COTTON CULTURE 



second, and fall on the third, leaving the embryo "boll'*' 

 enveloped in the calyx. This boll or "square" is really 

 a seed pod in which the seeds develop surrounded by the 

 protecting filaments of fiber, which constitute the cotton of 



commerce. On ripening, the boll 



separates into three to five or 

 more cells, much as a chestnut 

 burr opens, the cotton fiber being 

 at first so compact as to preserve 

 the shape of the compartment it 

 had filled, but, soon drying, pro- 

 trudes from the pod in a fluffy 

 mass. 



The cotton plant possesses a 

 well-developed tap root, extend- 

 ing, according to the vigor of the 

 plant and the character of the soil, 

 to a depth of three or more feet. 

 The lateral, or feeding roots, be- 

 gin usually within three inches of 

 the surface, and seldom extend 

 below a depth of nine inches. 



Cotton fiber, when examined 

 under a microscope, resembles 



a collapsed tube with corded edges twisted many 

 times throughout its length, and has the appearance of 

 an elongated cork-screw or carpenter's auger. These 

 convolutions or twists are less frequent as the fiber is less 

 matured, and are almost altogether absent in the imma- 



