The small planters of the South are usually unable to finance themselves independently through the growing and picking seasons. Consequently the local store-keeper, from whom the planters buy their supplies, usually extends credit in the form of an open account and so becomes the first middleman. Not infrequently the store-keeper will accept cotton rather than money in settlement of his accounts, and where he follows this practice he becomes what is known as a local buyer. When he has accumulated sufficient cotton he sells either to an intermediate buyer, or to the buyer for some merchant or mill. [Sidenote: _Large Growers_] In the case of the larger grower, or the syndicate of growers, the local buyer is usually eliminated. These planters obtain their credit from the large merchant buyers, who in turn are carried by their banks. [Sidenote: _Intermediate Buyers_] Very frequently the local buyers are scattered so thickly through a neighborhood, and each accumulate such small and heterogeneous lots of cotton that an intermediate buyer finds his way into the natural order. Sometimes the intermediate is merely a “scalper” who buys from the local dealer and sells to merchant buyers. In other cases, notably in Texas, he acts as a concentrating agent, buying at local points from growers and selling, usually at compress points, to representatives of merchants or mills. In the latter case he is referred to as a “street buyer.” [Sidenote: _Financing Early Stages_] Where the grower surrenders his cotton to the local dealer the latter usually has it ginned, but in cases where the planter is able to finance himself he takes his cotton to the gin himself, pays for the ginning, and either sells in so-called gin bales, (before they are compressed) or, if a warehouse is available at the gin or compress point, holds his cotton until he can obtain a satisfactory price for it. The local banks perform a very important part of the crop financing at this stage, for, since the grower sells for cash, the buyers require advances. These are made by the Southern banks against buyers’ tickets, showing cotton purchased, against gin receipts, warehouse receipts, compress receipts, and finally when the cotton is shipped, against bills of lading. [Illustration: _The Square Bale_] [Sidenote: _The Merchant Buyer’s Importance_] [Sidenote: _The Take-up Man_]