590 MANUFACTURES. 



the new basis, it was jfirst thought that movable ginneries would meet 

 the necessities of the case, and for a year or two traction engines with 

 ginning equipments went through the country for this purpose. It was 

 found, however, that they would not answer. The small cotton farmers 

 did not have the facilities for storing their cotton until the whole or even 

 a large portion of their crop was gathered ; the exigencies also of their 

 financial condition made it necessary for them to put their cotton in the 

 market without delay after it was gathered. For these reasons the port- 

 able gins were obliged to change their location for nearly every bale they 

 ginned, Avhich was so expensive that, after a fair trial, they were aban- 

 doned as unsuitable. Immediately, in addition to the gin houses estab- 

 lished of old upon the plantations, new ones were erected by countr}^ 

 merchants and others as toll gins, expressly for the purpose of supplying 

 the wants of the new growth of small cotton producers. The competition 

 for custom among these new establishments greatly reduced the charges 

 for ginning ; formerly the seed was given for the ginning, noAV bagging 

 and ties are supplied in addition where the seed is taken. The money 

 charges for ginning were at first $1.00 j^er cwt. of lint ginned, or $5.00 a 

 bale, now it has been reduced to $3.00, and even as low as $2.00 a bale, 

 the average price being about $2.50 per bale. 



Unfortunately, with the reduction of the charges for ginning, there 

 has been a great falling off in the quality of the work done. There is 

 usually a cheap steam engine of five to eight horse power, the gins ave- 

 rage forty to forty-five saws, and the object is to prepare the cotton as 

 rapidly as possible for their customers, to take the lint from the seed as 

 close as practicable, and not to reduce the weight of the product by sep- 

 arating too much the dust and motes from the lint. The consequence is 

 that the quality of the staple is much poorer, not only on account of the 

 motes and dust not removed, and of the short fibres which the close gin- 

 ning of the seed mixes with the longer ones, but also by the knotting, 

 and even breaking of the fibres, owing to the high speed with which 

 these small gins are run, in order to turn off each customer's work with 

 the least delay to him possible. As a rule, a forty saw gin is made to 

 give ten to twelve bales, or about 5,000 pounds of lint per day, Avhereas 

 to separate the fibres, without injury, from the seed, four bales, or 2,000 

 pounds lint per day, is the most that was done when horse powers were 

 used before the introduction of steam engines. 



The deterioration of American cotton, which has recently, been much 

 complained of, both at home and in England, is partly due to the causes 

 above mentioned. Other causes co-operate to promote this evil. The 

 small and decreasing size of the farms leads more and more to the inter- 

 mixture of cotton of different qualities. First, because where less than 



