The first operation in the manufacture is that of ginning, which is conducted by means of a small implement called the _rokuro_, or windlass. This consists of two wooden rollers revolving in opposite directions, fixed on a frame about 12 inches high and 6 inches in width, standing on a small platform, the dimensions of which slightly exceed that of the frame. The operator, usually a woman, kneels on one side of the frame, holding it firm by her weight, works the roller with one hand, and with the other presses the cotton, which she takes from a heap at her side, between the rollers. The cotton passes through, falling in small lumps on the other side of the frame, while the seeds fall on that nearest the woman. The utmost weight of unginned cotton that one woman working an entire day of ten hours can give is from 8 lb. to 10 lb., which gives, in the end, only a little over 3 lb. weight of ginned cotton, and her daily earnings amount to less than 2d. A few saw gins have been introduced into Japan during the last fifteen years, but no effort has been made to secure their distribution throughout the country districts. After ginning, a certain proportion of the seed is reserved for the agricultural requirements of the following year, and the remainder is sent to oil factories, where it is pressed, and yields about one-eighth of its capacity in measurement in oil, the refuse, after pressing, being used for manure. The ginning having been finished in the country districts, the cotton is either packed in bales and sent to the dealers in the cities, or else the next process, that of carding, is at once proceeded with on the spot.