COTTON-MILL. 
163 
the tci-few , that as it is the most offensive, we are justified in sup- 
posing that it is the most efficacious ; and adds generally, with 
regard to the kind of manure, that it is demonstrated by expe- 
rience that the ta-few is the most useful and the most efficacious 
of all manure, especially upon wet and greasy lands. Its extensive 
use by the Chinese may perhaps be the consequence of much fewer 
animals being used in the cultivation of the lands in China than in 
other countries, and of the poorer class living not more on corn than 
on vegetables ; for the cultivators of these are generally small cot- 
tagers, who are obliged to employ the means most within reach for 
raising their crops. 
In the village of Ta-tung, many workmen were employed in 
freeing the white cotton of its seed. The mill used for this purpose 
was very simple in its construction, and resembled in most respects 
that employed in the same operation in the East Iudies, which has 
been described and figured by Dr. Buchanan. * It consisted of two 
wooden cylinders, placed horizontally one above the other, on a 
stand a few feet from the ground. The cylinders, very nearly 
touching, were put in motion by a wheel acted upon by the foot. 
The cotton, being brought to one side of the crevice, intervening 
between them during their revolution, was turned over to the 
opposite, whilst the seeds, being too large to enter, fell at the feet 
of the workmen. The instrument used in freeing it from knots and 
dirt, is equally simple, and is the same as that used, I believe, in most 
countries for the same or a similar purpose. It is a very elastic bow 
with a tight string. In using it, the carder places it in a heap of the 
material, and, having pulled down the string with some force, he 
suddenly allows the bow to recoil: the vibration of the string scatters 
* A Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, 
vol. iii. p. 317. 
