests. These varying qualities of cotton are determined 

 by certain empirical tests for which the skill and highly-cultured 

 sensations of the expert are indispensably necessary. The more 

 obvious, to the uninitiated, would be the percentage of dirt (sand Dirt, 

 or mud) that can be shaken from a weighed sample on to a clean 

 piece of white paper, or the amount of leaf (fragments of bracteoles 

 as a rule) with which the sample is mixed. The condition of the 

 leaf is also deemed as instructive. If much broken it gives, for 

 example, the additional indication of the severity of treatment during 

 ginning, the fibres being in consequence very possibly torn or 

 broken. The colour or degree of staining, through inferior cultiva- Colour, 

 tion or disease (boll-stained), is still another obvious condition of 

 depreciation, and the amount of natural moisture present can readily Moisture, 

 be appreciated as an important factor, without that moisture being 

 supposed to have been artificially imparted. The differences between 

 cottons, such as the lalio (p. 150) and wagria (p. 152) of Gujarat, are, in 

 other words, definitely recognised by the trade. In the former the pod 

 not only bursts but the floss emerges and becomes fully opened 

 out and dried in the sun and wind, some time before it is gathered. 

 In the latter the pods never completely open, are in fact often 



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