402 
GOSSYPIUM  HERBACEUM. 
about  the  first  of  September,  and  is  continued  regularly  on  until 
the  plant  is  stript  of  the  lint,  say  first  of  January,  or  even  the 
first  of  February  if  the  planter  has  "  over  cropped  himself."  The 
first  picking  is  generally  of  second  quality,  the  lower  "bolls" 
next  the  earth,  opening  always  first,  are  soiled  with  dust.  And 
again,  the  plant  is  not  sufficiently  mature  to  produce  the  best 
quality  of  staple.  The  second  time  over,  if  the  weather  is  favor- 
able, is  the  best.  "  Last  round"  has  generally  been  injured  by 
the  frost  "stunting"  the  immature  bolls  or  capsules,  and  it  goes 
into  the  general  sorting  as  stained  cotton.  The  qualities  inter- 
mediate between  the  best  and  worst,  arise  from  various  causes, 
among  which  are — 1st.  Faulty  "  ginning."  This  is  done  on  the 
saw  gin  invented  by  Whitney,  variously  improved  by  more 
modern  inventors.  The  saws  are  closely  set  upon  a  shaft,  and 
revolve  between  polished  iron  bars.  The  lint  is  caught  by  the 
hook-shaped  teeth  of  the  saws,  and  being  forcibly  drawn  through 
between  these  bars,  is  torn  loose  from  its  attachment  to  the  seed. 
If,  in  this  process,  the  motion  of  the  gear  (as  the  propelling  ma- 
chinery is  termed,)  be  too  rapid,  the  sudden  force  exerted  on  the 
centre  of  the  fibre  breaks  it  in  two,  and  thus  shortens  the  staple 
and  renders  it  unfit  for  spinning  good  yarn.  2d.  If  the  cotton 
be  picked  late  in  the  season,  as  a  portion  of  it  must  be,  the 
crisped  leaves  often  overhang  the  lint,  and  are  picked  off  with  it, 
and  being  cut  up  by  the  gin  in  the  subsequent  process,  injures 
the  product.  3d.  A  heavy  beating  rain  throws  up  dust  and  fine 
particles  of  sand  on  the  wet  lint,  and  it  thus  becomes  more  or 
less  stained.  This  latter  difficulty  is  partly  remedied  in  the 
ginning. 
The  color  usually  preferred  by  the  dealers  in  cotton,  is  not 
pure  white,  nor  is  it  yellow  or  stained,  but  rather  a  soft,  delicate 
creamy  shade,  with  pearly  lustre.  A  more  important  point  per- 
haps than  color,  is  the  quality  of  the  staple,  which  should  be  long 
and  unbroken. 
It  comes  to  market  packed  in  square  bags,  weighing  variously 
from  400  to  550ft>s.  They  are  put  into  this  form  by  means  of 
the  «  packing;  screw,"  a  tall,  rude,  unwieldy  and  unsightly  ap- 
paratus, which,  strange  to  say,  has  never  yet  been  superceded  by 
some  better  and  more  economical  arrangement.  Many  have 
been  very  ingeniously  devised,  but  none  offering  any  decided  ad- 
