412 



HISTORY OF THE VKaETABLE KINGDOM. 



denly allows the hiy/e to recoil; the vibration of 

 the string scatters the cotton about, and sepai-ates 

 it into fibres freed from all knots and impurities." 

 A drawing of an instrument scarcely at all dif- 

 fering from this Cliinese cotton bow, is given by 

 Sonnerat, in his Voyage aux Indes Orientales, 

 torn. i. p. 108. Thunberg says, tliat in Batavia, 

 he saw "the cotton cleansed from the seed, by 

 being hid out on extended cloths, and beaten 

 with sticks, till all the seed was perfectly separ- 

 ated from it." The use of the machine called a 

 gin, which we have already described, very much 

 facilitates the process; and by its means one 

 l)erson may separate and cleanse sixty-five pounds 

 per day, and thus, hy the use of a simple piece 

 of machinery, increase his effective power sixtj^- 

 iive times. A still greater increase may be ob- 

 tained by the employment of more complex 

 engines. In the United States of America mills 

 are constructed on a large scale, and are impelled 

 by horses, steam, or other power. Eight or nine 

 hundred pounds of cotton are cleansed in a day 

 by one of these machines, which requires the 

 attendance of very few persons. The Ameri- 

 can mills are exactly on the same principle as 

 the smaller ones, but are more complete in their 

 appointments. A description of one of the larger 

 sort will therefore comprise all the requisite de- 

 tails of a cotton gin. It consists of two wooden 

 rollers of about an inch in diameter; these are 

 placed horizontally, parallel, and toucliing each 

 other. Over them is fixed a sort of comb, hav- 

 ing iron teeth two inches long and seven-eighths 

 of an inch apart. This comb is of the same 

 length as the rollers, and so placed that its teeth 

 come nearly in contact with them. When the 

 machine is set in motion the rollers are made to 

 revolve with great rapidity in opposite direc- 

 tions, so that the cotton being laid upon them 

 it is by their motion drawn in between the two, 

 whilst no space is left for the seeds to pass with 

 it. To detach these from the fibres of cotton in 

 which they are enveloped, the same machinery 

 Avhich impels the rollers gives to the toothed in- 

 strument above a quick wagging motion to and 

 fro, by means of which the pods of cotton as 

 they are cast upon the rollers are torn open, just 

 as they are beginning to be drawn in; the seeds 

 now released from the coating whicli had en- 

 circled them fly off like sparks to the right and 

 left, while the cotton itself passes between the 

 cylinders. The sharp iron teeth of the comb 

 moving with great velocity, sometimes break 

 the seeds; then the minute pieces are instantly 

 hurried on, and pass between the rollers with 

 the cotton. These stray particles are afterwards 

 separated bj' hand, a process which is called 

 tooting. Entirely to cleanse the cotton from any 

 remaining fragment of seed it is subjected to 

 another process. This consists in whis'dng it 

 about 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 packing 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 tlie place of shipment, 

 where they are again pressed and reduced to half 

 their original size. 



Some manufacturers fancy that this wholesale 

 machine tears and injures the fibres of the cot- 

 ton, 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 tlie 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 tlie teeth of the saw project to a certain 

 depth. In this hopper the cotton to be cleaned 

 is placed, and, as the cylinder revolves, the pro- 

 jecting 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 con- 

 siderable 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. 



Before the invention of spinning machinery 

 in 1787, the demand for cotton wool in England 

 was comparatively small. In the sevepteenth 

 century we obtained our trifling supply wholly 

 from Smyrna and Cyprus. In 170G-7 we im- 

 ported 19,900,000 lbs., viz.: 5,800,000 lbs. from 

 the British West Indies, 9,100,000 lbs. from the 

 French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch colon- 

 ies, and 5,000,000 lbs. from Smyrna and the 

 rest of Turkey. Shortly after that memorable 

 period in the history of our national manufac- 

 tures, the annual consumption of cotton increased 

 six-fold, and it has been progressively augment- 

 ing ever since. 



The average annual import for the six preced- 

 ing years has been 777,372 packages, each bale 

 weighing about 2| or 3 cwt. Some few packages 

 come from Soutli America of smaller weight. 



From all comers of the world does this raw 

 material flow in upon us, and with expedition 



