126 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RAW COTTON 



prescribe the cotton he desires in such a way that the 

 Grower can read the prescription, and can in his turn set 

 to work to sow the seed and grow the plants in such a 

 way as to obtain it, the cotton trade will be homo- 

 geneous, and capable of a high degree of efficiency. That 

 the trade of spinning alone is enormous, specialized, and 

 intricate, comprising many separate trades within itself, 

 will be admitted by everyone. It is probably not quite so 

 intricate an organization as a cotton-plant, and its com- 

 ponents have the advantage of articulate speech and of 

 historical origin. So long as the Grower of cotton was 

 content merely to do certain things because past experi- 

 ence had shown that they were, on the average, the best 

 things to do, he could not expect much sympathy when 

 he complained that the language of the Spinner was not 

 comprehensible to him. At the present time, even 

 though there is no millennium in sight, and although all 

 the knowledge we are acquiring may not pay anyone to 

 apply, there is a definite tendency towards this establish- 

 ment of communications between the two ends of the 

 cotton trade. The forces of curiosity are getting out of 

 hand. Each end is beginning to wish to know more about 

 the other end's business, and to realize that the Cotton 

 Trade is not confined within the walls of the mills. 



Now, when such intercommunication begins on the 

 feature, let us say, of " strength," the common language 

 is at once conspicuous by its absence. Well- 

 intentioned authors write at length on the 

 strength of single fibres tested by straining and by blows 

 from a falling weight, graders take samples of lint and 



