400 



THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



by the Eagle Cotton Gin Co., Bridge-water, Mass., and is an implement the value of which is 

 too well known to require comment. The power gins are similar in construction, though 

 made much larger than the hand gin, and can be used with either steam or horse-power, 

 steam being generally preferred. The machine should always be set firm and level, and kept 

 well oiled. Before using it, the operator should see that all the belts and bolts are tight, and 

 that every part is in proper working order, being particular to notice that the screen cylinder 

 and compression roller turn freely. The machine should always be started before putting in 

 the cotton ; the quantity of cotton from the feeder to the gin to be regulated by arrangements 

 for that purpose. It will be some minutes after putting in the cotton before any machine will 

 do its best work. 



EAGLE COTTON GIN, WITH FEEDER AND CONDENSER ATTACHED. 



After the ginning process, the cotton should be pressed into bales ready for market. 

 This may be done by either steam or horse-power, and requires comparatively but little time 

 and labor. The press of Dederick & Co., of Albany, N. Y., represented on a previous page, 

 illustrates this process. When the bales are ready for market, there still remains for the 

 planter to decide whether to make an immediate sale, or hold the product for an advance 

 in the market-price. This question must be settled according to his knowledge of the state of 

 the market at home and abroad, the prospect for the future, and his own judgment, guided 

 by experience and observation in the past, together with his financial condition at the time. 

 If confident that the price will be no lower, and that it will advance sufficient to repay for 

 withholding it from the market for a time, it may be well to delay the sale. But, as a general 

 rule in the disposal of crops, where a fair price can be obtained, and there are no positive 

 indications of an advance, it is better to sell, than to depend upon uncertainty, and run the 

 risk of the price being still lower. It would be very poor policy for any man to borrow 



