168 BRAZILIAN COTTON 



The cotton is bought at the office of the exporter from brokers and 

 small up-country merchants on a secure contract ; loosely packed 

 small bales, generally 64 kilos each,* some slightly heavier, are delivered 

 in the warehouses in the towns of exporter (at port) ; each bale is 

 sampled in the presence of the seller and classified there and then as 

 either first, second or " refugo " (throw-outs). Only the price of the 

 first grade is fixed in the contract at the time of purchase, the deduc- 

 tion for seconds is agreed to at the time of sampling : ^hen we were 

 in these parts it Avas almost 50 per cent, less than first. " Refugos " 

 could not be sold at any j)rice to exporters. 



The lots are, of course, kept separate in the stores and, according 

 to the requirements and established mixings of each firm, they are 

 taken to the press room. Here the process of separating long and 

 short fibre really begins and the dirty cotton and clean cottons are 



Part of Cotton Warehouse of Kroencke & Co., Parahyba, 

 showmg Export Bales 



further separated. Layers of the opened bale are placed on a slanting 

 table whose surface consists of small Mooden rollers, allowing dirt and 

 dust to fall through, on each side of this table stand four men taking 

 out dirty and dead cotton, and as they perform this work they pass the 

 good cotton on to the next man who again casts his eyes over it, 

 picking out undesirable stuff and loosening the cotton at the same time, 

 and so on, each man pushing the cotton to his neighbour. A foreman 

 checks the length of the cotton in each bale as it is opened and generally 

 supervises the A\ork on the table. The unsuitable cotton is thrown 

 behind the men in a pile and only the selected cotton passes along the 

 slanting table, at the end of which it reaches a simple contrivance for 



*As these bales have to travel long distances on mules, the weight is limited to 

 64 kilos each, one being placed on either side of the mule. 



