UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 366 



^^ Contribution from the Office of Markets and Rural Orgsn- 



J^9*^2i. ization. CHARLES J. BRAND, Chief. ^%^*^W^. 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



April 24, 1916. 



MANUFACTURING TESTS OF COTTON FUMIGATED 

 WITH HYDROCYANIC-ACID GAS. 



By William S. Dean, Assistant in Cotton Testing. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 



Spinning tests 



Stock of cotton 



Methods of comparison . 



Waste percentages 



Moisture tests 



Sp innin g qualities 



Tensile strength 



Single thread test 



Chemical laboratory tests 



Bleaching of raw cotton 



Description of further test 



Test for presence of hydrocyanic acid . 



Bleaching of yams 



Dyeing of yarns 



Direct dyes 



Basic dyes 



Mercerizing of yums 



Conclusion 



INTRODUCTION. 



The spinning tests herein described were suggested by a joint com- 

 mittee of cotton manufacturers and officials of the Federal Horticul- 

 tural Board, who met and discussed plans of preventing the intro- 

 duction into the United States of the pink boll worm^ with the im- 

 portations of foreigTi-grown cotton. As hydrocyanic-acid gas had 

 been found by that Board to be a practicable and successful fumi- 

 gating agent ^ in the destruction of these pests, even though the larvae 

 were in the center of a compressed bale of cotton, it was decided that 

 manufacturing tests should be made to determine whether the fumi- 

 gation by this agent would cause any injury to the cotton fibers. 



SPINNING TESTS. 



The manufacturing tests were conducted by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, under the direct supervision of the Office 

 of Markets and Rural Organization. Through the courtesy of the 

 president and manager the tests were made at the New Bedford 



1 Hunter, W. D., The Pink Boll Worm. Unnumbered publication. U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, August, 1914. 



" For a description of this method of fumigation see TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Federal Horticultural Boai'd. Service and regulatory announcement No. 21, 1915. 



Note. — This bulletin should be of interest to manufacturers and dealers in foreign-grown cotton and 

 cotton yarns, also indirectly of interest to the domestic producers, manufacturers, and dealers in all staple 

 cottons. 



269330— Bull. .366—16 



