This may be defined as a continuation of the carding process already named before to a much more perfect degree. The chief object is to extract all fibres below a certain required length, and reject them as waste. There is as much of this latter made at this stage of manufacture as that made by all the other machines put together, that is, about 17 per cent. Of course it will be readily seen that this is a costly operation and is limited entirely to the production of the very best and finest yarns. This process necessitates the employment of a machine called a "Sliver Lap" and sometimes a "Ribbon Lap Machine" in order to put the slivers from the carding engine into a small lap suitable for the "creel" of the "Combing Machine." =Cotton Mixing and the Bale Breaker.=--As before stated, the first operation in the mill is the opening out of bales of raw material and making a "mixing." Of course the weight of the bale is ascertained before it is opened. All varieties of cotton vary in their commercial properties, this variation being due to a number of causes. From a commercial value point of view, there is an enormous difference between the very best and the very worst cottons; so much so, indeed, that they are never blended together. Between these two extremes there is a well-graded number of varieties and classifications of cotton, and some approximate so closely to others in quality, that they are often blended together in the "mixing." Further than this, the same class of cotton often varies in spinning qualities from a number of circumstances that need not here be named. This is, however, an additional reason why cotton from various bales should be blended together in order to secure uniformity. A cotton "mixing" may be described as a kind of "stack," resembling somewhat the haystack of the farm yards. The method usually pursued in making this mixing is somewhat as follows:--A portion of cotton from a certain bale is taken off and spread over a given area of floor space. Then a similar portion from another bale is placed over the first layer already lying on the floor. The same operation is followed with a third and fourth layer from different bales, and so on with as many bales as the management consider there are variations in quality, the larger the mixing the better for securing uniformity of yarn. When it is desired to use the cotton, it should be pulled down vertically from the face of the "mixing," so as to secure a fair portion from each bale composing the mixture. Before spreading the cotton out it is usually pulled into pieces of moderate size by the hands of the operative.