294 



COTTON GROWING 



storm. Lower grades of cotton are likely to result from late 

 picking. 



Yields. If five hundred pounds of lint are obtained from 

 one acre the yield is considered very good, the average for this 

 country being less than half this weight. Much larger yields are 

 often produced on rich soil by good farmers. 



Ginning and Baling. Public gins are to be found throughout 

 the cotton belt (Fig. 194). Suction pipes are used to lift the 

 seed cotton, delivered in wagons by farmers. It is usually passed 

 through cleaners before going to the gin proper. The work of the 



FIG. 194. A typical cotton-gin house in the rural district of the cotton belt. Note 

 the basket of loose cotton entering at the top. After ginning the fibre is baled. The seeds piled 

 at the rear of the house may be stored in the shed until taken to the oil press. (U. S. D. A.) 



gin is to remove the seeds from the lint. This is done by means 

 of circular saws which remove the lint on their teeth as they 

 revolve at rapid speed. Brushes are so placed as to remove the 

 lint from the saw teeth. The cotton is then passed in great 

 layers into receivers, and is ready for baling (Fig. 195). 



The lint is now comparatively clean, and is pressed into large 

 rectangular bales weighing approximately five hundred pounds, 

 and containing about thirty-five cubic feet. Coarse bagging is 

 used to cover the bales, which are held together with iron bands. 

 More careful protection of the cotton with good bagging is coming 

 into practice. 



