WEATHER DAMAGE TO COTTON O 
Bale No. 5. On end on the ground, during entire test; same surface 
down at all times. 
Bale No. 6. On edge on the ground during entire test; same sur- 
face down at all times. 
Bale No. 7. On edge on the ground and turned after each rain or 
once a week. 
Careful records were kept of time, position, location, absorption, 
damage, and other factors that might in any way affect the amount 
of loss. At the end of the period of exposure the bales were placed 
in a warehouse and the bands removed. When the bales had become 
reasonably dry, the damaged cotton was removed, or " picked," as 
a part of a reconditioning process, in much the same way that cotton 
is reconditioned commercially. After the damaged cotton was re- 
moved, the remaining good cotton was weighed to determine the 
amount of loss the bales had suffered during the tests. 
It was found that the unprotected bales that were placed with their 
flat surfaces next to the ground without turning suffered an average 
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Fig. 2. —Placing of bales in the test. This arrangement of exposed bales in test No. 4 at Raleigh, 
N. C, is typical of the arrangement in the six tests. The other bale, No. 1, was stored in a 
warehouse 
loss of 273.5 pounds per bale, or 54.7 per cent of their original gross 
weight. The bales placed on poles and protected by a canvas cover 
lost 10 pounds per bale, or 2 per cent of their orignial gross weight. 
The data also make clear that, where no protection is available, the 
loss can best be held down by placing the bales on poles and turning 
them once a week, or at least after each rain. The bales handled in 
this way lost an average of 19.5 pounds, or 3.9 per cent of their original 
gross weight. 
In some instances it was necessary to put new covering on the bales; 
and in a few instances it was necessary to repack the cotton entirely, 
for there was not enough undamaged cotton left to make a com- 
mercial bale. 
DETAILS OF PRACTICAL TESTS 
Test No. 1 was conducted at Little Rock, Ark., in the yard of a 
compress company in North Little Rock. This lot of cotton was 
first exposed on November 25, 1918, and was placed in the warehouse 
for drying on June 7, 1919. As shown in Table 1, bale No. 4 suffered 
