222 COTTON 



allows waste matter to become mixed with the lint. 

 The old gin, when run by horse power, was not 

 open to this objection urged against high steam 

 power. Then you never heard of cut or broken 

 fibers or of crimped or knotted lint such as is now 

 caused by the impact of the saws when the cylinders 

 rotate at a high speed. 



About four hundred revolutions per minute is 

 considered a reasonable speed, and this leaves 

 the lint product in fairly good physical condition. 



THE BALING PROCESS 



While the baling process has no direct connec- 

 tion with ginning, it is now a part of the gin equip- 

 ment, and so may be considered as belonging to 

 this operation preparatory to marketing. 



Like the gin, the baling press has been materi- 

 ally improved in rapidity and in efficiency. The 

 large compresses put a large quantity of fiber into 

 a small bulk, thus promoting ease of transportation. 



Freight rates, you know, are regulated by bulk 

 as well as by weight. Hence, this leads naturally 

 to the demand for a bale carrying as large a quan- 

 tity of lint as possible in a given amount of space. 

 The following data showing the average weights 

 of bales for 100 years illustrate this: 



In 1800 average bale, weight 225 pounds; 1810, 

 250 pounds; 1820, 264 pounds; 1833, 339 pounds; 

 1839, 385 pounds; 1849, 400 pounds; 1859, 445 

 pounds; 1869, 440 pounds; 1879, 453 pounds; 1889, 

 477 pounds; 1899, 499 pounds. 



Cotton brokers and shippers naturally prefer 

 a bale of great density, and of such shape as will 

 pack easily in cars and steamboats. 



As a rule, the American bale is not prepared 



