213 



The Treatment of the Cotton. 



Formerly it was the custom to store the cotton after it had been 

 plucked in sheds, specially built for that purpose. A still older 

 system was the keeping of the cotton in the open field on the spot 

 where it was reaped. The cotton was simply stacked in heaps on 

 a waggon and covered with a tarpaulin. 



With Sea-island cotton, which is, as has already b^en mentioned 

 above, still dried on platforms in the old fashioned manner, and 

 then stored as raw cotton, another method is now adopted, in pre- 

 paring the cotton for the market. 



The cotton, as collected goes directly to the flock-mills where it 

 is cleaned and packed into bales by machinery. 



With this modification of the old method, all sorts of faults came 

 to light which had not been properly considered on the erection of 

 the mills and many obstacles had to be cleared out of the way, be- 

 fore the chief cleaning factories attained their present state. 



It has been noted that before the erection of these central Bock- 

 mills, the cleaning, sorting and packing by hand was done with 

 more exactness than the machinery is able to do it. 



On big plantations each plucking was treated by itself, by which 

 different qualities were made. 



As the large plantations disappeared and made room for smaller 

 ones, these differences in quality could not be made any more as 

 one plucking gave scarcely sufficient cotton to make one bile. 



The central flock-mills have decreased the cleaning costs con- 

 siderably but partly at the cost of the quality. 



The cotton suffers nothing by being sent through the plain 

 Hock-mills, (gins) consisting of two hard rollers, turning in oppo- 

 site directions, which free it from the seed. That which has not 

 been done by the machine is done by hand. 



The new gins driven by steam or water power do the work 

 quicker, but they give more refuse and damaged fibres, with this 

 also goes the fact that the fibres suffer in their elasticity. 



There are two principal kinds of cleaning machines, the so-called 

 "Rollergin" and the "Saw-gin". 



By the spinning of the cotton into threads one reckons a loss of 

 from 13-23% made up from loss of moisture, impurities, spoiled 

 fibres, etc. These figures should be lower. 



After the cotton has been pressed into bales it is packed into 

 sack-cloth (rough jufe cloth) and bound by iron bands. 



As to measurements and weights of the bales, the American 

 Standard bale has these measurements: 1.35 by 0.67 -M. and its 

 weight is about 500 lbs. 



It is curious that the size and weight of the bales has increased 

 with the increase of the cotton-produce. 



The weight of the American bale has been attained from 300 lbs. 



The American cotton is known for its slovenly and clumsy pack- 

 ing. A better and neater packing, for which special machines 

 have been constructed, has not found general use. 



One has to tight against old habits and uses. 



