MARKETING COTTONSEED FOR PLANTING PURPOSES 13 
chines, as already described, conditions the seed for any recleaning 
and grading operation without permitting this element of error, and 
without making it necessary to dry the seed. 
MACHINES USED 
There are several machines in limited use for recleaning and grad- 
ing cottonseed. One type is a modified air-blast cleaner or fanning 
mill equipped with specially designed screens. A small-sized machine 
of this type, operated by either hand or power and having a capacity 
of 3 to 5 tons per 10-hour day, may be bought at from $50 to $60. 
A machine of larger capacity may be had if desired. Some of the 
earlier machines consisted principally of a revolving screen through 
which the seed passed and which was supposed to remove all dirt and 
other extraneous matter and small inferior seeds. Another more ex- 
pensive machine, combining both the revolving-screen and air-blast 
principles, is in use by a few dealers. A large-capacity cleaner, al- 
ready described on page 9, is used in oil mills to remove stones, 
metallic substances, dirt, and loose lint from cotton-seed before it 
enters the delinters, but this machine does not grade or separate the 
seeds in any way. All light and inferior seeds are not necessarily the 
smallest, and an air-blast separation is essential if the seeds are to be 
graded according to their specific gravity. 
DOCKAGE IN RECLEANING AND GRADING 
The percentage of good seed lost or culled out in recleaning and 
grading is very small. The percentage of total dockage (dirt, trash, 
and light and inferior seeds) removed will vary with the cleanness 
and uniformity of the seed. Most of the dirt and trash, however, are 
removed by the gins and delinters, and the dockage in recleaning and 
grading delinted seed consists principally of small and lightweight 
seed. If the cottonseed has been carefully selected and properly 
ginned and delinted the dockage in recleaning should not exceed 5 
per cent. The dockage, however, is not a total loss, because the seed 
thus culled out may be sold for other purposes at slightly less than 
the original cost. 
Several instances are reported where dealers have discontinued 
recleaning and grading after a short time because of the seemingly 
excessive dockage and heavy loss of apparently good seed. How- 
ever, the removal of the chief hindrance to this work by delinting, 
and the continued improvement in machines designed to perform it, 
should be a strong incentive for dealers to reclean and grade all 
planting cottonseed sold by them. The results of the operation 
should be seeds that are perfectly clean, more uniform in weight, and 
higher in germination, and that contain a relatively larger quantity 
of the stored nutriment necessary for the development of vigorous, 
rapid-growing, disease-resisting, and high-producing plants. Dirty, 
trashy, immature, or otherwise inferior seed have no place in the 
economical production of cotton, and the dealer will not offer for 
sale and the farmer will not buy such seed if they have the best 
interests of the cotton-growing industry at heart. Figure 7 contrasts 
the appearance of ginned delinted, and recleaned and graded cotton- 
seed and shows the classes of dockage removed by recleaning. 
