CLASSIFYING AND GRADING. 



The classification and grading of cotton is an important, compre- 

 hensive, and intricate business, requiring thorough knowledge of the 

 material, long training, skill, and good judgment. Ordinarily those 

 engaged in the business of handling cotton can determine with ap- 

 proximate accuracy the general character or grade, but for the pur- 

 pose of spinning yam the judgment of the expert is essential, length- 

 strength, and fineness of the staple being important factors with the 

 spinner. The grade of cotton in the main is determined by the degree 

 of color and the quantity of foreign matter which it contains, such as 

 dirt, leaf, etc., conditions that are readily recognized upon inspection 

 by the buyer. Length and texture of staple, however, are not given 

 as great consideration in the initial dealings as their importance 

 would seem to require, nor are they considered by the classification 

 committee of the New York Cotton Exchange unless there be a 

 specific request for their inclusion. 



In connection with the subject matter of this report the classifica- 

 tion and grading of cotton as now performed has special interest and 

 a brief description of methods that obtain may prove helpful in 

 studying the proposition to introduce a new system of grading that 

 will have the authority and stamp of the Government. The diffi- 

 culties that attend grading are plamly set forth in the report of the 

 Bureau of Corporations on Cotton Exchanges. In Part I of that re- 

 port it is explained that the classification of cotton can not be per- 

 formed with absolute accuracy; that no two experts would class a 

 large lot of cotton of assorted grades exactly alike, and that the same 

 expert, classing a large lot of cotton twice, probably would not re- 

 turn exactly identical classification. The report continues: 



METHOD or CLASSIFICATION. 



The classification of cotton is almost entirely by the eye. There are no 

 mechanical means for performing this work. The differences of cleanliness, 

 amount of leaf, and amount of color are so gradual that it is exceedingly diffi- 

 cult, in classing cotton into the half grades, to determine exactly where each 

 individual bale should be placed. The difficulty increases as 'the grade of the 

 cotton falls below middling. With the grades of middling and above, it is a 

 much simpler matter to class cotton with reasonable accuracy. What might 

 appear to be very unimportant conditions exert a material effect upon classifi- 

 cation. Thus, a passing cloud may easily influence a classer, quite uncon- 

 sciously, almost to the extent of a quarter of a grade. When snow is on the 

 ground it is very difficult to class cotton if the light is reflected upon the cotton 

 or into the eyes of the classer. Still again, very few bales of cotton are exactly 

 uniform in character, so that if two small samples are taken from different 

 parts of the same bale they might easily show a decided variation. It Is cus- 

 tomary in the New York market, where two samples aio drawn from each bale, 

 to reject the higher sample. Even a single sample of a few ounces, however 

 may not be absolutely uniform in character. When it Is stated that a bale of 

 cotton weighing, say, 500 pounds represents approximately the yield of 2J 

 acres of land, and that picking, on account of the low-grade labor employed, 

 36 



