CHAPTER IX. 



STRUCTURE AND BOTANICAL RELATIONS 



The several species of every plant or animal 

 known to man have been properly classified and 

 grouped. It has required untold labor and pains 

 through years and centuries to make this important 

 contribution to the total sum of knowledge, but 

 the result is well worth the effort it has cost. 



A discussion of the causes that have entered into 

 the production of families, species and varieties 

 would not be in place here, but some of them are so 

 interesting and so intimately concerned with the 

 development and improvement of the cotton plant 

 as to make it necessary to consider them briefly. 



The cotton plant is a member of the Malvaceae 

 or mallow family, and to scientists is known by 

 the generic name Gossypium. The plant is given 

 to much variation, and a very large number of 

 varieties are the result. Differences in soil, in 

 climate, and in environment have been the primary 

 factors in producing these variations. 



INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY 



In the perpetuation of any plant or animal the 

 importance of heredity is recognized by all. It is, 

 in fact, the keeper of all that has gone before. 

 Good or evil, helpful or harmful, its influence is to 



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