A SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTING FOR COTTON GINNERIES. 9 



form of tag that is recommended. In every instance the tag should be made of 

 reasonably heavy waterproof paper or of linen. Double eyelets with an extra rein- 

 forcement strip are desirable, and a double flexible wire, preferably of copper, for 

 attaching the tag will give the best results. The tags should be numbered consecu- 

 tively and used in numerical sequence throughout the season. 



The selection of the tag to be used should be made with great care, as it is to become 

 the principal means of identification of the cotton when the bale is in the warehouse. 

 A tag of poor quality, improperly fastened to the bale with a single small steel wire, 

 is often twisted off by the action of the wind and much trouble is caused by such 

 a loss. 



To guard against just such confusion as the loss of a bale tag will 

 cause, it is often the practice to stencil or print on the bale itself 

 some marks of identification. It is felt that in most cases this 

 would prove fully as satisfactory as the use of a bale tag. It is 

 recommended, however, that the number which is placed on the 

 bale be the same as the number of the ginning ticket issued for it. 

 This will make it easy to trace ownership through the records, and 

 make it necessary to use only one set of identifying marks. 



THE GINNING TICKET AND REGISTER— FORM 2.1 



The ginning ticket, Form 2, is the foundation of all the subsequent 

 records of operations. On it is recorded the bale number, the mark 

 of the bale, owner, driver, to whom delivered, the weight, charges, 

 and other facts relating to the ginning operations. Each ticket is the 

 record of one bale of cotton, and since the tickets are numbered con- 

 secutively, the last number used indicates the number of bales ginned. 

 Care must be taken to make the number of the bale tag (Form 1) 

 (or the stencil number if stenciling is practiced) correspond with the 

 number of the ginning ticket. On the right side of the ginning ticket 

 are found columns for the classification of the facts found on the 

 left-hand side. Ample space is also provided for calculations. It 

 is an excellent practice to preserve the computations on the ticket 

 for future reference. 



This form is put up, five tickets to the page, in duplicate or tripli- 

 cate, depending on whether or not the State law requires a copy for 

 the landlord, in which case one copy is given to the grower, one to 

 the landlord, and one is retained in the office. 



In some ginneries it will be found desirable to use a tablet of gin- 

 ning tickets (Form 2a 2 ), and a separate register (Form 2b 3 ). It 

 should be understood, however, that Form 2 should not be used when 

 Forms 2a and 21 are used, as these two forms are used in place of 

 Form 2. The same information is found on the two forms as described 

 under Form 2, the only advantage being that the ticket is a little 

 longer and the register contains a larger number of entries on the 

 page. The tickets should be put up in duplicate or triplicate, one 

 ticket to the page, depending on whether or not the State law re- 

 quires a copy for the landlord. 



1 See page 40. 2 See page 41. 3 See page 10. 



55231°— 21— Bull. 985 2 



