100 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RAW COTTON 



might expect that the seed weight would roughly follow 

 the mean between the daily changes in lint length and 

 breaking strain, and this seems to be the case. Senes- 

 cence effects are more markedly shown by the seed, with 

 its massive cell structure, than by the more or less iso- 

 lated simple cells of the lint, so that the mean seed weight 

 in this series degrades steadily towards the autumn. 



The seed itself is of comparatively little interest to 



those who have to deal with raw cotton, but to the grower 



and to the owner of the ginning factories 



mnmg ^ e out-turn in ginning is a matter of con fc 

 Out-turn. 



siderable importance. The cause of the 



very definite seasonal and geographical variations which 

 take place in this respect has never yet been explained; 

 differences between different kinds of cotton have been 

 partly traced to their source, but the causes of fluctua- 

 tion in ginning out-turn have long been mysterious. 

 Part of this is due to the difficult way in which the 



ratio is expressed as " lint obtained from 

 Lint/Seed. ,. . ^ ,, T . 



lint plus seed. If we take the data 



for ginning out-turn and convert them into absolute 

 measurements as " seed weight " and " lint weight per 

 seed," we shall find that they are easier to handle. 

 In the first place, we note that towards the end of the 



, season, when the lint is becoming short and 

 Out-turn and 

 Quality not weak, the out-turn at the gin rises ty) its 



necessarily maximum. This is not the common experi- 

 connected. the 



accidental outcome of our abnormal treatment of the plot 

 in question. It immediately causes one to suspect the 



