COTTON 219 



vent the seed from passing through with the lint. 

 On the lower side of the cylinder set with saws is 

 a revolving brush which takes off the lint as it comes 

 through the saw teeth, and a blast from a revolving 

 fan carries it back through a flue into a lint room 

 in the rear of the machine. This is the essential 

 principle of the Whitney gin as well as of all suc- 

 ceeding ones that have yet been made, 



PRESENT DAY GINNING 



There are two kinds of gins used at the present 

 time: roller and saw. The former, old long before 

 Whitney's saw gin was invented, is used for ginning 

 Sea Island cotton, while the saw gin is always used 

 for the upland varieties. Seed of Sea Island cot- 

 ton, it must be remembered, are loose in the lint, 

 smooth and clean, as contrasted jdth_ 



seed to which the lint is as firmly attached as 

 barnacles to a log. Hence the need of two forms 

 of ginning. 



The cotton gin is by no means perfect yet: it 

 leaves too much dirt and trash in the lint during 

 the process of separation from the seed. Whether 

 perfection in this direction is at all possible, the 

 future only can say; but at present the waste in 

 form of dirt, weak fibers, seed and leaf is a mat- 

 ter of considerable consequence. The gins now 

 used also cut the lint badly, thereby seriously dam- 

 aging it for manufacturing purposes. With the 

 coming of improvements, cotton ginning has be- 

 come an industry, almost separate and distinct 

 in itself. 



Not many years ago nearly every plantation had 

 its own gin : but there were many items of expense 

 which made the small gin too expensive. It was 



