ect conditions, is about 6 lb. per hour. Some of the
American ginners are very large indeed, a number (_Bulletin of the
Bureau of the Census on Cotton Production_) being reported as containing
on the average 1156 saws with an average production of 4120 bales of
cotton. Saw gins are not adapted to long-stapled cottons, such as Sea
Island and Egyptian, which are generally ginned by machines of the
Macarthy type.

The machine which will gin the largest quantity in the shortest time is
naturally preferred, unless such injury is occasioned as materially to
diminish the market value of the cotton. This has sometimes been to the
extent of 1d. or 2d. per lb. and even more as regards Sea Island and
other long-stapled cottons. The production, therefore, of the most
perfect and efficient cotton-cleaning machinery is of importance alike
to the planter and manufacturer.

_Baling._--The cotton leaves the ginning machine in a very loose
condition, and has to be compressed into bales for convenience of
transport. Large baling presses are worked by hydraulic power; the
operation needs no special description. Bales from different countries
vary greatly in size, weight and appearance. The American bale has been
described in a standard American book on cotton as "the clumsiest,
dirtiest, most expensive and most wasteful package, in which cotton or
any other commodity of like value is anywhere put up." Suggestions for
its improvement, which if carried out would (it is estimated) result in
a monetary saving of L1,000,000 annually, were made by the Lancashire
Private Cotton Investigation Commission which visited the Southern
States of America in 1906.

The approximate weights of some of the principal bales on the English
market are as follows:--

United States 500 lb.
Indian 400 lb.
Egyptian 700 lb.
Peruvian 200 lb.
Brazilian 200 to 300 lb.

With baling the work of the producer is concluded.

_Cultivation in Egypt._--Climatic conditions in Egypt differ radically
from those in the United States, the rainfall being so small as to be
quite insufficient for the needs of the plant, very little rain indeed
falling in the Nile Delta during the whole growing season of the crop:
yet Egypt is in order the third cotton-producing country of the world,
elaborate irrigation works supplying the crop with the requisite water.
The area devoted to cotton in Egypt is about