COTTON. 



their pursuits, is strikingly visible in the attention paid 

 to picking their cotton. Hence the Demerary wool is 

 generally considered worth perhaps ten or fifteen per 

 cent, more, on account of the cleanness and uniformity 

 of its quality, independent of its intrinsic value when 

 compared with other cottons. It must be obvious, that 

 the cleaning of cotton before it is packed, deserves, from 

 the planter, a much greater portion of attention than it 

 generally receives, when he considers, that the freight 

 of much inferior stuff might be saved, and that he can 

 command labour at a much cheaper rate than the Bri- 

 tish manufacturer, who must submit the cotton whicli 

 he purchases to a very rigid and expensive examination, 

 frequently abstracting from it one fourth of its weight 

 before it is rendered fit for his purpose. That this may 

 not be supposed overcharged, let us suppose a very 

 common and not highly rated case. 



One pound of Pernambuco wool costs . . 2s. 6d. 



Picking 6'd. per lb., 6*oz. waste Is. ... 1 6 



279 



4s. Od. 

 Clean cotton remaining 10 oz. ; which, therefore, 

 costs the manufacturer six shillings and four pence 

 eight-tenths per lb. previous to all his subsequent ope- 

 rations, excepting a small deduction which he may ob- 

 tain by selling the waste, or manufacturing it for some 

 coarser purpose. Again, if we can suppose that the 

 planter, from having his labour at a lower value, could 

 have the same cotton picked for three pence per lb. with 

 the same refuse or waste, and that he could sell it to 

 the British manufacturer 20 per cent, lower than by the 

 former calculation it actually costs him, he would re- 

 ceive five shillings and one penny per lb., saving up- 

 wards of one third of the freight and charges, and re- 

 serving his inferior cotton either for domestic uses or for 

 traffic, as he found most advantageous. Simple as this 

 statement is, much difficulty would, no doubt, occur in 

 reducing it to practice ; but the obvious absurdity of 

 paying a high freight, and a war premium of insurance, 

 for what is found totally unfit for use, must strike every 

 person at first sight ; and this hint is well worth the 

 serious attention of those extensively interested in the 

 prosperity and management of cotton plantations. The 

 remark respecting the Dutch colonies is a sufficient 

 proof, that there is nothing impracticable in it when 

 care and attention are employed. 



A general complaint has been made of the great room 

 occupied on board ship, by the way in which cotton is 

 packed in the bags, being merely trod down in the bags 

 by the negroes employed on the different estates. To 

 remedy this, compressing presses have been suggested 

 as useful improvements, and a considerable number 

 have been already ordered by West India merchants for 

 the use of the planters. These presses, in shape, are 

 not materially different from those used for the pressing 

 of cloth in calenders, or that employed by printers and 

 bookbinders for the compression of paper and books. 

 The compression of cotton, besides the saving of room, 

 must be advantageous to the cotton, in so far as it will 

 prevent, in a great measure, that absorption of moisture 

 of which it is so eminently susceptible, and by which 

 it is so frequently damaged ; but it will require rather 

 more labour in beating to restore it again to a state fit 

 for carding. 



On the Cleaning and Picking of Cotton. 



In the manufacture of cotton, the process first in 



point of order is the cleaning it from the seeds or gins. 



This process, more easily accomplished by hand than 



any other, and apparently the most simple, has, in ex- Cotton. 

 perience, been found the mo3t difficult of all to be ac- ■——/-—' 

 complished by machinery. 



It is of much importance, not only to the manufac- 

 turer, but also to the merchant ; for by sending home 

 the raw material, mixed with a large proportion of mat- 

 ter entirely useless, the expence of conveyance, already 

 great from America, and still greater from the East 

 Indies, is much increased. Could the cotton, there- 

 fore be cleaned to a certain degree abroad, without in- 

 jury to its staple, it would be an evident saving to the 

 merchant, and would lessen the labour, as well as the first, 

 cost to the manufacturer. For these reasons, the inge- 

 nuity of men has been excited to accomplish this de- 

 sirable end. 



How far they have been successful, we shall now en- 

 deavour to show, by describing a variety of methods 

 which have been employed to clean the raw materia], 

 both by hand and by means of machinery. 



Methods of Cleaning Cotton Abroad. 



In the West Indies, and on the continent of Amen- Methods of 

 ca, what is called the roller-gin has been long used, leaning 

 It consists of a pair of fluted rollers, about |ths of an inch c ;' tto " 

 in diameter, and about nine inches long, the one being abroad ' 

 placed immediately over the other. These rollers usual- 

 ly receive their motion from the foot, by means of 

 cranks and fly-wheels, somewhat similar to the move- 

 ments of a common spinning wheel, or foot turning 

 lathe. 



The rollers draw on the cotton between them, and 

 separate it from the seeds, for the diameter of the rol- 

 lers is so small, that the gin cannot, when whole, be 

 drawn in between them. 



With one of these machines a negro will clean from 

 SO to 40 lbs. in a day ; but after working it two days, 

 he is commonly so much fatigued, that it becomes ne- 

 cessary for him to have a day or two to rest, before he 

 is again fit for the same labour. 



These machines are sometimes wrought by horses, 

 but they are not so much approved of; because when 

 the horse quickens his pace, the cotton is apt to be 

 hurt by the rapid motion of the rollers. This objec- 

 tion, however, might be easily overcome by a mecha- 

 nical contrivance, to prevent the rollers from moving 

 too rapidly, however quickly the horse might go. 

 The same may be said with regard to any other cattle 

 mill. 



This machine, when properly managed, performs its 

 work in a very perfect manner, being found not at all 

 injurious to the staple of the cotton. The great objec- 

 tion to it is, that the quantity which it will clean is 

 veiy small ; for this reason, in Georgia, it is used for 

 the Sea Island cotton only, and other means have been 

 adopted in order to save time. 



The cotton called bowed Georgia, takes its name 

 from a mode of cleaning cotton, in use probably long 

 anterior to the invention of the machine we have men- 

 tioned. This was performed by means of the bow- 

 string, which being raised by hand, and suddenly let 

 go, struck upon the cotton with great force, and there- 

 by served both to separate the gin and open the cotton, 

 so as to render it more fit for the processes which fol- 

 low the operation of cleaning. But this mode, whatever 

 advantages it might possess in point of quality, has been 

 abandoned for others better adapted to get through a 

 quantity of work ; and what is called bowed Georgia, 

 has for a long time, in reality, been cleaned by means 

 of a machine, distinguished by the name of a saw-gin. 



