1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



29 



and beauty, and limits the use of the finer yarns, 

 which are chiefly used lor these articles. As an 

 instance of this, we may state, that one of our 

 customers informs us, he frequently pays from 9d. 

 to Is. per yard, upon his finest muslins, for picking- 

 out the nitters, one by one with a needle, alter the 

 goods were woven — an expense which is equal lo 

 from 10s. a 30s. upon each pound weight of muslin. 

 Our experience has proved that the softer and 

 more silky the staple, the more easily it is nittered; 

 and, as the spinners possess no means by which 

 nitters can be removed Irom the cotton when once 

 formed, the only means of remedying the evil, is 

 to prevent their formation. 



To this point, therefore, the attention of the 

 grower should be strongly directed, jill unne- 

 cessary handling, whipping, tossing, or shaking 

 of the cotton, ought io be avoided. It should be } 

 as well cleaned as possible, but yet free from 

 stringiness, and the fibres be lelt in the loose and 

 disentangled state they appear in when just sepa- 

 rated from the seed. If this were attended to, it 

 would materially improve the appearance of fine 

 yarn, and remove the never ceasing complaints of 

 the fine muslin manufacturers, and we are per- 

 suaded, tend to increase the consumption of fine 

 cotton goods. 



Any reform you can bring about in this matter 

 will be a benefit to trade, and oblige. 



Yours, &c. 



The committee, to whom was referred the let- 

 ter of a respectable house in Manchester, Eng- 

 land, engaged in the manufacture of fine sea-isl- 

 and cotton, respectfully report, that the matter to 

 which their notice has been directed, is one ol 

 deep importance to the grower of that valuable 

 staple production. If, in conse.(iuence of his ne- 

 glect, or want of skill, a pound of muslin, which 

 would otherwise command its full price, is depre- 

 ciated from 10 to 30 shillings, duly and interest 

 obviously impel him to the providing of a remedy 

 at once prompt and efficient. 



Through the politeness of Messrs. Browns and 

 Welsman, three samples of cotton, being speci- 

 mens forwarded from Manchester, were received 

 from Messrs. Gourdin, Matthiessen & Co. These 

 samples are endorsed as follows: — "No. 1, illy 

 got up and nittered," "No. 2, illy got up and par- 

 tially open," "No. 3, well got up." In examin- 

 ing the "nitters" in No. 1, through a microscope 

 that magnified one thousand times, they were 

 discovered to be, in general, of a globular form, 

 and to consist of filaments of cotton, with inter- 

 stices of various diameters, readily reducible in 

 size, by pulling the long threads attached to the 

 mass. This, however, could not always be done, 

 as the knot of fibres, consUtuting the nitter, was, 

 in many instances, too strongly formed. The com- 

 mittee next proceeded to the examination of sam- 

 ples of seed cotton. In about a pound, personally 

 gathered by one of them, from fully matured 

 pods, produced from healthy plants, no nitters 

 were observed. In the same quantity, picked 

 from diseased stalks, which bore defective fl-uit, 

 several were seen. These were subjected to the 

 test of the microscope, and precisely the appear- 

 ance that characterized those taken from the 

 ginned cotton in No. 1, was exhibited. Repeated 

 inspections since, have produced no marked vari- 

 ation in the general results. The committee, 

 therefore, with confidence, deduce the inference, 



that preparation, except perhaps in the isolated 

 instance heieafier to be noticed, is not the cause 

 of the nitter. In confirmation of the opinion, 

 putting aside the conclusive facts adduced, the 

 different processes through which the cotton pass- 

 es, whilst in the hands of the planter, need only 

 to be briefly adverted to. Alter the stained is sepa- 

 rated from the white, the latter is thrown, in small 

 parcels, into a whipper, in order to extract the dirt 

 and to throvv oti" the short and weak fibres, which, 

 if allowed to remain, would detract very material- 

 ly from the value of the crop. This machine, 

 constructed of wood with round wooden teeth, is 

 turned by the hand. Unless the door of the whip- 

 per be closed, which is never done, the egress of 

 the cotton is quickly effected. After this opera- 

 tion, the cotton is ginned and then taken to the 

 moting house, where, on a frame of wood work, 

 it is gently shaken and partially opened by the 

 hand. When clean, it is received by the packer, 

 who, with a wooden instrument, compresses it 

 into a bag, weighing, when finished, from 300 to 

 400 pounds. In these various, but necessary, 

 modes of treatment, in not one of which any vio- 

 lence is used, the committee feel persuaded, that 

 the staple sustains no injury whatever. It is weli 

 known that every description of cotton, except 

 the finest qualities of sea-island, betbre it is con- 

 verted into fabrics, is subjected to numerous opera- 

 tions, all of which are performed by machinery. 

 From the willow, which, by its revolving spikes, 

 tears open the matted masses, succeeded by the 

 scutching machine, in which the cotton is beaten 

 by metallic blades, revolving on an axis at the 

 speed of from 4000 to 7000 revolutions in a mi- 

 nute, other machines with iron fingers, teeth and 

 wheels, follow, so that it may almost be said that, 

 without the aid of human hands, the vegetable 

 wool "is opened, cleaned, spread, carded, drawn, 

 roved, spun, wound, warped, dressed and woven." 

 Now, although it is represented, that the supe- 

 rior qualities of black-seed cotton are not thus 

 wrongly treated, yet, as they are "opened and 

 cleaned by being placed upon cords stretched on a 

 wooden frame, and then beaten by women with 

 smooth switches," the committee are at no loss to 

 perceive how the complaints of the manufacturers 

 by their own act may be increased. This last mode 

 ol' cleansing the raw material was very generally 

 pursued by the planter a few years ago. Were 

 he now to resume that ready method of preparing 

 his crop for market, he is satisfied, that whilst his 

 time and labor would be saved, the fabrication of 

 fine goods would be likely to incur an additional 

 expense of no ordinary magnitude. By using 

 switches, it is nearly certain, that the weak fibres 

 are broken into minute parts and with the natu- 

 rally short and rotten, intermix and become en- 

 tangled. Although, therefore, the imperfection 

 of staple, which is the special subject of this re- 

 port, is undeniably common to the cotton plant 

 under peculiar circumstances, the committee in- 

 cline to the opinion, that that imperfection can be 

 created by artificial means, and from experiments 

 instituted by them, is engendered by the different 

 processes through which the cotton goes in its 

 conversion into cloth, as alread}' particularly de- 

 scribed. That the nitter, however, is occasional- 

 ly formed through the want of foresight on the 

 part of the planter, when his crop, from adverse 

 1 seasons, or other causes, is defective in texture, is 



