TESTS OF OFFICIAL COTTON STANDARDS FOR GRADE. 17 
TABLE 1X.—The average temperature, relative humidity, and percentage of moisture in 
the cotton during the mill and textile-school tests. 
Mill test. Textile-school test. 
Determination. - : ur 
are- . are- er 
mousee Pickers. | Cards. nance Pickers. | Cards. 
Average degree of temperature.....-.-..-- ~ 36.8 70.6 70.8 80 84.6 82.2 
Average relative humidity.........-.----- 72.8 45.1 50. 0 53 60.7 60.3 
Average percentage of eee Beppe es aek 9.17 6. 44 5.40 6.47 6.33 6. 28 
The average moisture in the cotton when the tests were begun at 
Fall River was 9.17 per cent, as determined by samples taken at the 
time the cotton was weighed in the warehouse. The average moisture 
in this same cotton taken during the time it was passing through the 
cards was 5.40 per cent, a loss of moisture alone of 3.77 per cent of the 
weight of the cotton. The average moisture in the cotton when the 
tests were begun at West Raleigh, N. C., was 6.44 per cent, as deter- 
mined by samples taken at the time it was weighed in the warehouse. 
The average moisture in this same cotton while it was passing through 
the cards was 6.28 per cent, a loss of moisture of only 0.16 per cent 
of the weight of the cotton. 
Referring to Tables II and IV, it will be observed that the invisible 
waste at the mill ranged from a 3 per cent to a 5 per cent loss, while at 
the textile school there was sometimes a slight gain and sometimes a 
sight invisible loss. If the waste percentages were corrected for 
moisture content, the results would be practically the same in each 
case. These findings also emphasize the need of an exact knowledge of 
the moisture content of cotton in the various stages of handling and 
marketing, and of maintaining proper atmospheric conditions while 
it is in the course of manufacture. 
MANUFACTURING PROPERTIES. 
In determining the comparative manufacturing properties of the 
different grades of cotton it was found that better comparisons could 
be made by manufacturing the cotton representing all of the different 
grades into the same number of yarn. This method, while not con- 
forming altogether to the general practices of the trade, simplified the 
- comparisons and eliminated a number of factors which otherwise 
would have involved changes in the speeds, settings, and twist per 
inch in the yarn. Even with the method adopted, it was difficult to 
obtain specific data regarding all the factors involved in the spinning 
qualities of the different grades. As the grades decreased in quality 
from Middling Fair to Good Ordinary, the amount of dirt, dust, leaf, 
and short fibers afloat in the air increased progressively. For instance, 
when stripping the cards in the mill while the Good Ordinary cotton 
