312 THE FORAGE AND FIBER CROPS IN AMERICA 



as three feet when they were broken off. 1 The Alabama Station 

 reports that most of the lateral roots originate at 1.5 to 2 

 inches below the surface of the ground, and that their direc- 

 tion is such that deep cultivation would break a large proportion 

 of the feeding roots. 2 The bark of cotton roots is reputed to 



have medicinal properties similar 

 to that of ergot. (C. A. 488) 



404. Vegetative Portion. The 

 cotton plant has a stout, erect 

 stem one-fourth to one inch in 

 diameter and one to five feet in 

 height, usually two to three feet, 

 with widely spreading branches. 

 The leaves are alternate and the 

 branches arise in the axils of the 

 leaves. The stem is circular and 

 distinctly tapering. The stems 

 and branches are covered with a 

 strong greenish or reddish-brown 

 bark, containing a large per cent, 

 of bast fibers. The pith is large ; 



American upland cotton. A short-jointed, 



long fruit limb plant. An extremely the wood IS SOtt, white and easily 



early productive plant on which fruit- decays, 

 ing began near the ground at the first . 



joints on the main stem. There are The distance between nodes 



only four primary limbs and the two varies with climate, Soil and 

 older are well fruited. Age 1 20 days, . 



height 5 feet, bolls 70, 2 open, in lower cultivation. According to the 



half circle 54 grown boils. Leaves re- Texas Station, the tendency of 

 Ved (From photo by Bennett) any variety when planted late 



is to produce longer joints, and 



to grow taller than when planted early; although to some ex- 

 tent this characteristic is hereditary in different individuals of 

 the same variety. 3 A variety may therefore be modified, in this 



1 South Carolina Sta. Bui. No. 7 (1892). 

 3 Alabama Sta. Bui. No. 107 (1897), p. 218. 

 a Texas Sta. Bui. No. 77 (1905), p. 20. 



