- 16 - 
Of the 148 compresses and warehouses visited in the Cotton Belt, 24 
percent reported the use of a hook to draw their samples, and this method 
9 used to some extent in all States except North Carolina and Virginia 
(table 1) . 
Sample Pulled from the Bale by Hand . - Much cotton is sampled by pull- 
ing the sample from the bale by hand. A knife is first used to cut the bag- 
ging, the cut being made in the shape of a crescent or a rectangle or in 
a straight line. No effort is made to cut into the fibers of the bale, the 
fingers being used to grapple and pull the layers of cotton loose along one 
edge of the sample, after which it is grasped, with the hands parallel to 
the bands, and pulled from the bale. Each grapple ruffles up the cotton 
on the edge of the sample, disturbing and possibly dislodging and losing 
some of the trash. 
The edges of the hand-drawn sample look rough, and the sample is not 
so smooth as are the plugged samples (compare figs. 7 and 8 with figs. 1 and 
2) . The hand-pulled sample is more likely to have a waddy appearance, and 
the chance of breaking the sample in two across the layers is greater with 
this method than with any other. On the average, the hand-pulled sample 
is the smallest and thinnest of the four types. 
The ports visited where samples were taken by hand are Norfolk, Va., 
Mobile, Ala., and Savannah, Ga. In Mobile, however, hand-drawn samples are 
an exception rather than the rule. At one compress in Mobile, hand-drawn 
samples were taken from flat bales only occasionally, the hook being used 
on compressed bales. Samples were drawn by hand exclusively at establish- 
ments visited in the States of North Carolina and Virginia (table 1); and 
this was the method used at more than 90 percent of the establishments vis- 
ited in South Carolina. Only at the port of Charleston was any other method 
employed. No compresses or warehouses using the hand method of drawing sam- 
ples were found in the States of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, or Missouri; 
but this method is used exclusively at 31 percent of the compresses and ware- 
houses visited in the United States. 
It is possible that at some time in the future a satisfactory motor- 
driven sample cutter may be perfected, in which case the practice of draw- 
ing plugged samples might be considerably increased. 
F actors Affecting Representativeness of Sample 
The consideration of first importance in sampling cotton is that the 
sample be adequately representative of the bale. A good sample will enable 
the classer to determine the quality of the major portion of the lint making 
up the bale and to determine also whether the bale is plated or two-sided. 
Inasmuch as there is some confusion of the terms plated, false-packed, mixed- 
packed, and two-sided as applied to bales of cotton, a brief explanation 
of each of these terms, as used throughout this discussion, seems advisable. 
A plated bale is one having a thin layer of lint on the top and/or 
bottom surface. This layer may be (1) of different quality or (2) of dif- 
ferent origin, whether or not it differs in quality. The term "plated" is 
