2 BULLETIN 476, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
METHOD OF PROCEDURE. 
Arrangements were made with practically every ginner in Edge- 
combe County to sample each bale of cotton ginned during the 1914-15 
season and mail the samples to the classing room at Tarboro.t Samples 
from about 10,700 bales ginned in the county were received. These 
samples were graded and stapled, and this information was mailed 
to the producer on a card, numbered to correspond with the bale from 
which the sample was taken, with a letter explaining in detail the 
purpose of the investigation. The farmers were circularized fre- 
quently, to help them to understand the approximate differences in 
prices that should be made between grades. 
The investigation was conducted in a similar manner during the 
1915-16 season on an enlarged scale, classers being appointed for the 
following counties: Edgecombe (the cotton ginned in Nash County 
was classed by the Edgecombe classer also), Mecklenburg, Wilson, 
and Wayne.” Samples from about 30,000 bales ginned in these coun- 
ties were received and classed. 
Samplers were appointed during the 1914-15 season at Fayette- 
ville, Goldsboro, and Scotland Neck, all of which are located on the 
Coastal Plain section, to collect samples of bales of cotton, sold at 
these towns, the class of which was unknown to the producer before 
sale. Inclosed with each sample sent to the classing room at Tarboro 
was a record slip giving the price at which the bale sold and the date 
of sale. About 3,500 samples of bales of cotton sold at these towns 
were received. During the season of 1915-16 the collection of sam- 
ples in this manner was extended to include Ahoskie, Clinton, Gas-- 
tonia, Jacksonville, Kings Mountain, Kinston, Laurinburg, Louis- 
burg, New Berne, Raleigh, Red Springs, Salisbury, Selma, States- 
ville, Wadesboro, and Washington. Samples drawn from about 
14,000 bales sold at these towns were received. An attempt is made 
in the map (see fig. 1) to illustrate the extent to which these towns 
represent the cotton-producing area of the State. 
CHARACTER OF THE COTTON PRODUCED IN NORTH CAROLINA. 
AVERAGE GRADE AND LENGTH OF STAPLE. 
During the season of 1914-15 the average grade of the bales 
sampled in North Carolina was slightly below Middling, although 
about 334 per cent was Strict Middling or above. During 1915-16 
the average grade was nearly Strict Middling, about 48 per cent 
1The authors desire to express their appreciation of the cooperation and assistance of 
the ginners, which contributed greatly to the success of this investigation. Mr. Fred 
Taylor, Cotton Technologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, supervised 
the study. 
2 The investigation in Edgecombe proving successful, the North Carolina Legislature 
passed a law (chap. 175, Public Laws, 1915) which authorizes county commissioners to 
employ county classers in cooperation wita the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment 
Station, the United States Department of Agriculture, or both, acting together. 
