52 LUTHER BURBANK 



The newer classifications recognize twenty- 

 four species or subspecies of cotton, including a 

 number of American varieties that have attained 

 great commercial importance. 



The American upland cotton is a perennial 

 plant, now cultivated as an annual, that had its 

 original home somewhere in the heart of South 

 America, but which has proved adapted to the 

 climate of the North American cotton belt, and 

 is now the chief producer of cotton in America, 

 and hence in the world. 



Sea Island cotton is a species indigenous to the 

 West Indies. It is of larger growth than the 

 upland cotton, attaining a height of three to 

 eight feet, and the bolls that contain the cotton 

 fiber are sharp-pointed and characterized by 

 having only three instead of four or five divisions 

 or locks. Sea Island cotton yields less fiber per 

 acre and is more costly to pick and gin than 

 upland cotton. But it commands a higher price. 

 It is grown chiefly on islands, and along the coast 

 of South Carolina and Georgia. It has peculiar 

 value as material for the making of the founda- 

 tion for automobile tires. 



The Indian cotton and the Egyptian are not 

 grown extensively in this country, although 

 varieties have been introduced and grown by the 

 United States Bureau of Plant Industry for ex- 



