"Over drying is a vague and misused term. Cotton fiber dried to a low moisture level is not harmed if the drying is done at low temperature. Cotton fibers are often dried to about 4 or 5 percent moisture while still in the field." (Cotton Ginners' Handbook AH 503 p. 61)

"The classification of cotton as having rough preparation is causing a problem for the cotton industry. The large discounts are keeping ginners from "gentle ginning" cotton because the frequency of abnormal preparation (prep) increases significantly when less drying and lint cleaning are used. Some ginning systems are more prone to produce rougher samples than others." (1995 Proceedings Beltwide Conferences, Vol. 1, p. 460, William Mayfield, Stanley Anthony, Roy Baker, Eugene Columbus, "What We Know and Need to Know About Preparation".)

We agree with these two presentations wholeheartedly. We offer a solution. Dry the seed cotton with low mix point temperatures, keep the heat on it longer, fluff it, single lock it, disperse it, dry it some more (do not scrub it, do not pressure roll it) then send it on to the next stage and keep it at 140° to 170° F all the way to the feeder apron above the gin stand.