CHAPTEK XVII 



COTTON 



the most important of the materials 

 used for our woven fabrics, is furnished by a 

 i tropical plant called the cotton plant. It is 

 an herb or even a shrub from one to two meters high, 

 and its large yellow flowers are followed by an abun- 

 dant fruitage of 

 bolls, each as large 

 as an egg, filled 

 with a silky flock, 

 sometimes bril- 

 liantly white, some- 

 times a pale yel-' 

 lowish shade, ac- 

 cording to the kind 

 of cotton. In the 

 middle of this flock 

 are the seeds. " 



"It seems to me I have seen flock of that kind fall 

 in Hakes in the spring from the top of poplars and 

 will ,iid Claire. 



"The comparison is very good. Willows and 

 poplars have for their fruit tiny little long and 

 pointed hells Hirer or four times as large as a pin's 

 li'Mil. In the month of May these bolls are rip* 4 . 

 They open and set free a very fine white down, in tlio 



71 



Cotton Plant 

 (a) Cotton Boll 



