1 8o 



THE ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURE 



The flower bud has three large, green, leaflike bracts, and 

 the bud, with these bracts, is called the square. 



The flower (Fig. 87) is bell-shaped, 2 inches or more in 

 diameter, having 4 or 5 short, green, abortive sepals, the same 

 number of large, showy petals, many stamens, and a single 

 pistil with as many stigmas as petals. The petals are white or 

 cream-colored the first day that they are open, and pink the 

 second day. The pistil ripens into the boll (Figs. 88 and 89). 



FIG. 87. Cotton plants in full flower 



The boll, which may be egg-shaped or nearly round (Fig. 89), 

 is an inch or more in diameter. It has 4 or 5 compartments, 

 each containing from 6 to 10 seeds. The seeds are covered 

 with a dense growth of plant hairs, the lint. The seed and lint 

 of a single compartment of the boll is called a lock. 



226. Long-staple and short-staple cotton. The seed, together 

 with the adhering lint, is called seed cotton. Of the varieties bear- 

 ing large bolls, from 50 to 65 bolls will yield a pound of seed 

 cotton. Of the small-boiled varieties from 100 to 120 bolls are 

 required to produce a pound. An individual fiber is about j^Vo" 

 inch in diameter. If the fiber is less than i^ inches in length it 

 is called short-staple-, if more than this it is long-staple (Fig. 10). 



