The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-18
Careless Ginning and Packing

One of the marked changes of the last quarter of a century is the elimination of the old plantation gin-house, with it's mule power driving the saws. and the cumbersome wooden screw, mule power press, to pack the bales. Public ginner- ies, with mechanical devices to lift the seed cotton to the gins. feed them. and with condensers to send the lint 10 the modern, compact built, steam-o operated press, have completely revolutionized this important feature of cotton growing. The public gnneries have in measure im- proved the sample of the small indifferent farmer They are equipped with the very latest gins and competitive business re- quires that they give the farmer the best results, all the more if he has been care less in picking or storing his seed cot ton
 However, the careful farmer. who has taken some pains with the picking of his crop, who has housed 1t carefully, and has allowed it to dry out Gall cotton has more or less natural moisture) will sometimes find that his sample is not up to what he had a right to expect. Prob ably the seed cotton vun just ahead of his was gathered with a grab, and some of it from off the ground. And then, in packing. it is possible for the first layer in the press to show plating of the
 poorer sample. A bale of cotton is classed according to the samples drawn from the sides and the middle.
 But the poor farmer does not always pay the price for this carelessness. Often he will practice a fraud upon the mer- chant buyer, by throwing away the poorer part and showing false sample. Then the buyer proper-the broker, we will call hm--who the merchant sells to in round lots on table samples, loses He has no recourse. This applies to the thousands of transactions that annually take place. where the farmer peddles his cotton, going from merchant to mer- chant, buyer to buyer, getting bids. !, And, in the ginning of cotton. the speed of the saws and the condition of 1 the seed cotton ep to moisture have much to do with the smoothness of the l sample. If hurried to the gin immediately
 after being picked. the green cotton will
 make a happy sample. and does not clean
 as well more trash remaining than where
 the seed lint has been housed and allowed
 1 to dry out. This drying process also adds
 l to the sa ample, in that as the natural mois- ture evaporates. a small amount of the oil i of the seed enters tie lint. softens the | texture of the sample. and adds to it's
 l strength and spinnable value. The first
 1 quality fin lint cotton. Cor spinnings is It's
 | length of staple: next its smoothness and | fibre strength. green cotton rushed to
 | the gin, is lacking in these qualities.
 | The indiscriminate mixing of grades in
 | the packing box and in the bale is the
 cause of much loss 10 the farmer Tn Egypt cotton Is packed on the farms
 1 but unbaled and repAcked, after grading. at the tsade centers. The Egyptian crop
 1 is less t4lan 100000 bales, however.
 1 The bagging and ties on bale of cot
 l ton, while apparently . profitable propo- sition, is not specifically one. The indis-
 l criminate use of bagging and ties, and l sometimes water and rocks to give weight. has established an arbitrary tare of 4 pounds per bale. Thus, if cotton is , 15 cents per pound, the farmer is taxed