A STORY OF COTTON 



The planting of cotton, usually begins, in the SOUTHERN 

 portion of the cotton producing area of the United States, as 

 early as the last of February; and, by the last of March in the 

 locality mentioned, the cotton is usually ALL planted. 



In the NORTHERN portion, the planting of cotton, is fairly 

 under way in the month of April. 



In the southern area, under ordinary conditions, cotton 

 matures, and picking begins, and the marketing of cotton 

 starts, about the first of July. 



In the more northern latitudes, ordinarily, cotton begins to 

 mature and starts being marketed, during the month of 

 August. 



If the weather permits, the cotton markets of Texas, south- 

 ern Louisiana, southern Alabama, Georgia and southern South 

 Carolina assume activity, and the receipts of cotton begin to 

 be rather GENEROUS, by the first week in August. 



In the more northern latitudes of the cotton district, it is 

 usually about the middle of September, before an ACTIVE 

 marketing of cotton is in evidence. 



When the cotton bolls begin to open and mature, the bolls 

 at the BOTTOM of the stalk, are the first to open, and pick- 

 ing begins in each field, or SHOULD begin in each field, when 

 there is a suff"icient amount of cotton termed "THE BOTTOM 

 CROP" matured, to insure a bale of lint cotton of, approxi- 

 mately, 500 pounds in weight as a result of this picking. 



All maturity of cotton BEGINS at the bottom of the cotton 

 stalk, and, from the first day of this maturity, there is CON- 

 STANTLY in evidence, on every stalk of cotton, beginning at 

 the top of the stalk: 



The bloom, 



The square. 



The small boll. 



The large boll. 



The open boll. 



The matured cotton ready to be picked. 



