2 BULLETIN 476, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



METHOD OF PROCEDURE. 



Arrangements Mere made with practically every ginner in Edge- 

 combe County to sample each bale of cotton ginned during the 1914—15 

 season and mail the samples to the classing room at Tarboro. 1 Samples 

 from about 10,700 bales ginned in the county were received. These 

 samples were graded and stapled, and this information was mailed 

 to the producer on a card, numbered to correspond with the bale from 

 which the sample was taken, with a letter explaining in detail the 

 purpose of the investigation. The farmers were circularized fre- 

 quently, to help them to understand the approximate differences in 

 prices that should be made between grades. 



The investigation was conducted in a similar manner during the 

 1915-16 season on an enlarged scale, classers being appointed for the 

 following counties: Edgecombe (the cotton ginned in Nash County 

 was classed by the Edgecombe classer also), Mecklenburg, Wilson, 

 and Wayne. 2 Samples from about 30,000 bales ginned in these coun- 

 ties were received and classed. 



Samplers were appointed during the 1914-15 season at Fayette- 

 ville, Goldsboro, and Scotland Neck, all of which are located on the 

 Coastal Plain section, to collect samples of bales of cotton, sold at 

 these towns, the class of which was unknown to the producer before 

 sale. Inclosed with each sample sent to the classing room at Tarboro 

 was a record slip giving the price at which the bale sold and the date 

 of sale. About 3,500 samples of bales of cotton sold at these towns 

 were received. During the season of 1915-16 the collection of sam- 

 ples in this manner was extended to include Ahoskie, Clinton, Gas- 

 tonia, Jacksonville, Kings Mountain, Kinston, Laurinburg, Louis- 

 burg, New Berne, Raleigh, Red Springs, Salisbury, Selma, States- 

 ville, Wadesboro, and Washington. Samples drawn from about 

 14,000 bales sold at these towns were received. An attempt is made 

 in the map (see fig. 1) to illustrate the extent to which these towns 

 represent the cotton-producing area of the State. 



CHARACTER OF THE COTTON PRODUCED IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



AVERAGE GRADE AND LENGTH OF STAPLE. 



During the season of 1914—15 the average grade of the bales 

 sampled in North Carolina was slightly below Middling, although 

 about 33;} per cent was Strict Middling or above. During 1915-16 

 the average grade was nearly Strict Middling, about 48 per cent 



1 The authors desire to express their appreciation of the cooperation and assistance of 

 the ginners, which contributed greatly to the success of this investigation. Mr. Fred 

 Taylor, Cotton Technologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, supervised 

 the study. 



- The investigation in Edgecombe proving successful, the North Carolina Legislature 

 passed a law (chap. 175, Public Laws, 1915) which authorizes county commissioners to 

 employ county classers in cooperation with the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, the United States Department of Agriculture, or both, acting together. 



