COTTON CULTURE. 



29 



his crop once in two weeks in new, rough, and grassy 

 lands, or when the season is uncommonly wet. 



In a favorable season, once in three weeks will suffice. 

 A favorable season for cotton is one in which the principal 

 rainfall comes in early spring, and the summer which 

 follows has few rainy days, but short though frequent 

 showers. 



In June and July, especially, a long wet spell is injurious, 

 as also are all sudden and great variations in the amount 

 of moisture. On cotton planted early in April and well 

 tended, the blossoms begin to show in the first days of June. 

 No crop cultivated in this country is so beautiful as cot- 

 ton. During the month of June the cotton fields present 

 the appearance of vast flower gardens. The blossom is 

 something like that of the hollyhock, and its peculiarity is 

 the change of color that takes place from day to day. A 



flower will open in 

 the morning of a 

 pale straw color, by 

 noon it will be pure 

 white, in the after- 

 noon of a faint pink, 

 and the next morn- 

 ing a clear pink. Sea 

 Island cotton, how- 

 ever, gives a bloom 

 that is always a pale 

 yellow. 



As the flowers fall 

 off, the "forms," as 

 they are called, or 

 the young bolls, be- 

 gin to grow rapidly. 



Fig. 4. THE BOLL KEAKLY HIPE. 



At first they are somewhat angular in shape, and the en- 

 veloping leaf forms a sort of tuft or ruffle at the base. As it 

 B wells, the lines* grow rounder, though it never becomes 



