LIXT PERCENTAGE AXD LIXT IXDEX OF COTTOX. 5 



trated by comparing the lint indexes given with, a seed weight of 8.5 

 under lint percentages 32 and 42. An increase of 10 in the lint per- 

 centage here results in an increase in the lint index or actual quantity 

 of fiber of 4 to 6.15. Practically the same increase in the abundance 

 of fiber would be obtained by increasing the weight of the seeds from 

 8.5 to 13 grams per hundred, while the percentage of lint remained at 

 32, or the same result might be secured if the weight of the seeds be 

 increased from 8.5 to 11 grams per hundred and at the same time the 

 percentage of lint be also increased from 32 to 36. 



LINT INDEX DETERMINES THE NUMBER OF BOLLS TO THE 



POUND OF FIBER. 



The average Upland cotton boll usually contains eight or nine seeds 

 per lock. Five-locked bolls will therefore contain 40 to 45 seeds 

 per boll. The number of seeds yielding 1 pound of fiber may be 

 found, after the lint index is known, by dividing the number of 

 grams in 1 pound by the weight of the fiber on one seed, or one one- 

 hundredth of the lint index. Roughly, 453 grams equal 1 pound. 

 Therefore, all varieties of cotton that have a lint index of 4 will 

 require 11,235 seeds to produce a pound of fiber. The number of 

 seeds per pound of fiber is constant for every lint index, as indicated 

 by the following formula: 



453 -. Ynfj — ~ = number of seeds producing 1 pound of fiber. 



The lint index, therefore, determines the number of bolls to the 

 pound of fiber. 



The number of seeds and of bolls to the pound of fiber computed 

 for different lint indexes is given in Table II. 



That the differences in the lint indexes are coincident with the 

 variation in the size of the seeds is shown by the weights of the 

 seeds per hundred as given in the last column, the weights in this 

 case being based on a percentage of lint of 33. 



RELATION OF THE LINT INDEX TO THE COST OF PICKING. 



The number of seeds that must be harvested so that a pound of fiber 

 may be secured is an item of considerable importance in the cost of 

 picking cotton. An indication of the possible reduction in the cost 

 of harvesting resulting from an increase in the lint index may be had 

 from the following examples, taken from Table II. 



If the weight of the seeds be increased from 8.5 to 11.3 grams per 

 hundred with a constant lint percentage of 33, the lint index will 

 have been increased from 4.20 to 5.60, an increase of 1.40 grams of 

 fiber per hundred seeds, or 33^ per cent. This increase m the amount 

 of fiber will have been secured without changing the percentage of 

 lint, and results in reducing the number of seeds required to produce 1 



