Abstract: A cottoner having a wadding section forming station, the station having: a carrier, a holder, and a feed mechanism mounted on a base in series. Moving means on the base reciprocate the a carrier toward and away from the feed mechanism. An operating controller on the base open and close the holder. The carrier has a gripper for gripping a length of wadding material to carry it from the holding means toward the feeding means when the carrier is moved toward the feed mechanism while the holder is open. The carrier releases the length of wadding material when moved away from the feed mechanism while the holder is closed to hold the length of wadding material. The cottoner includes an inserting station for inserting each section of wadding material formed at the wadding section forming station into a container. The cottoner also has a sensing station for sensing if the wadding material has been inserted, and inserted properly, into the container at the inserting station.