264 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



is need for investigators to determine whether there is an increase 

 in the weight of this oily covering during storage. 



239. Seed. There are usually 6 to 12 seeds in each 

 lock of seed cotton, or from 28 to 50 seeds in a boll. In 

 varieties with small seed, the number per boll is usually 

 greater than in varieties having large seed. 



The legal weight of a bushel of seed is usually either 32 

 or 33^ pounds. A bushel may be regarded as containing 

 about 135,000 seeds of average size. 



A bushel of Sea Island cotton seed is usually assumed to weigh 

 about 44 pounds. In the author's classification, upland cotton 

 seed, averaging 13 grams per 100 seed, are considered as large; 

 those weighing 10 to 13 grams per 100 seed as medium ; and those 

 weighing less than 10 grams per 100 seed as small. 



The seed of most varieties of upland cotton are covered with 

 a short, dense fuzz which may be white, greenish, or brownish. 

 There are some exceptional varieties almost free from this fuzz or 

 so thinly covered that the black seed-coat shows through. Sea 

 Island cotton has naked black seeds, free from fuzz except on the 

 tip end of some of them. Constant selection is necessary to pre- 

 vent an increase in the fuzz on Sea Island cotton seed. 



Within the tough hull of the seed is the "meat," which con- 

 sists chiefly of two fleshy seed leaves (cotyledons) enfolding the 

 embryo sprout and the embryo root. 



In the entire seed the following figures represent approximately 

 the usual proportions of the different parts : 



Linters, or short lint, removed at the oil mill . . . 10 per cent 



Hulls 40 per cent 



Meats 50 per cent 



Germination. When planted in the field in the spring under 

 favorable weather conditions, germination usually occurs in seven 

 to twelve days. Cotton seeds retain their power to germinate for 

 several years. The seed leaves, or first two thick leaves that 



