UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 591 
Contribution from the Bureau of Markets 
CHARLES J. BRAND, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
PROFESSIONAL PAPER 
December 26, 1917 
MANUFACTURING TESTS OF THE OFFICIAL COTTON 
STANDARDS FOR GRADE. 
By William S. Dean, Assistant in Cotton Testing, and Fred Taylor, Cotton 
Technologist. 
CONTENTS. 
Introduction 
Origin of the cotton 
Spinning tests at cotton mill 
Spinning tests at textile school 
Weather, relative hiunidity, and moisture 
content during spinning tests 
Manufacturing properties 
Page. 
1 
2 
2 
Page. 
Bleaching tests of yarn 18 
Bleaching tests of piece goods 21 
Comparison of the results of spinning tests of 
the old permissive cotton grades with the 
present official cotton standards 23 
Summary 24 
INTRODUCTION. 
The spinning tests herein described 1 were conducted for the pur- 
pose of determining the relative intrinsic values of cotton of the 
grades of Middling Fair, Good Middling, Middling, Low Middling, 
and Good Ordinary. 
The principal factors considered in making the tests were: (1) The 
percentage of waste; (2) the tensile strength of the yarn; (3) the 
bleaching properties of the yarn and cloth; (4) the moisture content; 
and (5) other manufacturing properties of the cotton. 
'The cotton was purchased by Messrs. D. E. Earle, D. C. Griffith, W. C. Neale, and Hal Brown, cotton 
specialists. The grading was done by the board of examiners (a committee authorized to hear disputes 
under the provisions of the U. S. cotton futures Act). The tests, spinning and weaving, were conducted 
in representative mills at Fall River, Mass., and in the textile department of the North Carolina State 
College of Agriculture and Engineering, West Raleigh, N. C, under the general supervision of Fred 
Taylor, cotton technologist, and D. E. Earle, specialist in cotton classing, and were made by William S. 
Dean, assisted by George H. Anderson, assistant in cotton classing, and Messrs. J. J. W. Cooper, C. E. 
Coburn, C. E. Killingsworth, R. V. Hellams, and H. B. Richardson, assistants in agricultural technology. 
The bleaching tests were made by W. S. Dean and Prof. Everett H. Hinckley, in charge of chemistry, 
New Bedford Textile School, New Bedford, Mass., at bleacheries in Fall River and in the New Bedford 
Textile School. 
Note.— This bulletin should be of interest to cotton producers, manufacturers, and dealers. 
7875°- 17— Bull. 591 1 
