GINNING 451 



usually made, the first as soon as the earlier bolls open, the 

 second when the majority of the bolls are ripe, and the third 

 after frost has stopped further growth. The number of 

 pickings may be reduced to two or may be increased, accord- 

 ing to the locality and the season. The bulk of the crop is 

 usually gathered at the second picking. Picking is the most 

 expensive part of cotton production, and the invention of a 

 satisfactory machine to do this work would mean almost as 

 much to the industry as the invention of the cotton gin. 



614. Ginning. The next process after the cotton is 

 picked is to separate the seed from the lint. The seed cotton 

 is hauled to the ginnery, where the lint is removed from the 

 seed and is packed into bales. The type of gin which is in 

 common use, except in the Sea Island district, is the saw gin, 

 which was invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, and has since 

 been improved by many other inventors. The seed cotton 

 is fed into a hopper at the bottom of which are many revolv- 

 ing saws mounted on a cylinder. These saws tear the lint 

 from the seed, the seed dropping down into a chute and the 

 lint being removed from the saws by sets of brushes on 

 another revolving cylinder. The lint is then pressed against 

 a board by means of an air ])last and passes from the gin in 

 a continuous sheet. It is taken automatically to the press, 

 where it is packed by means of hydraulic or steam power 

 into a compact bale. 



The seed cotton is usually drawn from the wagon to the 

 gins by suction and automatically divided among the several 

 machines with which each ginnery is provided. From these, 

 the lint cotton is all gathered into one bale, while the seed is 

 carried to an elevator, so that in a very few minutes a wagon 

 load of seed cotton can be ginned, the lint cotton baled and 

 returned to the farmer's wagon, and the seed delivered to 

 him from the elevator. During this process, practically no 

 hand work is necessary. Cotton may be seriously damaged 

 if the gin is run at too high a rate of speed or if the cotton i« 



