Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-03

Careful study of the subject made 1t
evident that it would be unwise to at
tempt to Introduce into the average
grades any properties to which the cot
ton industry was not accustomed, but
nevertheless the most important proper
ties of cotton must be considered in buy
ing and selling of cotton. To the spin
ner the properties which are of the
greatest interest are the length and
strength of the fiber. Spinners will pay
higher prices for strong and long fibers
than they will for weak and short fibers.
Experts claim. therefore, it would be
extremely desirable if these properties
could enter into the classification of cot
ton as it comes into trade
The government has been making
strong effort to add to the official grades
such information will make 1t possible
to buy and sell with something like this
degree of accuracy. Its efforts We're first
of all directed toward the invention of
means of measuring the length of the
fiber or the length of the staple, as the
trade has it. Such method is the one
devised and has proven successful In its
operation.
This method has been developed \and
improved until at the present time 1t is
possible to ascertain the average length
of samples of cotton within 1-2DO of an
inch at cost of about SO. This cost
is too great to permit Of applying it to
ordinary country cotton markets. 1t is,
however, of great service in case OF arbl-
tration and is always of service in the
breeding of cotton and in studying the
processes of ginning and spinning.
The sample fbers they are removed
from bulk are laid on plates of glass
that each fiber is separated and in this
form it can be projected in an ordinary
projection lantern. The two glasses are
fastened together and placed in the
lantern. The fibers are then thrown on
a translucent paper or glass screen
When projected they look very much like
rivers on a large wall map, and have the
same irregular curvature and uncertainty
OF direction Mea surement is then made
Of this image with map measure and
the length of each fiber transferred to an
adding machine.
The map measure is small wheel
about One-eghth OF an inch in diameter.
This instrument has teen greatly i'm
proved since the government adopted ii
Tor use in measuring cottOn staple. so
that now it is an Instrument of much
gri alter precision than it was formerly
Special devices have been invented for
the purpose Of standard .Zing these map
measures and inSurinS their accuracy
from day to day. This Instrument has
also been used to determine the lengths
of hbers in yarn.
Until Uncle Sam took charge of tie
matter there was no better way known
TO preserve the standard samples of cot
ton at the various cotton exchanges than
10 store them away in Il dark vault.
Cotton, as is well known, changes with
continued action of light, and this is the
reason samples We're put away in the
dark in order to be kept permanent. But
oxygen and other gases in the air act
on cotton and cause it to change in
appearance in the course of time, and
the samples always contain a considera-
bic amount of organic matter, such as
microbes and fungi. With proper de-
gree of moisture these will grow and so
aafe@t the cotton as to change it's APP
p,arance, and all samples of cotton, even
though stored away in dark vaults ever
so carefully, will in course of time
change in appearance
This change is fatal to any perma-
nency of standard. A careful study of
the field caused experts to make a series
of experiments in vacuum storage.
These experiments have extended over a