THE FIBER CROPS 343 



3 inches in diameter. Several slivers are then run to- 

 gether and the resulting rope is drawn out until it is about 



5 of an inch in diameter, and in this form it is called 

 " roving." The roving, which is then wound on bobbins, 

 goes to the spinning frame, there to be drawn out by 

 the spindles into threads varying in fineness from the 

 coarse denim or ticking warp to yarn so fine that it looks 

 as though it would snap at the slightest touch. We 

 need only to take a trip through one of our present day 

 dry goods shops to become acquainted with the almost un- 

 limited variety of different materials that can be woven 

 from cotton. From the coarse unbleached muslin at 



6 cents a yard to the fine and dainty batiste or lawn at a 

 dollar a yard is a wide step in quality and price. To 

 fill in the gap there are hosts of ginghams, fine and coarse 

 madras, dimity, and other materials in various designs, 

 colors, and prices. The difference in the original fibers, 

 the difference in the preparation of the fiber and in the 

 spinning, weaving, and finishing, gives us a range of cotton 

 fabric to fill almost any textile need. 



361. Uses of the seed. — Until recently the fiber was 

 considered the only marketable part of the cotton crop. 

 The seed was used for planting and the surplus was 

 spread on the soil for fertilizer. Within the past few 

 years, however, cotton seed has attained a considerable 

 value on the market, and now the cotton grower has 

 the market value of the seed to add to that of the 

 fiber in determining the profit of his crop. From enough 

 seed cotton to make a bale of fiber, about 1000 pounds 

 or one-half ton of seed is separated by the gin. The 

 seed thus separated is usually sold by the grower to the 

 cotton oil mills, where the cottonseed oil is extracted. 

 Before the oil is extracted, however, the seed is reginned, 



