THE I'LAX OF THE CDTTON FEOWER AND THE ITHOD ADOPTED 

 BY MTITIE FOP, i\TI'RI.\(; THE SEED. 



In eutering upon the prosecution of any work we must 

 first have an adequate conception of the nature of the ob- 

 ject upon which we propose to experiment. Few people, 

 who cultivate the cotton, can give an intelligent description 

 of the plant and the methods used by it for maturing its 

 seeds. Not many persons understand that the fiber consists 

 of elongated cells growing from the outer surface of the 

 seed-coat. Yet these very parties are amazed when they 

 fail to make the plant accomplish what is so readily secured 

 under the management of a more intelligent and careful 

 agriculturist — the farmer who studies all the peculiarities 

 of the plant, watching each development as it is unfolded 

 under the guidance of natural laws. To the observant man 

 it may be unnecessary to say that the best developed flower 

 on the healthiest plant will produce the best staple. It is 

 not the fast growing plant, greatly multiplied in leaf and 

 wood surface, that is apt to produce the best matured flow- 

 ers and bolls. The food necessarj' for all the demands of a 

 healthy flower must come to it unstinted. If it is diverted 

 from its flow by the demands of rapidly growing leaves and 

 wood the generative organs must sufler, and this deficiency 

 of food may cause the flower to wither and fall off — at least 

 it will dwarf the organs and result in immature bolls. 



Before proceeding to discuss the results of the experi- 

 ments secured in the cross-fertilization of the cotton it may 

 be best to describe the construction of the flower for the 



