CONSTRUCTION AND -FIRE PROTECTION OF COTTON WAREHOUSES. 9 
snrance standard of volume having a preferred limitation of 72,000 
cubic feet, with progressive penalties in rates of insurance when this 
volume is exceeded. The limitation of volume is probably the 
fairest method of limiting capacity in bales. 1 
The area and proportions of the compartment should depend upon 
still other factors, such as economy of cotton handling, cost of con- 
struction, adaptation to withstand fire and to permit effective use of 
water from sprinklers, hose streams and hand appliances, and ade- 
quate daylight diffusion. 
The most economical method of handling cotton is that of stor- 
ing the bales one high on end, but for a plant having a large bulk 
of its business concentrated in a few months of the year this system 
requires an investment in buildings and site disproportionate to the 
capacity. It is economical to provide a story height that will permit 
of tiering the bales of cotton two high on end, or the equivalent, 
during the rush season, although the deposits remaining for a large 
part of the year would probably not require the practice of tiering. 
This latter system is especially suitable for warehouses used as de- 
positories for producers, or for those whose business necessitates a 
severe peak load of storage. However, the practice of storing 
single bales on end in a low-story height compartment is very de- 
sirable in such plants as maintain storage fairly distributed over the 
year, or where there are frequent "turnover," or changes, in the 
bales stored. This arrangement is adapted particularly to the ware- 
house of several stories in height. 
The influence of cost of construction of the compartment is readily 
appreciated when it is recalled that the floor and roof of the single 
story compartment usually cost the same regardless of the exact 
height of the story. Furthermore, the cost of the walls is but 
slightly more for a story height of 13 feet (which permits tiering 
two bales high on end or the equivalent) than for a story height 
of 8J feet, as a large proportion of the wall cost is in the part of 
the wall below the floor and above the roof, the cost of these parts 
being the same in either case. Moreover, where the sprinkler system 
is used, the cost per bale capacity is practically cut in half where 
the story height permits two tiers of bales on end, or the equivalent 
1 In computing the volume of a compartment the floor area should be con- 
sidered as extending to the outer side of exterior walls and between centers 
of division fire walls, while the height should be taken as the average distance 
from the first floor to under side of the roof plank or slab measured midway 
between the high and low parts of the compartment, but not including such 
additional volume as may be inclosed by skylights. In the case of a fire-resis- 
tive floor serving as a fire-break between compartments, the vertical dimen- 
sion should be the distance from the first floor to such fire-resistive floor, or 
the distance between successive fire-resistive floors. 
