440 FIELD CROPS 



and lint. It is composed of three to five cells. When ripe, 

 the boll tui'ns brown and the cells separate along the central 

 axis and also spUt down the back, so that the Unt and seeds 

 are exposed. The seeds, which are about three eighths of an 

 inch long and half as wide, are thickly covered with lint 

 and fiiie fuzz. The lint, which is the cotton of commerce, 

 is from seven eighths to one and one half inches long in the 

 ordinary varieties, the fuzz, or linters, one fourth inch or less. 

 The seed consists of a thick seed coat, or hull, and an oily 

 yellowish-white kernel. 



603. Other Species. Sea Island cotton, Gossypium bar- 

 badense, differs from the ordinaiy type in that it grows taller, 

 has longer branches, yellow flowers, longer and finer fiber, 

 and seeds free from fuzz. It is growm in the West Indies 

 and on the islands and lower lands along the coast of the 

 Carolinas and Georgia. Egyptian cotton is generally re- 

 garded a variety of G. barbadense. It has a long, strong 

 fiber and is very similar in many ways to Sea Island cotton. 

 It is grown largely in Egypt, and has recently been grown 

 successfully under irrigation in Arizona, and southern Cali- 

 fornia. India cotton, Gossypium herbaceum has more slender 

 stems than the ordinaiy upland tj^pe, leaves with rounded 

 lobes, and smaller, less pointed bolls. The lint may be 

 white, yellow, or brown. Its cultivation is confined to 

 southern Asia. 



604. Cotton Fiber, or Lint. The cotton of commerce is 

 the lint, or surface fibers, with which the seed is covered. 

 The individual strands or fibers consist of single cells, ranging 

 from 3^ to 2J/^ inches long in the different varieties. Each 

 fiber or cell is much twisted, a feature which distinguishes 

 it from other fibers. It is estimated that there are some- 

 times as many as five hundred twists to the inch. The fiber 

 is very strong for its size and can be woven into a very fine 

 thread, though not as fine or as strong as silk. The value of 

 the lint depends on its color, cleanness, length, and strength. 



