DESCRIPTION OF COTTON PLANT IJ 



which are not found on the Sea Island vari- 

 eties. 



A small flower stem of varying length appears 

 along the larger branches to support the bolls. 

 The square is the first stage of the fruit. It 

 consists of three bracts or leaves with the 

 inclosed flower bud and appears, on an average, 

 twenty-one days before the bloom opens. The 

 blooms of upland cotton are cream colored the 

 first morning, changing to pink the second day, 

 and fall to the ground the third or fourth day. 

 The flowers open up beautifully early in the 

 morning, but begin to close and change color in 

 the afternoon of the first day. Blooms of other 

 species vary in size and color. The cotton bloom 

 is self fertile. When the bloom drops, it leaves a 

 small pod about the size of a pea which develops, 

 on an average, in from forty-five to fifty days 

 into the full grown boll. This boll is similar in 

 size and shape to a small hen's egg and contains 

 the lint and seed. The boll of upland cottons 

 has four to five divisions, each containing 

 a lock consisting of seed and lint. Each lock 

 has from six to twelve seeds. Sea Island 

 bolls are smaller and contain three or four 

 locks. 



