DENSITY OF COTTON BALES 



16-; 



Cotton Sampling in the Streets of Parahyba 



The makers of the Fawcett* presses claim to be able to turn out 

 up to 40 bales an hour, whilst the information given me by one of the 

 owners of the other press \\'as that the maximum outturn was 25 bales . 

 per hour. I pointed out to the two firms possessing the horizontal 

 press that short staple cotton like that of India, where Bridge's press 

 is well introduced, can stand a pressure of o61b. jjer cubic foot, but that 

 I thought long staple Brazilian cotton might possibly suffer from such 

 a pressure. The pressure in these horizontal presses can be regulated 

 and there is no need to use such a high density. The Egyptian bale 

 has a cubic density up to 3Slb. per cubic foot, and the Cotton Control 

 Board at Manchester — whose dictum may be considered as absolutely 

 authoritative — decided that American bales must on no account be 

 pressed to a higher density than 361b. : this was in reply to the 

 American compresses which during the war, owing to shortage of 

 freight, intended to make bales of 421b. instead of 281b. to the cubic 

 foot. Trial shipments of bales of varying density from these horizontal 

 presses are now on the way to Lancashire for expert opinion. 



The following is more or less the system of handling the cotton 

 adopted by all the above firms : — 



* Perhaps the latest machines have a greater output. 



