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samples are rolled and packed in a sack; in others, they are rolled and packed 
in a box or a basket (table 8). At 25.7 percent of the compresses and ware- 
houses visited, sacks were used for handling samples; at 3.4 percent, a method 
was used whereby samples were pressed in rows upon sampling paper and wrapped, 
50 samples to the bundle; and at 0.7 percent, a string was tied around the 
sample immediately after drawing, and it was given to the farmer (table 8). 
Buyers seem to think that when samples are rolled very tightly and 
packed tightly in a bag, they remain representative of the bale for a long 
time. The use of a box or a basket allows light and air to strike the sam- 
ples, possibly lessening their representativeness. The poorest method of 
all is that of merely tying the sample with a string, for the sample is thus 
continuously exposed to light and wind from the time it is cut. 
Either boxes or baskets were used as containers for samples at 13.5 
percent of the compresses and v/arehouses visited, being used most extensively 
in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama. It seems worthy of note 
that in this area samples are usually drawn by hand and that little thought 
is given tc the matter of appearance of the sample. The sack is the means 
most often specified in most other States. Sacks, boxes, and baskets are 
widely used because they cost less than wrapping paper. 
Samples should be properly handled and cared for after they are drawn, 
not only to preserve their representativeness with respect to color, foreign 
matter, moisture content, and other characteristics, but to prevent the loss 
or misplacement of the identifying coupons. 
Summary and Conclusions 
The principal types of samples drawn from bales of cotton are (1) the 
plugged, or blocked, sample; (2) the sample that is cut on one edge only; 
(3) the sample that is pulled from the bale with a cotton hook; and (4) the 
sample that is pulled from the bale by hand. 
At one-third of the 148 compresses and warehouses visited for the 
purpose of assembling data for this report, the knife was used for cutting 
one or more edges of cotton samples before drawing them from the bales, all 
samples drawn being either "plugged" or drawn by cutting into the bale on 
one edge only. These compresses and warehouses were located in Texas, Louis- 
iana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia. At 4 percent of the 46 compresses and 
warehouses visited in Texas, plugged samples only were drawn. 
At 22 percent of the compresses and warehouses visited in the Cotton 
Belt, samples were drawn by cutting into the bale on one edge only, usually 
in the form of a crescent. This method was most used in Texas and Louisiana. 
At 24 percent of the compresses and warehouses visited, particularly 
in the vicinity of the Mississippi Delta, the knife was used to cut the bag- 
ging, after which samples were pulled from the bales with a cotton hook. 
