bale

1

In Belgium and the Netherlands, 19^th century, a unit of mass = ½ charge = 2 cent (each of 100 pounds) = 1,950,000 Dutch as, approximately 93.732 kilograms.

2

In the paper trade, a bale of paper = 5 bundles = 10 reams = 200 quires. When the quire is 25 sheets, a bale contains 5,000 sheets.

3

The bale of cotton, standardized at various times and places, elsewhere not.

sources

The standard American bale measures 54 × 27 × 27 inches and weighs 500 pounds. The bessonette bale is a cylinder shape of 22 inches diameter, and 34 or 48 inches long, weighing 275 or 425 pounds. The average weights of the other cotton bales are: Indian 390 pounds, Egyptian 700 pounds, Brazilian about 200 pounds, Levant (great divergence) about 300 pounds.

Louis Harmuth.
Dictionary of Textiles.
New York: Fairchild Publishing Co., 1915.