When the seed is taken from the cotton at the gin, it is covered with
a lint of cotton. In order to remove this the seeds are put through a
delinter, which takes off the small, short fiber from the seeds,
leaving them clean. This seed is then put through a huller which takes
off the outside hull or thick skin. The kernel is then put through a
hydraulic press, which squeezes the cotton-seed oil from it and leaves
the "meal." Cotton-seed oil is used for many purposes, such as making
olive oil, butter or oleomargarine, lard, etc. Of late an experiment
has been made with the meal for use in the place of flour, and has
been pronounced a success. Seed crushing has now become an important
industry, with the cotton crop each year amounting to between
12,000,000 and 13,000,000 bales of 450 pounds each.

=The Cotton Gin.= The cotton gin was invented in 1792 by Eli Whitney,
a citizen of Georgia, but a native of Massachusetts. The importance of
this invention to the cotton industry of the world cannot be
overestimated. It was the one thing needed to insure a sufficient
supply of raw material to meet the requirements of newly invented
machinery for spinning and weaving. The result of Whitney's invention
was the rapid extension of the culture of cotton in the United
States, and its permanent establishment as one of the leading staples
of the country.

=Cotton Bales.= After the cotton is ginned and baled it is shipped to
the mill. The standard size of a cotton bale in the United States is
54 x 27 x 27 inches, and contains nearly 500 pounds. To produce this
bale over 1,600 pounds of seed cotton are required. The bales are
wrapped in jute bagging and strapped with sheet-iron bands, this
covering adding about twenty-five pounds to the weight of the bale.

The Bessonette cylindrical bale is turned out by a self-feeding press,
which receives the lap of lint from the gin between two heavy rollers.
The fiber is rolled upon a long wooden spool so tightly as to press
out nearly all the air, and forms a package of uniform shape and size
throughout, having a diameter of fourteen to sixteen inches. The bales
are covered with cotton cloth, held in place by small wire hoops. It
is claimed that the cotton is rolled so tightly by this process that
the bales are practically fireproof and waterproof.

Egyptian bales are compressed into a shape similar to the American
bale, but the average weight is over 700 pounds.

The Indian bales, which are mo