12 BULLETIN- 476, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Special attention is called to ( rastonia as compared with Charlotte. 

 The average price for unclassed cotton sold at Gastonia was 12.03 

 cents, while it was only 11.80 cents for the classed cotton sold at Char- 

 lotte. It will be observed, however, that the average length of staple 

 ;it Gastonia was 1.06 inches, whereas the average length of staple at 

 Charlotte was only 0.95. a difference of approximately one-eighth of 

 an inch. While unclassed cotton sold at Gastonia brought 23 points, 

 or $1.1.") per bale, more than classed cotton sold at Charlotte, the real 

 difference in value of the cotton was at least 60 points, or $3 per bale, 

 more for the Gastonia cotton on account of the length of staple. This 

 indicates that in this instance the cotton classed before sale brought 

 $1.85 per bale more than the unclassed cotton, value being considered. 



The cotton sold at Salisbury was not of greater value than that sold 

 at Charlotte, but the fact that such a large portion of the cotton sold 

 at Salisbury is purchased by supply merchants is believed to account 

 for the consistent showing it made in this and other tables as a high 

 market. 



As there are about 300.000 bales produced in this section, Table 

 VII indicates that at least $90,000 might have been saved the farmers 

 of the Piedmont section had their cotton been classed before sale. 

 Because of the inferior staple sold at Charlotte as compared with that 

 sold at the other towns, it might be assumed that the producers of 

 this section would have received $175,000 to $200,000 more for their 

 cotton by having it classed before sale. 



DIFFERENCE IN PRICES BETWEEN GRADES. 



A comparison of the average difference in prices between grades on 

 classed and unclassed cotton sold during the 1915-16 season is shown 

 in Table VIII. These data were compiled in order to ascertain 

 whether individual bales brought more nearly what they were worth 

 if the owner were informed of the grade of the bale before sale. The 

 information was obtained by finding the average price at which each 

 grade sold at each town throughout the same period of time and 

 determining the difference between these average prices. 



It will be noted that the differences on grades below Middling were 

 more favorable to the seller of unclassed cotton than to the seller of 

 'hissed cotton. On the other hand, differences on grades above Mid- 

 dling were more favorable to the seller of cotton that had been classed 

 before sale. Taking into consideration the fact that 4S per cent of 

 the cotton was above Middling and only 27} per cent below Middling, 

 it will be >een that the differences used on classed cotton were more 

 fa vorable to the seller than the differences used on unclassed cotton. 



