A STORY OF COTTON 35 



Such being the case, and the moisture of the bagging being 

 retained on the under side, and pressing against the cotton 

 fibre, the cotton fibre IMMEDIATEI^Y begins to operate, on 

 lines of natural philosophy, and each of the million strands 

 of cotton fibre, that are pressing against the moist bagging, 

 starts, by CAPILLARY ATTRACTION, to suck this moisture 

 into each of its little tubes; and, by this means, and through 

 this contagion, the cotton fibre proper becomes wetter and 

 wetter, and each fibre, after its first wetting, acts independ- 

 ently in taking the moisture further and further into the bale. 



The amount of moisture sucked INTO a bale of cotton by 

 capillary attraction, is, in proportion to the water supply that 

 is furnished the outside fibres of cotton that are immediately 

 contiguous to or in contact with this moisture. 



As to the water that comes in contact with the exposed 66% 

 of the cotton fibre proper. 



When the bale of cotton was boxed and ginned and was 

 packed to a density of, say, twelve and one-half pounds to the 

 cubic foot, the packing of this cotton in the gin box was 

 merely the placing of the fibres of this cotton close together, 

 and expelling SOME of the air, so as to make the original 

 package one of a character that could be readily handled. 



The subsequent compressing and re-compressing of cotton 

 is simply the exertion of more pressure on this same bale of 

 cotton and expelling more air. 



In gin compressing, by any process whatever, either at the 

 round bale gin compress, or the square bale gin compress, it 

 is simply a method of rolling or folding the fibres closer and 

 closer together, in such a manner that less air is boxed and 

 sealed when the bale is ready for marketing. 



If a bale is gin compressed, it will not require re-compres- 

 sion to expel the air, that is in evidence in the present standard 

 bale of cotton, for the purpose of reducing the size of the bale 

 so the bale will occupy less room, in railroad cars and steam- 

 ships. 



In the original baling of the bale of cotton to the density, 

 say, of twelve and one-half pounds to the cubic foot, there is, 

 necessarily, very much air left between the fibres of a so 

 loosely packed bale of cotton, although the air is practically 



