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When a load of seed cotton that varies in quality is presented for 
ginning, the ginner can do little more than mix the cotton thoroughly. Un- 
less this is done, a two-sided bale is almost certain to result. The class- 
ification of samples from such a bale will probably vary with the position 
on the bale from which the samples are drawn. 
Another ginning factor of importance in connection with obtaining a 
representative sample is the seed cotton from the last load remaining in 
the distributor, cleaner-feeders, and roll box when the press box is turned 
to receive the cotton for the next bale to be ginned. Some ginners claim 
that it wastes much time and machine power to let the rolls run until they 
stop turning, and that, since the press box is turned at the same time on 
each bale, no loss in pounds of lint is suffered by the farmer. However, 
if all the seed cotton has not been ginned and passed into the press box 
before the press box is turned, this cotton will form a layer on the bottom 
of the following bale, the lint of which may or may not differ materially 
from the remainder of the lint that makes up that bale. 
If this layer is of either better or poorer quality than the average 
for cotton in the bale, it may prevent the drawing of a representative sample 
and thus affect the classification of the bale. It should be borne in mind 
that the commercial sample used in cotton classing is, in reality, composed 
of two samples, one from the bottom side and one from the top side of the 
bale, and that it is customary to buy cotton on the basis of that portion 
of the combined sample that is lowest in grade and staple. In spite of the 
fact that plates on bales of cotton are often so thin as to be recognized 
by the classer as of minor importance, it should be remembered that when 
a layer of inferior cotton is placed on a good bale, an injustice is done 
the farmer who grew the cotton. 
The thickness of the plate on a bale of ginned lint depends on sev- 
eral factors, among which are the size of the gin, the type of ginning ma- 
chinery, the variety of cotton, and the quantity of cotton left in the ma- 
chinery when the press is turned. 
F. L. Gerdes, associate cotton technologist in charge of the cotton 
fiber research work at the Department's ginning laboratory at Stoneville, 
Miss., found that if the press box is not turned promptly but instead the 
saws are allowed to run until the seed roll stops turning, more or less short 
fibrous material is deposited on the top side of the bale. The quantity of 
this fibrous material deposited will depend also upon the variety of the cot- 
ton and the size of the gin. 4/ Mr. Gerdes found that this deposit contains 
linter fiber ginned from the seed from the time the feeding supply is exhausted 
to the time the roll stops turning, and that it is often considerably dis- 
colored, especially if the cotton being ginned is of a variety having big, 
fuzzy seed. 
Ordinarily this deposit is too thin to affect the grade or staple of 
the bale unless the sample is not sufficiently trimmed. 
4/ The number of gin stands and saws varies from 1 stand and 60 saws to 6 
stands and SO saws; other things being equal, the smaller the gin, the thin- 
ner the layer of fibrous material. 
