330 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



one-half to two inches in diameter, and require from 60 to 70 to make one 

 pound of seed cotton; others, like King and Toole, having smaller bolls, 

 require from 100 to 120 to make a pound. 



Some varieties are much more easily picked than others. If the parts 

 of the boll open wide, the locks of cotton are easily picked out by hand or 

 blown out by wind or beaten out by rain; but if the parts of the boll do 

 not open wide, the locks may cling to the burs and suffer less damage from 

 wind and rain. 



Cotton fiber varies in length from three-quarters of an inch in the 

 upland varieties to two inches in Sea Island cotton, and may be likened to a 



long, slender, flattened tube 

 with two-thirds of its length 

 slightly curled. It is this 

 curled condition of a fiber that 

 makes it valuable, for with- 

 out it the fiber could not ba 

 spun into thread. 



Seed. — The number of 

 seed in a boll varies from 

 twenty-five to fifty. The size 

 of seed in some varieties is 

 larger than in others. Some 

 varieties have green seed, some 

 gray and still others have 

 blackish or necked seed. In 

 the upland varieties most seed 

 are covered with a short fuzz. 

 A bushel of seed weighs 33f 

 pounds. 



Varieties of Upland Cot- 

 ton Grouped. — The cotton 

 plant is a native of the tropics; 

 but under theinfluenceof man, 

 its growth has been extended 

 far into the temperate zones and its habit changed from a biennial to 

 an annual. Climate, soil, selection and cultivation have wrought many 

 changes in the plant. The true and so-called varieties now number 

 several hundred. 



To facilitate the study of so many varieties, a system of grouping, 

 worked out by the Alabama Experiment Station, is followed. According 

 to form of plant, size of boll, time of maturing and other characteristics, 

 they are classified into six groups: cluster, semi-cluster, Peterkin, King, 

 big-boll and long-staple upland. There is no striking demarcation between 

 any two groups, but a gradual blending of the characters of one into the 

 next group. 



A Good Cotton Plant Showing Good Base 

 Limbs; Variety, Cook. 



