COTTON. 



C99 



Ginning. It is very important to the cotton planter s interest that this valuable product 

 be well prepared for the market, as great loss has often been sustained by sending the cotton 

 off in an imperfectly-cleaned condition, owing to a defect in the ginning process, either by 

 the incompetency of those who performed this labor, or the use of poor machines for the 

 purpose. In order to have it well ginned, good implements must be used, with competent 

 supervision, and the cotton be in proper condition for the process. It should never be ginned 

 when damp, neither should the process be unduly hurried. The gin must always be kept in 

 good order, and used only under the direction of one who thoroughly understands the 

 business. When used by a careless, indifferent person, or one ignorant of its mechanical 

 construction, the work will probably not only be very poorly done by forcing the gin, and 

 feeding in large compact masses, but the machine will also be liable to be greatly injured by 

 such a course. In some sections of the South, we believe, it is the practice of a few planters 

 to combine in the ownership of a gin-house. By this means the preparation of the cotton 

 product for market is attended with less expense per individual; the best machines may be 

 brought into requisition at a comparatively small cost to each, while the building could be 

 centrally located with reference to the situations of the plantations of the several owners, so 

 that there need be but little inconvenience in conveying the cotton to it for the purpose. 

 Such an arrangement, to be generally adopted, would doubtless be attended with great benefit 

 in the cultivation of this crop, since it enables many who are not able to build expensive gin- 

 houses and supply them with first-class machines to cultivate this crop with greater profit. 



COTTON HAND GIN IMPROVED EAGLE. 



The original apparatus for freeing the cotton fiber from the seeds consisted of two rollers 

 revolving in opposite directions, between which the cotton was passed. The gin invented by 

 Mr. Eli Whitney, in 1793, consisted of a hopper, one side of which was constructed of parallel 

 wires, between which circular saws were made to revolve, the teeth of which drew the fiber 

 of the cotton through the wires, leaving the seeds behind. Great improvements in gins have 

 of course been effected since that time, and at present the best of these implements seem 

 almost perfect in their work. Many excellent machines of this kind are in the market, as 

 well as some very inferior ones. The foregoing cuts represent the Eagle gin, manufactured 



