16 BULLETIN 10.56, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



should be a strong incentive for dealers to reclean and grade all 

 planting cotton seed sold by them. The results of the operation 

 should be seeds that are perfectly clean, more uniform in weight, and 

 higher in germination, and that contain a relatively larger quantity 

 of the stored nutriment necessary for the development of vigorous, 

 rapid-growing, disease-resisting, and high-producing plants. Dirty, 

 trashy, immature, or otherwise inferior seed have no place in the 

 economical production of cotton, and the dealer will not offer for 

 sale and the farmer will not buy such seed if they have the best 

 interests of the cotton growing industry at heart. Figure 7 contrasts 

 the appearance of gin-run, delinted, and recleaned and graded cotton 

 seed and shows the classes of dockage removed by recleaning. 



SACKING. 



It is economy to sack cotton seed as it comes from the recleaning 

 and grading machine. Storing it in bulk and sacking later necessi- 

 tates rehandling, and two men will be required to do the work, 

 whereas, if the recleaner and grader is equipped with a simple 

 elevator and bagging attachment, one man can sack the seed as fast 

 as it comes from the machine. An automatic weigher and bagger 

 may be used profitably where large quantities of cotton seed, either 

 alone or in connection with other lands of seed, are handled. 



New bags, either cotton or burlap, should be used. If cotton bags 

 are preferred, it is not necessary that they be of the heavy grade 

 used for grass, clover, and other small seeds. However, they should 

 be strong enough to withstand rough handling in shipment. Bags 

 of 8-ounce burlap are satisfactory and are much used, although some- 

 times bags of 10-ounce burlap or heavier are preferred. The bags 

 should have a capacity of 100 pounds, net, when sewed or tied, and 

 be filled to even weight. The strong point in favor of a bag of this 

 size is that cotton seed always should be sold by the 100 pounds in- 

 stead of by the bushel. This point is discussed more fully on page 

 22. In closing the bags, sewing either by hand or machine is prefer- 

 able to tying. 



STORAGE. 



Cotton seed may be stored either in bulk or in sacks. In either 

 case the main precaution is to prevent the seed from heating. In- 

 vestigations show that the germination of cotton seed is injured 

 oftener by heating in storage than is generally believed. The direct 

 cause of such heating is excessive moisture. The extent of the dam- 

 age from heating is directly in proportion to the percentage of 

 moisture contained and indirectly to the rapidity of drying. Seed 

 cotton picked early in the season while " green " or at any time when 

 moist and stored in a close bin or building is subject to heating. If 

 cotton is ginned while "green" and the seed stored in large piles 

 such seed becomes heated quickly, and constant stirring or aerating 

 is necessary if it is to be preserved for planting. 



