1& BULLETIN" 591, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
was being run through them it was necessary to open the windows 
because of the density of the dust. The use of low grade cotton is 
more disagreeable to the operatives; consequently it adds difficulty 
to the labor and mechanical problems. 
A record was taken of the spinning qualities of the different 
grades by keeping an accurate count of the number of threads which 
broke. All such breakages, unless due to some mechanical defect, 
were charged against each grade. The following percentages of 
breakages on the spinning frame were found: Middling Fair, 12.1 per 
cent, Good Middling 13.8 per cent, Middling 14.4 per cent, Low 
Middling 27.5 per cent, and Good Ordinary 32.2 per cent. 
These tests show that 100 pounds of raw cotton, net weight, of 
each of the different grades will produce the following pounds of yarn, 
not including the small loss which occurs in those processes subse- 
quent to the cards: Middling Fair 91.57, Good Middling 90.95, Mid- 
dling 88.93, Low Middling 87.2, and Good Ordinary 83.73 pounds. 
In considering the grade relations it shoidd be remembered that there 
is a difference in the value of the yarns made from the various grades. 
It was found by submitting a full line of samples to a number of 
the leading waste dealers and securing estimates of value for each 
sample that the value of the waste from a bale of cotton representing 
one grade is practically the same as the value of the waste from a 
bale of cotton representing any other grade, in that. the price and 
quantity vary inversely. Any increase or decrease in the waste per- 
centage causes a corresponding increase or decrease in the cost per 
pound of the manufactured product. A wasty cotton also produces 
an inferior product. 
BLEACHING TESTS OF YARN. 
Portions of the yarns that were made from Middling Fair, Good 
Middling, Middling, Low Middling, and Good Ordinary of both east- 
ern upland and western upland cotton in the mill tests, as well as 
cloth made from various combinations of these yarns, were tested for 
the bleaching properties. The tests were conducted on a commercial 
scale in a bleachery, and the results were checked subsequently in 
the New Bedford Textile School. The methods followed were those 
that are in common use. 
TESTS AT BLEACHERY. 
Scouring. — The skeins of yarns were placed hi a cloth bag near the 
center of a circulating kier, loaded with other goods, and were treated 
for 12 hours at 13 pounds pressure with a 2-degree Twaddell solution 
of sodium hydroxide containing 10.75 grams NaOH per liter. The 
samples were then washed with water five times while in the kier, 
which eliminated practically all alkali from the material. The goods 
were kept wet for some time before a bleaching vat was available, 
