6 BULLETIN 311, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
cubic foot, thus allowing 100 bales, which constitutes a unit sale and 
shipment of cotton, to be loaded into a standard freight car 36 feet 
long, whereas only 40 bales of flat or uncompressed cotton can be 
loaded into a car of the same size. Cotton put up by a gin compress 
can be shipped by railroads to ship side at the compressed rate, and 
if requested, the steamship companies will make a better rate on 
cotton of 30 pounds density than on the old-style compress bale of 
about 22 pounds density, as a greater amount of this cotton can be 
stored in the same space in the hold of a steamship. 
Another great advantage which gin compression affords is that if 
the bagging remains uncut, a farmer who grows a particularly good 
quality or variety of cotton would have his identifying mark on 
every bale. If a farmer furnished a good quality of cotton under his 
mark, the spinners would learn to recognize it and to demand a cer- 
tain mark or brand of cotton suitable for their requirements. 
TAGGING, MARKING, BRANDING, AND WEIGHING THE COTTON. 
In order to secure accuracy and safety in handling, the following 
method of procedure was recommended by the representative of the 
Department of Agriculture and used during both seasons: 
Tagging. — As the bale came out of the press box a fair-sized heavy 
tag was attached by means of a double copper wire. On this tag 
was printed the name of the gin and location and a serial number. 
The tag carried one or more coupons bearing the corresponding 
serial number. One of these coupons was detached and placed in 
the sample of the cotton. 
Marking. — The marking was done by means of stencils, with 4-inch 
letters. The size of the letters to be used should be governed by 
the quality of the bagging on the bale. For a covering of burlap a 
stencil with letters of 4 inches is large enough to be legible. On 
regular jute bagging weighing 2 pounds to the yard 6-inch letters 
should be used. Six-inch letters are large enough for marking cot- 
ton covered with any well-woven bagging. 
Branding. — The planter's mark and the gin number were placed 
on the head of each bale, and the bale was branded on the sample- 
hole side. It was recommended that each organization of cotton 
growers adopt a brand "which would identify the cotton not only as 
Arizona-Egyptian cotton, but as Egyptian cotton grown by a par- 
ticular organization. 
Weighing. — -The Arizona-Egyptian cotton is sold on net weight — 
that is, on the total weight less the tare. The tare of a gin-com- 
pressed bale can be determined more accurately than the tare of one 
which is flat or uncompressed. The bale is uniform in size and shape, 
and for this reason the amount of bagging and ties will be of uniform 
weight. Consequently when a gin-compressed bale is weighed at the 
gin the shipper knows exactly how many pounds to deduct for tare. 
