320 COTTON 



from growing the seed to manufacturing the 

 finished cloth is full of interest to those who watch 

 intelligently. 



The first step in cotton manufacturing, when 

 cotton arrives at the mill in the form of a bale, is 

 the opening process which consists of simply re- 

 moving the ties and bagging (a fabric made of 

 rope) that enclose the bale. The mixing opera- 

 tion is next. Were all cotton just alike, and of 

 the same uniformity, mixing would not be neces- 

 sary, but fiber comes from lowlands and highlands, 

 in long or short staple, of one variety or many 

 varieties; so, unless thoroughly mixed, goods of 

 widely varying quality will be produced. 



Many bales are therefore mixed together, by 

 hand or by machine, the purpose all the time being 

 to get a considerable quantity of cotton as uniform 

 in quality as possible. 



From here cotton goes into a large machine that 

 makes the lap, or gauzy film of cotton first 

 sheets of fleece three or four feet wide, but so 

 very thin that sand, broken leaves and other im- 

 purities drop from it of their own weight. And 

 this is one of the reasons why the lap is made to 

 rid the cotton of these impurities, else yarn would 

 be of poor quality. Three or four times this lap- 

 ping process is repeated, the second and third 

 machines using the product of the preceding ones. 

 As a rule, four laps or films of the first machine 

 pass through the second machine at once. All 

 the while it is being further cleaned and prepared 

 for the carding machines. 



Up to this point there has been no change in 

 the form of cotton. It has been opened and the 

 heavy impurities have fallen out, but it remains 

 still the white, fluffy, fleecy material now in rib- 



