262 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



(3) A drooping position of the boll, which is partly de- 

 pendent upon the weight of the boll, partly on the length 

 and stiffness of the boll-stem, and partly on the position of 

 the cotton plant; that is, whether standing erect or bent 

 down by the weight of bolls. 



(4) The presence of large bracts, or leafy parts of the 

 square, which may serve to shed some of the water and 

 thus to prevent the complete saturation of bolls, and 

 dropping of seed cotton from bolls borne in a drooping 

 position. .-. 



238. Lint. Each cotton fiber consists of a single 

 elongated cell. The fiber may be thought of as a tube, 

 which, while immature, is cylindrical throughout more than 

 three fourths of its length; thence it tapers to the end 

 farthest from the seed. But as the fiber matures, the tube 

 collapses and becomes twisted, somewhat like a collapsed 

 and twisted fire-hose. This twisting, which is most com- 

 plete when the fiber is thoroughly matured, is highly de- 

 sirable because it adds strength to the cotton thread or yarn 

 by causing the fibers to cling together when twisted. The 

 advantage of the twisting in preventing the slipping of 

 fibers in a thread or cloth may be understood by considering 

 how much more difficult it would be for two chains twisted 

 together to slip past each other than it would be for two 

 pieces of smooth wire. 



Based chiefly on the amount of twisting, there are in 

 every lot of cotton three kinds of fibers: (1) ripe, (2) partly 

 ripe, and (3) immature. In immature fibers there is little 

 twist; consequently these make weak thread or cloth. 

 Moreover immature fibers do not uniformly and satisfac- 

 torily absorb the dyes used in the manufacture of colored 



