OTHER FARM CROPS 561 



by proper seed selection. Short fibers are in other cases due to im- 

 perfect ginning, which breaks or crimps the staple and may be 

 avoided by better management. 



Weak Fibers. The greater part of the waste is due to the pres- 

 ence in the baled cotton of staple from undeveloped or diseased bolls. 

 The bolls in such cases do not open and the fibers do not expand but 

 remain matted together in a "hard lock." All locks that do not open 

 out after drying may be assumed to be worthless on account of weak 

 and undeveloped staple. Pickers should be instructed not to gather 

 hard locks, and in the assorting after picking all remaining ones 

 should be thrown out. Seed cotton still containing hard locks when 

 it reaches the gin can be improved by setting the stripper bars well 

 back from the roller to allow the locks to fall through. Close ginning 

 is a mistake, for it costs the farmer more through deterioration of his 

 cotton than he gains by the slight increase in weight. 



The number of hard locks can be greatly reduced by bringing 

 the cotton to perfect maturity through attention to fertilization and 

 culture and to the control of diseases. 



Lack of Uniformity in the Bale. Separate late from early pick- 

 ings. Buyers desire to have each bale uniform within itself. If, 

 therefore, a late picking is inferior to an earlier one, it should not 

 be ginned and packed with it, as the price of a bale is determined by 

 the poorest cotton found in it after thorough sampling. 



Yellow Cotton. Buyers invariably complain when a sample 

 of cotton contains yellow staple, and the grade and price are conse- 

 quently reduced. Yellow tufts in the ginned cotton come from dis- 

 colored locks that should have been left unpicked or been sorted out 

 before ginning. They originate, as a rule, in bolls attacked by the 

 anthracnose or bacterial boll-rot. Their presence in a bale is an indi- 

 cation of too close ginning. 



Sand. A bale of cotton always contains considerable sand 

 which has been blown into the open bolls. This is quite unavoidable, 

 but when cotton has been left unpicked and has blown out on the 

 ground the quantity of dirt is increased. 



Moisture. An element of waste from the spinner's standpoint 

 is the moisture which evaporates during the process of manufacture. 

 This moisture may be excessive in cotton picked early in the season 

 and ginned without drying. There may, on the other hand, be a 

 lack of moisture. The cotton may be overdry and appear harsh and 

 brittle. Such cotton gives trouble in spinning, because of the elec- 

 tric current it develops. 



The question of moisture is one of the most important connected 

 with the handling of cotton. Either an excess of moisture or a lack 

 of it reduces the grade. The farmer, however, must never add water 

 to the cotton, but he should seek to retain the optimum amount of 

 natural moisture. This means that to drive off excessive moisture 

 freshly picked cotton should be sunned until the seeds will crack in 

 the teeth. The staple will then be slightly overdry and unfit to gin 

 or offer to the buyer. To restore its grade it should be "bulked." 

 Bulking is placing the seed cotton, after sunning, in a large, deep, 



