BULLETIN 294, U. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

 Score card/or the cotton plant. 



itton plant. 



Plant, vigorous, stocky, 25 points: 



Size, medium to large as influenced by soil, location, season, and variety... 

 Form, symmetrical, spreading, conical, height, and spread according to soil, 

 etc. 



Stalk, minimum amount of wood in proportion to fruit 



Branches, springing from base, strong, vigorous, in pairs short-jointed, in- 

 clined upward 



Head, well branched and filled, fruited uniformly 



Fruiting, 21 points: 



Bolls, large, abundant, uniformly developed, plump, sound, firm, well- 

 rounded, apex obtuse, singly or in clusters 



Number of bolls, according to variety, soil, and season 



Bolls per plant, thin uplands, 10-20; fertile uplands, 20-25; "bottoms," 

 50-100; special sell id ion, L00-500 



Bolls jit pound of seed cotton, large, 40-60; medium, 00-75; small, 80-110... 



Character of bolls, number of locks 3 to 5; kind of sepals; retention of cotton. 



Opening of bolls, uniform including top crop, classify as good, medium, poor. 

 Yield— standard 1 bale per acre, 30 points: 



Seed cotton, estimated by average plant, distance of planting, per cent of 

 stand, plants per acre; thin uplands, 10,000; fertile uplands, 6,500; "bot- 

 toms," 4,500; distance of plants 3i by 1} feet, 4h by B feet, 41 by 2 feet, re- 

 spectively 



Per cent lint, not less than 30, standard 33 to 35 



Seeds, 30-50 per boll, large, plump, easily delinted, color, according to variety; 



germination not less than 95 per cent 



Quality and character of lint, 21 points: 



Strength, tensile strain good, even throughout length 



Length, common standards for upland, short J to 1 inch, premium 1 T ' 3 to 

 I' : long staple, 1^ inches and better . ., 



Fineness, fibers soft , silky, and pliable, responsive to touch 



Uniformity, all fibers of equal length, strength, fineness 



Purity, color dead white; lil ler free from stain, dirt, and trash -. 



Per- 

 fect. 



.-con-. 



Stu- 

 dent's. 



< (,-- 

 reeted. 



No. of plant 



Type :-- 



Remarks on plant. 

 Date 



Source. 



19 Name of student. 



When the head is full, on account of superabundance of long 

 upright branches, cut a maximum of three points. As these faults 

 are less pronounced, reduce the cuts until for slight defects on these 

 accounts a minimum cut of one-half point should be given. 



2. Prolificacy. 



In considering the fruitfulness of a plant or set of plants the term 

 prolificacy can be used only in a relative sense. The plant possessing 

 the greatest number and best-formed bolls should be given a rating of 

 24, or perfect in ibis respect, while others should be cut more or less 

 severely as the number of bolls they bear falls below that of the 

 standard. The single or cluster arrangement of bolls should vary 

 with the typical habit of the variety; some varieties are cluster 

 bearers while others are noted for bearing bolls singly. Uniformity 



in which the bolls are arranged on any exhibit should be made the 

 standard. Give an exhibit absolutely uniform in this respect 4 

 points. As others are more or less irregular in this respeel cut from 

 I in l ' points on t he score card. 



