8 BULLETIN 1445, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
standard bale for American cotton it is one that is rectangular in 
shape and weighs about 500 pounds. The square bale of about 500 
pounds gross is the one specified in all future contracts. Between 
1 and iy 2 per cent of the American crop is put up in the form of a 
round or cylindrical bale which weighs about 250 pounds. There is 
no uniformity in the quantity and quality of covering put on the 
American square bale. The square bales of American cotton when 
sold to mills in America are tared at the rate of 22 to 24 pounds 
per bale. In Europe a deduction roughly approximating the weight 
of tare is assessed against the square bale. This deduction is 6 per 
cent, or say, 30 pounds for a bale of 500 pounds. The weight of bales 
varies so widely that cotton is often bought and sold in terms of 
pounds and not bales, though the standard 50,000-pound contract 
specifies that there shall be about 100 bales. 
The transactions in the futures markets are the most completely 
standardized. These markets deal in only one contract. The con- 
tract slips are supplied in printed form. Each one is exactly like 
all the rest except as to price and date of delivery, which are fixed 
by mutual agreement. They are bought, sold, and settled according 
to rules uniform for all transactions. The big spot markets have 
standardized certain types of sales. The methods of sale most com- 
pletely standardized are (1) ex-warehouse, (2) to arrive, (3) guaran- 
teed through terms, and (4) for examination in the designated 
market. The exact use of these terms may vary considerably from 
one market to another. 
Standardization in market practices is far from complete in 
matters relating both to the individual markets and to the relation- 
ship between markets. A f. o. b. sale in one market does not 
always mean the same as in every other market. Prices are some- 
times quoted in a market on one kind of sale at one time and on 
another kind at another time. Thus the price may include freight 
to destination or not. It may include financing charges for a speci- 
fied number of days, until date of receipt, or it may be the cash 
price on date of shipment. The quantity of permissible tare varies 
with different markets, which tends to prevent price quotations from 
being exactly comparable. Commissions and costs of inspection, 
sampling, and weighing vary, preventing accurate comparisons of 
market costs. Many different agencies are collecting and publishing 
cotton statistics. The figures gathered are often not comparable. 
In some cases, for example, the cotton is reported in gin-run bales; 
in others, in average weight or net weight bales of a standard size. 
Cotton statistics will fall short of their full measure of usefulness 
until methods and terms are thoroughly standardized. 
The present standard for the classification of lint cotton involves 
the measurement of four factors: (1) Grade, (2) color, (3) staple 
length, and (4) character. Character as distinct from staple length 
has not been standardized. 6 
The standardization of cotton has been an evolutionary process 
covering a period of more than 100 years. One by one finer dis- 
tinctions have been drawn which together constitute the founda- 
tion of the present standards. 7 
« U. S. Dept. Agr. Cir. 278, The Commercial Classification of American Cotton, 1924 
7 For more detailed study of early developments in cotton classing see Donnell, E. J., 
history of cotton, New York, 1872. 
