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I propose to give some account of the working of the staple in early times, in order to show the necessity for a modified treatment of the staple as we now find it. The condition of the staple before our present system of picking came into use, was elastic; and could be carded with less liability to knit the fibres than our present made lap, because of its tenacity in resisting the action of the card surface, whereby the fibres were readily straightened and detached. With the old-time draft and feed, we could make better carding than to-day.

The practice of double carding is of feudal origin, so to speak; adopted at a period when little was known of the nature of the cotton fibre, still less of a proper method of cleaning it for the card. The breaker and finisher, with top stripping every fifteen minutes, was our whole reliance for cleaning the staple, save the whipping-frame and hand-picking. Great fear and distrust were manifested by spinners, at the head of whom was Samuel Slater himself, who entered their protest against the use of the new machine; having a knife-beater to clean cotton, that was to ruin the staple forever, they said, for good yarn. But as cotton spinning began to be multiplied, the fears of our good fathers faded out; and to-day, the knife beater, multiplied tenfold in its application to the staple, is the most popular method for cleaning cotton yet known to the public. But Mr. Slater and others of his time, with the light and means they had, would have found a much harder road to travel if the cotton they worked was in anywise such as comes to us at the present day. The little crop then raised was of far higher grade than the mass of what comes to us today. It had more or less of seed, owing to imperfect ginning, but was free of leaf, dirt and other dead matter, having been more carefully picked in the field. I shall not describe in contrast the cotton of to-day. It is enough to say, that we have been driven to our present system of picking in consequence of the great increase in the growth of inferior staple, and the practice of planters packing up enormous quanties of dirt with the dead matter, the proper cleaning of which has taken from the staple much of that elastic condition so important to nice, delicate carding. If I am not mistaken, there is a growing opinion among experienced spinners, that double carding, as the staple is now treated in the pickers, is not only unnecessary, but becomes a source of positive weakness to the sliver, that it cannot be carried in the

drawing frame beyond the second head with success, unless you have the highest grade of cotton with large slivers. Many mills with single carding yet hold on to the old-time practice of light draft, say from 32 to 40 or 44, with a slow motion of doffer, say 4 or 5 turns. With our modern, thoroughly picked lap, such treatment is behind the times. It should not be forgotten that the Wellman card of to-day, the most popular now in use, is, with the exception of the self-stripper, essentially the same in its working functions, as that built under the direction of Samuel Slater and David Wilkinson. Mr. Slater's Card was without the lickerin, but this was added to the Wilkinson Card some years later. When cotton was fed to the breaker on an apron by little children, I but too well remember the scolding and whipping we had to endure for any carelessness of uneven spreading, or for running double laps. Whenever thick bunches were drawn in, to the breaking down of the card teeth, the poor child was made to writhe under the strokes of the leather strap. Incredible as it may appear to some of you, I have seen a child, not above the age of six years, held out of a third story window of the mill, with the threat of throwing him to the ground, for some delinquency in his task; and we were made to believe that the almost breathless promises of the child, in his terror, were the only means of his safety. I have given this episode to show the use for which the licker-in was introduced. I well believe it was more to save the precious card teeth than for the welfare of the helpless children. With our well-made lap, the licker-in, in my judgment, is as little needed as the fifth wheel of a coach. It presents the staple to the M cylinder on the back crook of its teeth, affording no particle of resistance in the fibre to the M cylinder, the tendency of which is to create nits in the cotton. We know nothing so effective as the swift motion of the sheeted main cylinder, with the feed rolls well in place, to straighten out the fibres through the card. I will briefly give my views of the treatment in the card of our modernmade lap. I have alluded to the old method as objectionable, because of the light draft, implying a slow doffer, by which the M cylinder and tops are too much loaded; and for that reason discharge to the doffer, with its thick sheet, a larger portion of objectionable matter. At the same time, the fibres cannot be nicely detached, since being deprived of its elastic condition in some degree in the picker room. In order to unload your tops, which

now hold in abeyance much objectionable matter, mixed with the staple, and which is constantly drifting to the slow surface of your doffer, make your draft between feed rolls and doffer 80, more or less, according to quality of staple; put your doffer up to a motion of 8 or 9 turns per minute. The result of this will be, if your card surfaces are all right and well set, to make the surface of your main cylinder as clean as a dog's tongue. Your doffer cannot take half the dead matter it would on the old plan, and you will take some pride in looking at your sliver as it rolls out from the doffer; and I should as soon think of carrying coals to Newcastle, as taking this staple to be put through a second section of cards.

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