The Classification and Grading of Cotton Page: 2
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FARMERS' BULLETIN 591.
there are no samples. With the present methods of buying cotton,
especially the short staple varieties (three fourths of an inch to 1 -9
inches), other things being equal, the grade practically deternjpes
the price that is received by the producer. What is known as sple
cotton (1k inch staple or above) is usually sold on sample. The ~tm-
pie gives each party to the trade a chance to form his own opinion,
and is necessary because cotton dealers and spinners have such dif-
ferent ideas about the character and length of staple.
GRADE NAMES.'
The grade names that are in more or less general use throughout
the United States for whit is known as American cotton are as fol-
lows:
ABOVE MIDDLING. BELOW MIDDLING.
1. Fair. 8. Strict Low Middling.
2. Strict Middling Fair. 9. Low Middling.
3. Middling Fair. 7. Middling. 10. Strict Good Ordinary.
4. Strict Good Middling. 11. Good Ordinary.
5. Good Middling. 12. Strict Ordinary.
6. Strict Middling. 13. Ordinary.
The official grades as prepared at present by the United States
Department of Agriculture include only nine of these, namely, Mid-
dling Fair to Good Ordinary, inclusive. In an average season this
range of grades covers practically all the white cotton grown.
The grade names containing the word "strict" are known in the
trade as half grades, the others as full grades.2 If the order-of these
names is kept in mind it will help in understanding the descriptions
that follow. Middling, as the name shows, is the middle or basic
grade, and is the grade upon which the market quotations are based.
All grades above Middling bring a higher price and all below Middling
bring a lower price than that quoted for Middling, the amount above
or below varying according to the respective differences in use where
the cotton is marketed.
Many more grade names are used by the trade in the large spot
markets to describe the different classes of colored cottons. The
grades of white cotton, however, are the foundation of all these other
classes. When the cotton is not white, its nature is indicated by
adding the words "off color" or "fair color," "spotted," "tinged,"
or "stained," as the case may be, to the grade given to the sample.
In other words, there may be several classes of the same grade of
cotton; e. g., Middling "off color," Middling "tinged," or Middling
"stained."
1 The grading of Sea Island and Egyptian cotton will not be considered in this bulletin, since thecharac-
teristics of these varieties are such that different methods of grading as well as different grade names are used.
2 The words "Fully" and "Barely" put before the full grade are sometimes used on the exchanges when
speaking of quarter grades. "Fully" means tne quarter grade above, while "Barely" means the quarter
grade below,
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Earle, D. E. & William S. (William Samuel) Dean, 1883-. The Classification and Grading of Cotton, pamphlet, 1914; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc87569/m1/2/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.