208 



COTTON 



ducing an unusually long staple. This latter class is merely 

 a commercial grade. The short-staple and long-staple classes 

 may be distinguished by the longer lint, the more slender and 

 sharper pointed bolls and the later maturing period of the latter 

 class. 



Number of Varieties. There are very many varieties of upland 

 cotton, most of them differing but slightly and being only tem- 



FIG. 75. An American short-staple upland variety, Culpepper. 



porarily modified by environment. Many others are the result of 

 crossing, both natural and artificial, and the segregation of indi- 

 vidual types. Very often a group of so-called varieties are merely a 

 single type represented by different names. At the Alabama Experi- 

 ment Station most of the upland varieties were collected and classi- 

 fied, and while many of them were found to be identical there were 



