668 Handbook of Naiure-Study 



more profitable basis, wrought great evil to the United States, since it 

 revived the profits of slave-holding. The institution of slavery was sink- 

 ing out of sight by its own weight ; Washington showed that it was the 

 most expensive way to work land, and Jefferson failed to liberate his own 

 slaves simply because he believed that liberty would come to all slaves 

 inevitably, since slave-holding was such an expense to the plantation 

 owners. But the cotton gin, which removed the seeds rapidly theretofore 

 done by slow and laborious hand process suddenly made the raising of 

 cotton so profitable that slaves were again employed in its production 

 with great financial benefits. And thus it came about that the cotton 

 plant innocently wielded a great influence in the political, as well as the 

 industrial life of our country. 



The cotton plant has a taproot, with branches which go deep into the 

 soil. The stem is nearly cylindrical, the branches often spreading and 

 sometimes irregular; the bark is dark and reddish; the wood is white. 

 In Egypt, and probably in other arid countries, the stalks are gathered 

 for fuel in winter. 



The leaves are alternate, with long petioles. The upper leaves are 

 deeply cut, some having five, some seven, some three, and some even nine 

 lobes; strong veins extend from the petiole along the center of each lobe; 

 the leaves near the ground may not be lobed at all. Where the petiole 

 joins the stem, there is a pair of long, slender, pointed stipules, but they 

 often fall off early. A strange characteristic of the cotton leaves is that 

 they bear nectar-glands; these may be seen on the under side and along 

 the main ribs of the leaf ; they appear as little pits in the rib ; some leaves 

 may have none, while others may have from one to five. It has been 

 thought that perhaps these glands might attract bees, wasps or ants, 

 which would attack the caterpillars eating the leaves, but this has not 

 been proved. However, many friendly insects get their nectar at these 

 leaf-wells, and here is an opportunity for some young naturalist of the 

 South to investigate this matter and discover what insects come to these 

 glands at all times of day and what they do. 



The flower bud is partially hidden beneath the clasping bracts of the 

 involucre. These bracts are three or four in number, and they have the 

 edges so deeply lobed that they seem branched. By pushing back the 

 bracts we can find the calyx, which is a shallow cup with five shallow 

 notches in its rim. The petals are rolled in the bud like a shut umbrella. 

 The open flower has five broadly spreading petals; when the bud first 

 opens in the morning, the petals are whitish or pale yellow with a purplish 

 spot at the base, by noon they are pale pink, by the next day they are a 

 deep purplish red and they fall at the end of the second day. There are 

 nectar-glands also in the flower at the base of the calyx, and the insects 

 are obliged to thrust their tongues between the bases of the petals to reach 

 the nectar , only long-t ongued bees, moths and butterflies are able to attain 

 it. 



There are many stamens which have their filaments united in a tube 

 extending up into the middle of the flower and enlarging a little at the tip ; 

 below the enlarged base of this tube is the ovary which later develops into 

 the cotton-boll; within the stamen-tube extends the long style, and from 

 its tip are thrust out from three to five stigmas like little pennants from 

 the top of a chimney ; and sometimes they are more or less twisted to- 

 gether. The young boll is covered and protected by the fringed bracts, 



