398 Journal oj Agricultural Research voi. iii. No. s 



The prevalence of abortion in cluster cottons is one of the most striking 

 evidences of the degenerative nature of such variations. In strongly 

 clustered varieties completely sterile individuals are often found, the 

 result of abortion of all the buds or young bolls or of all the buds which 

 produce fruiting branches. Yet these completely sterile plants are less 

 harmful to the stock than the other less abnormal degenerates that are 

 able to reproduce themselves from seed and also to contaminate their 

 neighbors with inferior pollen. That cluster cottons should seem more 

 unstable than other varieties and more inclined to the production of 

 abnormalities is easier to understand when they are considered as meta- 

 phanic variations, representing intermediate expressions of characters 

 that are normally distinct. 



AGRICULTURAL DEFECTS OF "CLUSTER" COTTONS 



Having considered the general nature of the cluster character of cotton 

 and the accompanying variations, we are in better position to understand 

 the physiological status and practical value of such forms. The first 

 impression of cluster varieties is that they are more fruitful, for they are 

 able to set their buds and bolls more rapidly than varieties with normal 

 fruiting branches. But when we have learned that brachysm is in the 

 nature of a malformation and is frequently accompanied by malforma- 

 tions of leaves and bracts and abortion of both the floral and the vegeta- 

 tive buds, it becomes apparent that the brachytic variants are to be 

 avoided by the breeder, especially when they bear other marks of 

 degeneration. 



The limited size and more upright habits of growth make it possible 

 for more of the short-branched plants to stand in the same area, and very 

 large yields may be obtained with favorable conditions of soil and season. 

 But if the conditions prove unfavorable, cluster varieties are likely to 

 suffer worse than others and to produce smaller crops, so that it is very 

 doubtful whether the cluster habit is a practical advantage. The extreme 

 forms of clustering are certainly undesirable, for in such varieties many 

 of the plants are likely to become sterile through the blasting of all of 

 the buds, the tendency to abortion being greatest when vmfavorable 

 conditions are encountered during the crop season. 



Another agricultural consideration is that the crowding of the bolls 

 together makes picking more difficult. This is especially true, of course, 

 when clustering is accompanied by fasciation and other abnormalities, 

 so that the bolls are malformed or misshapen. The opening of the bolls 

 is also likely to be irregular, because cluster cottons often produce many 

 late bolls on short branches developed from the axils of the leaves of the 

 fruiting branches. Such bolls are usually undersized, as well as late in 

 opening. 



A further objection to the cluster character, especially in long-staple 

 cottons, is that the lint of cluster varieties or of individual variations ii> 



