Saw-type lint cleaning at the cotton gin improves classer's grade of cotton by removing trash and Improving sample color. Lint cleaning increased the number of samples classed In the white color category and reduced the number of light spotted and spotted samples in tests on 21 stripper harvested cottons. Sixty-five percent of the samples classed as white after being cleaned with a typical two-stage lint cleaning system had been classed as either light spotted or spotted before lint cleaning. Results illustrate the importance of lint cleaning in determining the classer's color designation of cotton. Even though maximum cleaning tended to produce the highest grade, it usually did not produce maximum bale value. Losses in bale weight and staple length during lint cleaning tended to offset such of the gains due to grade improvement.