THE PLANT 



43 



Stamens. Next to the corolla are the organs called sta/mens. 

 Each stamen is composed of three parts : the fil'a ment, which is 

 the stem; a knob on the end of the filament, called the an'ther; 

 and the fine dust in the anther, called the pollen. This dust is 

 yellow in the cotton and in most other plants. 



Pistil. In the center of the flower is an organ called the pis'til. 

 Like the stamen, a complete pistil is made up of three parts. The 

 enlarged top is called the stig'ma. Below this is a stem called the 

 style. This connects the stigma with the enlarged base of the pistil, 

 called the 6'va ry. The ovary contains the 6'vules, which later 

 form the seeds. A grain of pollen dust falls on the stigma and puts 

 out a thread finer than the finest thread of a spider's web. This 

 grows through the style into the ovary, carrying life to the ovules. 

 The ovules are then said to be fertil- 

 ized. If pollen dust fails to reach the 

 stigma, the ovules are not fertilized and 

 they do not mature into seeds. 



Boll and Seeds. After a day or two, 

 the corolla of the cotton plant turns 

 pink. Then it shrivels and falls. The 

 ovary develops into the fruit, or boll, 

 containing seeds. Larger and larger 

 grows the boll, green at first, then 

 turning brown. When ripe it opens, 

 disclosing locks of soft white fiber. 

 Wonderful as it seems, this fiber is 



almost pure carbon, like the coal we AN UNOPENED COTTON BOLL 

 burn. It is made by the plant out of 



the carbon of the air. Its threads, single cells about an inch long, 

 grow on the seeds. The boll has three or five divisions, each con- 

 taining several fiber-covered seeds. To produce these seeds is the 



