TESTS OF OFFICIAL COTTON STANDARDS FOE GRADE. 
23 
COMPARISON OF THE RESULTS OF SPINNING TESTS OF THE OLD PER- 
MISSIVE COTTON GRADES WITH THE PRESENT OFFICIAL COTTON 
STANDARDS. 
The spinning tests of the old permissive grades * were conducted in 
a representative mill at Danville, Va., in the fall of 1913 on cotton from 
the 1912 crop. The spinning tests on the present Official Cotton Stand- 
ards were conducted at Fall River, Mass., in the spring of 1916 on cotton 
from the 1914 crop. In each case approximately 110 bales were used, 
representing Middling Fair, Good Middling, Middling, Low Middling, 
and Good Ordinary. The old permissive grades were established by 
the Secretary of Agriculture in February, 1909, and copies were dis- 
tributed and used until they were superseded by the present Official 
Cotton Standards of the United States, established and promulgated 
December 14, 1914, and reestablished and repromulgated August 11, 
1916. 
Table X gives the visible, invisible, and total waste percentages 
and the tensile strength of the yarn of the different grades for each 
test. The waste percentages in each case represent the average of 
the results obtained from both the eastern and western cottons. 
Table X. — The average visible, invisible, and total waste percentages and, the tensile 
strength of 22' s warp yarn of the old permissive cotton grades compared with the present 
Official Cotton Standards (mill tests). 
» 
Determination. 
Old permissive cotton grades, 1912 
crop. 
Present Official Cotton Standards, 
1914 crop. 
M.F. 
G.M. 
■ M. 
L. M. 
G. 0. 
M. F. 
G.M. 
M. 
L. M. 
G. O. 
Total visible waste through 
5.12 
5.97 
6.88 
9.53 
11.32 
4.61 
5.32 
6.85 
8.12 
10.67 
Total invisible waste through 
cards » 
2.67 
2.75 
3.66 
4.21 
4.42 
3.82 
3.73 
4.22 
4.68 
5.60 
7.79 
8.72 
10.54 
13.74 
15.74 
8.43 
9.05 
11.07 
12.80 
16.27 
Breaking strength, 22's warp 
yarn, in pounds per 120 yards. 
74.5 
71.4 
67.7 
65.4 
60.6 
78.3 
77.4 
74.8 
70.4 
70,8 
1 Based on net weights fed to opener picker. 
It will be observed that somewhat less visible waste was discarded 
from the different grades in the tests on the present Official Cotton 
Standards than on the old permissive grades; the invisible waste was 
greater and more nearly uniform for the various grades of the present 
Official Cotton Standards, while the total waste percentages, as 
shown by figure 8, were very similar. 
The moisture content of the cotton representing the Official 
Cotton Standards when weighed at the warehouse just prior to the 
1 These spinning tests were planned by Dr. N. A. Cobb, agricultural technologist, of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry, and were conducted by Messrs. D. E. Earle and W. S. Dean 
