8 BULLETIN" 121, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



fiuence more or less the value of cotton to a spinner. If we compare 

 a 500-pound bale of middling with a 500-pound bale of good mid- 

 dling on the basis of the above percentages, ignoring tare, we find 

 that the middling bale produces 424.45 pounds of yarn or thread, 

 while the good middling produces 453.30 pounds. These figures show 

 a difference in the amount of finished product of 28.85 pounds, which 

 represents an important item to the manufacturer, as this 28.85 

 pounds, if it had not been removed as waste, would have appeared as 

 finished yarn and thus would be worth the value of the finished 

 product. Again, the machines must be operated just as long, at the 

 same or greater cost to the mill, to produce the 424.45 pounds from 

 the middling bale as they are to produce the 453.30 pounds from the 

 good middling bale. j 



Again, the machines can not run as fast or produce as much when 

 running on low grades as when on the higher grades. Therefore it is 

 apparent that increased labor charges per pound accrue on a de- 

 creased outturn of production. This is due to the increased per- 

 centage of waste and necessarily slower speeds, and it is necessary 

 either to operate with a lower production or to overcome these factors 

 by running double shifts of operators on some processes or by increas- 

 ing the equipment for these processes, either of which is an expense 

 to the manufacturer, and adds its influence to the relation of values 

 between the grades. • 



Again, on account of the increased amount of foreign matter in the 

 lower grades such machines as the picker and card require more fre- 

 quent cleaning or " stripping." This necessitates more frequent stop- 

 page of the machinery for this purpose, especially of the cards, which 

 reduces production and increases cost. It should be remembered also 

 that the low grades of staple cotton have only a very limited use in 

 the regular or so-called white lines of goods. It is sometimes the 

 custom to mix low grades of off-colored cottons in very small quanti- 

 ties with the better grades. If a great number of low-grade bales 

 should be put through the mill simultaneously the color of the yarn 

 cr cloth would likely be of such character as to be considered by the 

 trade as undesirable, or difficult to bleach, or to dye with such delicate 

 shades as are sometimes used. This attitude of the trade accounts 

 largely for the discrimination against the low-grade staples. It is a 

 question how far this discrimination should be carried, as frequently 

 these low grades, after being cleaned of their excessive trash, are 

 almost as valuable to the spinner as the better grades. 



Summarizing these statements it seems that every increase of waste 

 or of labor necessary and every per cent by which production is de- 

 creased increases the final cost per pound to the mill. The important 

 fact is that even with a reduced production all overhead or fixed 



