8 BULLETIN 458, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
is charged indirectly to the farmer. This would be understood read- 
ily by the grower if he were aware of the enormous amount of loose 
cotton which has to be picked from the bale while in transit because 
_of the present quality of covering used. 
The covering of the cotton of the Imperial Valley has been no 
exception to this unfortunate general rule. Sugar bags, reworked 
bagging, and bagging of too hight quality have been used as cover- 
ings with much resulting waste. A good quality of new bagging 
or a heavy burlap of sufficient strength to withstand rough handling 
should be used in every case. 
It has been estimated that the “city crop ” of cotton for the entire 
South during 1915 amounted to approximately 100,000 bales. This 
total includes the samples that are necessary in selling cotton, but 
the greater part of the amount is composed of damaged cotton 
caused by inadequate covering and careless handling in transit. (See 
fig. 3.) 
TAGGING, MARKING, BRANDING, AND WEIGHING. 
As the Durango cotton varies so much in value according to the 
length of staple, character of the fiber, and the care with which it 
is picked and handled (which can give it a market value of almost, 
if not quite, double the value of short-staple cotton), it is essential 
that the bale should be identified properly. A good method consists 
of attaching to the bale a strong paper tag bearing a number, and 
also by marking legibly in ink on the bagging covering the bale. 
These marks will serve to identify the cotton in the course of ship- 
ment from point of origin to destination, and thus will prevent the 
good cotton from being mixed inadvertently with cotton of less 
value. The laborers who handle a bale of cotton from the time it is 
baled at the gin to the time it reaches its destination at the spinning 
mill are ignorant of its superior value. For these reasons it is urgent 
that the ginner tag the bale carefully and mark the grower’s initials 
in ink on the head of the bale,t which will insure its identification 
at the compress. These marks also serve as a record for the associa- 
tion that handles the cotton or for the purchaser of the cotton. 
When the cotton is delivered at the compress, a substantial tag 
with two perforated coupons attached is fastened to each bale. The 
tag and each coupon bear the same number. The bales are then 
listed and stored. If the grower should ask for the gin records he 
will be shown the list giving the corresponding gin-tag numbers 
and weight of the bales. 
1Placing the grower’s mark on the head of the bale is preferable to placing it on the 
side, as when the cotton is compressed the bagging on the end of the bale is first tucked 
in, preventing the initials, or marks, from being obliterated and serving to record the 
ownership of the bale, should there be any question as to its identity when it is opened 
at the mill, 
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