2 BULLETIN 591, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ORIGIN OF THE COTTON. 
Cotton of each grade, approximately +3 mch to 1 inch im length 
of staple, was purchased from the following zones or sections of the 
cotton belt: Piedmont Plateau, Atlantic Coastal Plains, eastern 
Gulf Coastal Plains, western Gulf Coastal Plains, and the western 
Prairie Lands and Plateau. These zones, or sections, are recognized 
as producing cotton of different character, largely because of differ- 
ences in soil or of climatic conditions. 
The cotton used was from the 1914 crop and was purchased during 
the months of May and June, 1915. The Middling Fair cotton was 
slightly below the standard grade, suitable cotton of that grade not 
being on the market at the time of purchase. 
Fig. 1.—Map showing the different zones from which cotton used in the tests was purchased. 
Samples were taken from 12 different parts of each bale and 
graded by members of the board of examiners, a committee author- 
ized to hear disputes under the provisions of the United States 
cotton futures Act, and rejections were made of bales not uniform in 
grade and staple. 
SPINNING TESTS AT COTTON MILL. 
The upland cotton produced east of the Mississippi River and that 
produced west of the Mississippi (see fig. 1) were tested separately 
by grades in a cotton mill in Fall River, Mass. 
METHODS OF COMPARISON. 
The bales of cotton representing the five grades were weighed 
carefully on the same day, and these weights, less the weight of 
tare, were used as the basis of calculations in making the spinning 
tests. In each case the different bales of cotton of the same grade 
