CHAPTER XVII 

 COTTON VARIETIES OF AMERICAN UPLAND 



THERE are many hundred names to represent varieties 

 of cotton. The Alabama Experiment Station has tested 

 more than two hundred of these so-called varieties and has 

 found that a large proportion of them are merely synonyms. 

 However, it is probable that the number of distinct varie- 

 ties, each differing from the other in one or more items of 

 agricultural or botanical importance, exceeds one hundred. 



254. Reasons for variation. Among the causes which 

 have led to this multiplication of varieties are the follow- 

 ing: 



(1) Modifications of the plant resulting from continuous 

 selection, or from special soil and climatic conditions ; 



(2) Artificial crosses intentionally made with a view to 

 creating new varieties combining some of the qualities of 

 both parents ; 



(3) Natural hybrids resulting chiefly from the carrying 

 of pollen by insects from the flowers of one variety to the 

 stigmas of another ; 



(4) Names have been needlessly multiplied, both inten- 

 tionally and unintentionally, so that some varieties may be 

 purchased under half a dozen different names. 



255. Varieties of cotton not easily recognized. The 

 differences between the numerous agricultural varieties 



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