14 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



of both of these varieties is remarkably free from this so-called longer 

 group of fibers. In the case of the greatly improved Russell strain, 

 which has become distinctive enough in good lint characters and jneld 

 to be designated as a new variety — the so-called Columbia cotton — 

 these longer fibers are evident to a remarkable degree. 



THE TRUE NATURE OF THE LONGER FIBERS. 



It has been more or less the rule with cotton breeders and cotton 

 growers acquainted with the requisites of desira])le lint characters to 

 regard these extra-long fibers as an unfavorable feature. In this light 

 they meant a variation toward nonuniformity. In the work of selec- 

 tion, to avoid as much as possible a perpetuation of this sort of varia- 

 tion, plants showing this character most markedly were regarded with 



suspicion and later even discarded, although 

 in other respects they were among the best in 

 the field. 



A careful examination leads to the conclusion 

 that these fibers should be regarded in a wholl}^ 

 different light. They are not longer fibers aS 

 they have heen generally considered^ hut are 

 Fig. 1.— Single cotton fibers from caused hy more OT less curling and interweaving^ 

 the so-called longer group of y^Jiich results in the ptdUng out of fibers from 



fibers. t ^ t 



adjacent seeds. 

 In the ordinary manner of stretching the locks to determine the 

 drag, the fibers are slowly separated and drawn out, and at those points 

 of greatest binding, as shown in Plate II, C, «, b, and c, the groups of 

 longer fibers appear to rise. If, now, a single seed is selected and 

 detached from the rest and the entire group of fibers loosened from 

 its attachment to the seed 



coat in the neighborhood of 

 the longer groups, one can 

 with fine forceps draw these 

 fibers out carefully and com- 

 pare their length with those 

 of the rest of the seed. 

 In many instances the sin- 



£rle fibers now readilv Sepa- i i«- ^•— a few extra-long cotton fibers, sliowing two 



" . , ' ". ,. fibers united. 



rate, since the tension or 



pulling has ceased. Several of these single fibers are shown in figure 1. 

 In some instances fibers nearly twice the normal length are drawn out. 

 Oftentimes with the. naked eye the point of union or tying may be 

 discerned by the tiny loose ends, as is shown in figure 2. In other 

 cases, however, this point of union is so intimate that only a high 

 microscopic power can make it evident. Figure 3 illustrates various 

 111—11 



