The Prescott daily news., 1914-07-21
STANDARDIZING COTTON
 GRADES IN UNITED STATES
Government Aiding Movement for Se-
 curing Greater Uniformity.

q recent bulletin issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, the attention of cotton growers, mer- chants, and spinners is called to the importance of the uniform standard for grading cotton, and also to the fact that although the same grade names are used in nearly all markets, they do not always have the same meaning. This inevitably results in confusion which, however, it is hoped will be done away with before long. An important step in this direction is the preservation by the Department of Agriculture of 50 sets of official samples of each grade in large va cuum tubes. In these tubes there is no light to bleach, no air to oxidize, and no moisture to permit mildew. The samples, therefore, remain per manently unchanged and provide an authoritive standard from which other standards may be prepared and issued by the Department for use in grading commercial lots.
 This standard is the outcome of an act passed by the sixtieth Congress authorizing the establishment of g official grades to be named as follows Middling Fair, Strict Good Middling, Good Middling, Strict Middling, Midd- ling, Strict Low Middling Low Midd- 1 ling, Strict Good Ordinary, and Good Ordinary. In this system of grading middling is taken as basis. The grade names containing the word "strict" are known in the trade as half grades, the others as full grades.
 The grade of cotton is dependent upon the amount of foreign matter or impurities, such as leaf, dirt and sand, which it contains and also the quanti- i ty of strings, notes, neps, gin-out fiber, cut seed, and unripe fiber, and also to a certain extent color. In de- termining the amount of foreign mat | ter in the cotton the weather is a very important factor, either wind or rain being often responsible for an unu- sually large quantity of dirt or sand. Much of this foreign matter can be taken out by the use of cleaning at tachments at-the gin and if the cotton is sold strictly by grade, therefore, the cost of this process (due to loss in weight) can be recovered in the mar kets. The various impurities and kinds of defects already mentioned cause waste in manufacture and for this reason the fewer of them the cot ton contains the higher price it should bring.
 In addition to the grade, cotton is also classed by its color. The most desired is bright cream. This, how ever, is lost if the cotton is left in the field too long or it may be altered by heavy falls of rain. The soil also has a distinct effect upon the color of cot ton. The United States official stand ard requires that all cotton grading Strict Good Middling or better should | be of bright cream or white color and free from discoloration. In the lower grades fixed color is not so much insisted upon. The variations in color, however have given rise to several trade names which it would be we'll for all persons interested in Cotton to familiarize themselves with. There are standard or white; of col or" "Fair Color" Spotted" Ting ed" and Stained" By adding these to the grade names different classes of the same grade are formed.
 In considering prices of cotton, it should be remembered that the var ious grades do not indicate in any way the length of staple. It is usual to call cotton that averages Is inches or more in length, staple cotton, and that less than Is inches, short staple cotton. Length-types are being is- sued by the Department of Agricul- ture in cooperation with the Census Bureau. Little difference is made in the price for the various lengths of short staple cotton but there is a ten dency at present to make closer dis functions in this respect. Hitherto it has been found almost impossible to measure the staple exactly. It may be stated, however, that the addition of 1-16 of an inch in the length of the staple adds approximately as much to the value of cotton as a full