138 COTTON CULTURE. 



gin or gin-house, and only very cheap cotton-sheds for the 

 temporary storing of a part of his crop, it being hauled 

 and stored in his shed at the factory, of which he himself, 

 if he chooses, can carry the key. In doing so large an 

 amount of ginning, it would, of course, be expected that 

 the machines would be of the best construction, and the 

 operator, a person skilled in cotton and in machinery, so 

 that the ginning would be done in the very best manner, 

 the lint thoroughly removed from the seed, and not torn, 

 or cut, or matted, or tangled by the improper action of 

 the saws. 



The appliances for packing and compression are also of 

 the very best sort, the press being made principally of 

 iron, and worked by steam power, making the bales very 

 nearly, if not precisely, cubical in form, and varying not 

 five pounds either way from four hundred each. They 

 would be banded with substantial iron hoops, an inch or 

 more wide, and prepared by being varnished, while hot, 

 with coal tar. In the engine house, close by, is a black- 

 smith's forge, where the rivets are easily made and insert- 

 ed while hot, battered down, or clenched in the most 

 thorough manner. It would be expected also that the 

 cotton would be sorted or graded while passing through the 

 gin, which is, by far, the best time for doing it ; and, as 

 the planter's name or initials are branded upon the bale, 

 the quality or grade could be put on at the same time. 

 Honesty and thoroughness in this would soon work a most 

 desirable change in the whole system of cotton marketing, 

 There need be no sampling done, but the cotton ought to 

 be sold according to the brand found upon it, so that the 

 package would be entirely unbroken and undisturbed from 

 the moment it was riveted in the gin-house, to the time 

 the hoops are cut off in the distant cotton mill. The 

 enormous and exorbitant charges which are made upon 

 the crop at the various shipping ports, for drayage, 

 storage, compression, re-packing, and insurances, would, 



