COTTON. 47 



in a light wheel through which a current of air is 

 made to pass. As it is tossed out of this winnowing 

 machine it is gathered up and conveyed to the pack- 

 ing-house, where, by means of screws, it is forced 

 into bags, each, when filled, weighing about 300 

 pounds. These are then sewed up and sent to the 

 place of shipment, where they are again pressed and 

 reduced to half their original size*. 



Some manufacturers fancy that this wholesale ma- 

 chine tears and injures the fibres of the cotton, but 

 it is perhaps an idle prejudice, since the best cotton 

 which we import is from Georgia, where it is most 

 expeditiously cleansed ; and that which obtains the 

 least price comes from the East Indies, where the 

 hand is the only machine used. 



Another description of gin, called a saw-gin, is 

 likewise used for short staple cotton in the United 

 States and in Brazil. This consists of one roller nine 

 inches in diameter, having a series of circular saws 

 fixed upon it parallel to each other, and at a distance 

 of one inch and a half apart. Above this roller is a 

 hopper, having the bottom formed of a grating of 

 wire-work, through which the teeth of the saw pro- 

 ject to a certain depth. In this hopper the cotton to 

 be cleaned is placed, and, as the cylinder revolves, the 

 projecting teeth of the saw come in contact with the 

 cotton, and drag it through the wire bottom of the 

 hopper, which being inclined at a considerable angle, 

 the seeds, as they are disengaged, roll down, and are 

 conveyed away through a spout in the machine. 



The cotton is more quickly cleansed by this method 

 than by the use of the cylinder gin, but at the same 

 time it tears and injures the staple. It is usual in 

 the Liverpool Price Currents to denote, as saw-ginned 

 cotton, the cotton of Brazil cleansed by this process, 

 which fetches a lower price in the market than the 

 Brazil cotton not so operated upon. 



* Hall's Travels in North America, 



