Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/566

COTTON. cotton-ginneries into three general classes: Those conducted exclusively for the public, those conducted exclusively for the plantation, and those conducted for both the public and plantation. Table II., preceding, shows the number of all classes by States in the United States. The Bulletin states that “the rapidity with which the private or plantation ginneries have been supplanted by public, and more modern equipments, is noteworthy. Through inquiries of the census of 1880, covering the power and machinery of cotton-ginning establishments, it was ascertained that a large percentage of the crop of 1879 was handled by ginneries of a private character. The motive power of these ginning and baling plants consisted of horses or mules, and each had a daily capacity of from three to five bales. The general introduction of steam-power brought economic methods that have crowded out primitive horse-ginneries to such an extent that they are now curiosities.” As shown in the table, there are in the United States 29,620 cotton-ginneries, of which 2863, or less than 10 per cent., are reported as ginning exclusively for the plantation. Bulletin No. 98 of the Twelfth United States Census also deals with cotton-ginning, with particular reference to the crop of 1900, and contains an historical and descriptive sketch of the methods of preparing raw cotton for the market.

Baling.—The cotton having been separated from the seed, the next step is to pack it in bales, for shipment. Different methods of baling prevail among the cotton-producing countries. The American product, as put up in the old-fashioned tortoise-back bales, has the reputation of being the worst-baled cotton in the world. East Indian cotton is shipped in cubical bales, weighing about 400 pounds, covered with thick Indian hemp and held together with strong iron bands. The Egyptian bale weighs about 700 pounds, is a little thicker and not so long as the American, and has eleven, instead of seven or eight, bands around it. Brazilian cotton comes in very light bales, weighing only 200 pounds, which are tied with trailing vines. In the cotton States of America, the cotton which is not consumed by the Southern mills is shipped to the exporting city, by rail, steamboat, or wagon. It is there graded by the exporter, who fastens a tag to each bale, and also to a sample taken from it. It is from these labeled samples that the foreign manufacturer makes his purchases. The bales are then subjected to enormous pressure, usually by the transportation company, a standard bale weighing 500 pounds. During its progress from the farm to the factory, a bale of cotton is given a series of brands, by the farmer and the ginnery, as well as the exporter, so that fraud can easily be traced. One of the objections to the American baling methods, however, is that the covering becomes so torn that the marks on it cannot be deciphered.

The manner in which American cotton is generally baled and pressed for transportation to the markets and mills is not only needlessly expensive and wasteful, but fails to protect the cotton from damage and theft. The bales are covered with jute cloth, made of thread so coarse and loosely woven that, while it adds unnecessarily to the weight of the bale, it does not protect the cotton. The bales are held together by steel bands, which still further increase the weight. The weight of the bagging and ties on a

bale weighing 500 pounds is about 23 pounds. Besides the increased freight rates due to this bulky method of baling, the necessity of a second pressing, and the bad condition in which the cotton reaches the factory, a more grave defect is its excessive inflammability, resulting in high insurance charges. So great is this risk that on some passenger steamers cotton is not carried, on account of the danger of fire. An illustration of this danger was afforded by the terrible fire which occurred on the docks of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company at Hoboken, N. J., on June 30, 1900. The fire started in some unknown manner in a lot of cotton-bales and spread with such rapidity that efforts to check it were unavailing. The loss of property caused by this cotton fire has been estimated variously at from $4,000,000 to $6,000,000, and the loss of life was about 200 persons.

Within the past few years the cylindrical bale has been growing in favor among all classes of cotton-dealers. The American Cotton Company makes a bale four feet long and two feet in diameter, weighing over 35 pounds per cubic foot. The cotton is pressed gradually, so as not to injure the fibre, and is in the form of a continuous lap or roll. Since the air is pressed out of the cotton, it has no tendency to expand, and the covering is only sufficient to keep the cotton clean. The heavy bagging and ties are entirely dispensed with. The cotton is compressed as fast as ginned and is shipped direct from the ginhouse to the warehouse or mill. The cylindrical bale of the Planters' Compress Company is 36 inches long, 18 inches in diameter, and weighs 250 pounds. This bale is held together by wires passing from end to end through a small opening in the centre. It is covered with cotton duck, and the weight of the cloth and wire is about three pounds per bale. Most satisfactory tests have been made with each of these types of bales, showing that they are both fire and water proof. The other objections to the old-fashioned methods of baling are also met by the cylindrical bales described.

Spinning.—When the cotton-bales are received. at the factory, the cotton from the different bales is first mixed in order that the yarn produced may be of uniform quality. It is next submitted to a process of opening and picking that loosens the fibres which became closely packed together when the bale was pressed. Then follow the processes of carding, drawing, slubbing, roving, spinning, and doubling, by which the cotton-fibre is reduced by successive stages from a web or sheet into cotton yarn. The process of carding is described under that title. Its object, besides cleaning the cotton of any foreign substances still adhering, is to reduce the lap into a thin fleece and then contract it into a ribbon or sliver. The sliver, after being doubled so that inequalities in the single slivers are counterbalanced, is put through a drawing machine, consisting of successive pairs of rollers, each of which revolves more rapidly than the preceding one, and which reduces the sliver to a finer and finer thread. By slubbing and roving, the process of attenuation is continued, the thread in each case taking the name of the machine through which it has just passed. The thread is also twisted, and when it leaves the roving machine it is strong enough to be wound on a bobbin. Spinning is the concluding process, and in this the thread is given