nr.KK CROPS 3/3 



is then shipped to larger shipping points where the bales are 

 compressed for final shipment to manufacturer or exporter. 

 The planter may receive his seed back with his baled lint, or 

 may sell it to the ginner, who frequently acts as agent of cot- 

 ton mill companies or buys seed upon his own account. 



474. Commercial Grades. In buying cotton, a sample is 

 taken by hand from the surface of the bale, and the judgment 

 as to the quality of the whole bale is made upon such sample. 

 Ordinarily there is little opportunity to have the contents of the 

 square bale designedly non-uniform, and if such should occur, 

 the marks upon the bale permit the source of the cotton to be 

 located. 



There is no standard for grading cotton, nor are there any 

 authorized agencies for grading cotton, it being done by men 

 who have become expert, but who are usually unable to give 

 any reason for their judgment. Under this system the grading 

 at small centers is always made low enough to be sure to pass 

 when it reaches the larger markets. The most important charac- 

 ters of cotton are the length, strength and uniformity of staple. 

 As a matter of fact, however, cotton is graded largely upon 

 cleanliness, color indicating its exposure to the weather and 

 upon the feel, determined largely by pressing the sample in the 

 palm of the hand. 



Upland cotton is graded in America into seven principal 

 grades, from highest to lowest as follows: fair, middling fair, 

 good middling, middling, low middling, good ordinary, ordinary. 

 It will be seen that the middling grade is intermediate between 

 the highest and the lowest grade, which probably explains the use 

 of the term, since it has no significance so far as the source of 

 the cotton or the use to which it is to be put is concerned. 

 The grades above mentioned are what are known as full grades. 

 Between each of these grades there are usually three interme- 

 diate grades : thus between the full grades fair and middling 

 fair there are the intermediate grades from highest to lowest 



