MARKETING THE CROP 233 



into bales and covered with a coarse bagging. The cost of the ginning 

 and baling processes is usually a dollar to a dollar and a half per 

 bale. The bales of lint each usually weigh about 500 pounds. When 

 to be shipped long distances, particularly transatlantic shipment, the 

 bales are recompressed into smaller bulk. 



Marketing the Crop. The largest part of the cotton crop is 

 sold to local buyers, usually storekeepers. However, the larger 

 farmers may at times consign their crop directly to cotton merchants 

 in the larger cotton markets. 



Commercial Grades of Cotton. The selling price of cotton varies 

 within narrow limits according to the grade or quality of the lint. 

 Cotton when sold by farmers is usually graded by the buyer, although 

 in all later transactions between business firms both parties to the 

 sale decide on the quality of the staple. 



The points to be observed in grading cotton are the following: 



(1) Amount of sand and trash. 



(2) Color of the fiber. 



(3) Percentage of immature fibers. 



(4) Length and strength of the fiber. 



(5) Dampness of the fiber. 



On the basis of these points, the relative values of which are 

 somewhat variable in different markets, the seven full grades of 

 American cotton are as follows : 



(1) Fair. 



(2) Middling fair. 



(3) Good middling. 



(4) Middling. 



(5) Low middling. 



(6) Good ordinary. 



(7) Ordinary. 



The above system of grading is sufficiently refined for the smaller 

 markets, but the larger cotton merchants differentiate also to the 

 point of half and quarter grades. This further differentiation is de- 

 termined by dividing each full grade into half grades, the best of 

 which has the prefix " strict/' and by subdividing the half grades 

 into quarter grades, to which are given the prefixes "fully" arid 



