LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
279 
iron bars about an inch wide, and set with inter- 
stices about one-eighth of an inch apart, and the 
angle at the bottom is not closed, but allows a 
narrow admission into a box below. Behind the 
slope of the hopper are two cylinders running the 
whole length, and revolving in the frame-work of 
the machine. One cylinder is of solid wood, and 
carries some fifty or more circular saws of sheet iron, 
a foot in diameter, so fixed that the teeth enter a 
little way into the hopper, between the sloping bars. 
The cotton is thrown into the hopper from above, 
and the wheel which communicates- motion to the 
cylinders is set going by means of mules. The 
teeth of the saws now catch hold of the fibres, and 
drag them through the interstices, but as these are 
too narrow to allow the seeds to pass, the fibres are 
separated, and the naked seeds fall down through 
the crevice at the bottom. The teeth of the saws 
come forth loaded with the cotton fibre, which are 
taken off by the action of the second cylinder. This 
is a hollow drum, the surface of which is covered 
with brushes, and being made to revolve with a 
greater rapidity than the saws, and in the opposite 
direction, the cotton is brushed off, and falls in 
downy lightness and purity into a receiver below. 
With such a machine as this, one man will clear 
three hundred pounds of cotton in a day. The 
seeds are thrown in heaps, that fermentation may 
destroy the germinating principle, and are then 
used as manure. 
The cotton is packed into bales for exportation 
by the aid of powerful screws. The bale is put 
within a strong frame, around which the open 
mouth is firmly fastened. When the bag is so 
full that you think not another . handful can be 
