222 
COTTON 
allows waste matter to become mixed with the lint. 
The old gin, when run by horse power, was not 
open to this objection urged against high steam 
power. Then you never heard of cut or broken 
fibers or of crimped or knotted lint such as is now 
caused by the impact of the saws when the cylinders 
rotate at a high speed. 
About four hundred revolutions per minute is 
considered a reasonable speed, and this leaves 
the lint product in fairly good physical condition. 
THE BALING PROCESS 
While the baling process has no direct connec- 
tion with ginning, it is now a part of the gin equip- 
ment, and so may be considered as belonging to 
this operation preparatory to marketing. 
Like the gin, the baling press has been materi- 
ally improved in rapidity and in efficiency. The 
large compresses put a large quantity of fiber into 
a small bulk, thus promoting ease of transportation. 
Freight rates, you know, are regulated by bulk 
as well as by weight. Hence, this leads naturally 
to the demand for a bale carrying as large a quan- 
tity of lint as possible in a given amount of space. 
The following data showing the average weights 
of bales for 100 years illustrate this: 
In 1800 average bale, weight 225 pounds; 1810, 
250 pounds; 1820, 264 pounds; 1833, 339 pounds; 
1839, 385 pounds; 1849, 400 pounds; 1859, 445 
pounds; 1869, 440 pounds; 1879, 453 pounds; 1889, 
477 pounds ; 1899, 499 pounds. 
Cotton brokers and shippers naturally prefer 
a bale of great density, and of such shape as will 
pack easily in cars and steamboats. 
As a rule, the American bale is not prepared 
