318 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



developed, adapted to different situations, soils, 

 and other conditions. 



Attempts have been made to lengthen the fibre 

 by seed selection, cultivation, fertilizing, and by 

 hybridizing. These efforts have already improved 

 the quality of the different varieties, and it is but 

 a short time since they were begun. The future 

 will carry the work forward much more quickly, 

 for the Government experts are teaching the 

 farmers how to use improved methods in all phases 

 of cotton culture. 



India has two native species of cotton, one a 

 tree, the other a bush. The latter is the field 

 cotton of India, inferior to our upland species in 

 size of boll and length of staple. Tree cotton is 

 not grown as a field crop anywhere. 



Seed cotton is one third lint and two thirds seed. 

 The gin separates the two. The farmer loads his 

 crop into the wagon and drives to the gin. Here 

 a suction elevator conveys the load to the gin, 

 which drops the seed below, and blows the lint 

 away to a receiving place, the lint room, from 

 which the compresses bale it into a dense package, 

 covered and roped for storage or shipment. The 

 modern cotton bale weighs about 500 pounds. Its 

 destiny is the mill, where the lint is spun and 

 woven into cloth. 



