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Selections From Journal ofB. L. C. Wailes	27
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feet and in good order, each gin (or pair of rollers) may be said to average about 75 pounds of Clean Cotton per day. But this is by no means uniform, as in humid, damp, or rainy weather the process is much slower and more difficult, [and] the cotton ginned is inferior (the seed being often crushed). In very dry, warm, clear weather the process is more satisfactory, the Cotton [being] drier, &. perhaps nearly a hundred pounds could be turned out (a lie of the overseer) ....
Visited the gin again, accompanied by Judge Daniel, and learned the following additional particulars: A child or small negro will answer to take out the lint (or'fibre) as it passes through the cylinders, but it requires an efficent hand to feed the seed cotton & to regulate the action of the mill & [to] prevent the seed from being crushed & drawn between the cylinders. In which case the rollers become charred, & danger of fire from friction ensues, to prevent which a bucket of water is always at hand on the stand with the gins. It is also necessary to replace the rollers upon an average two or three times a day, as they wear away so rapidly as to impair their proper action. On this account a turning lathe is required, and a hand is constantly employed in turning new ones, and [he] sometimes cannot keep pace with the demand. There are also six or eight friction rollers (or tighteners) for the Chain, which wear away rapidly & have to be renewed. The Cotton requires to be thoroughly dried, and [it] is very carefully moted by hand both before and after ginning; so that, with the ginners, turners, drivers, &c., at least thirteen hands is [sic] constantly employed.15
The packing is done in round bags suspended through a round hole in an upper floor by means of a stout hoop stitched to the mouth, of a bag. The bags are steeped in water for one night and partially dried. A negro fellow gets into the bag with an iron crow bar & treads and packs in tha Cotton. The bags average about 350 pounds.18
The gins are placed on the bench (or stand) in such a manner as to be moved [?] from the cylinder in order to keep the bands (or cords) tight, as they are constantly stretching .... 17
15 Moting was the process of removing trash from cotton by hand. The term mote usually referred to a seed crushed in ginning.
18 Sea Island cotton was almost never pressed into bales, because cotton prepared in that manner brought a price little higher than common upland cotton.
17	This, gin was a variation of the Longstreet roller gin.