254 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



On the main stem of some plants the fruit hmb is invari- 

 ably on the left side of the sterile hmb, while on other plants, 

 the fruit limb is uniformly on the right side of its twin 

 vegetative branch. 



230. Maturity or earliness. — It has been found by 

 Bennett that those cotton plants are earliest in maturity 

 (as judged by the time when their bolls are formed) that 

 are short-jointed and that throw out their lowest limbs 

 from nodes very near the ground. For earUness and pro- 

 ductiveness there should be numerous nodes on the main 

 stem, — that is, points from which branches spring, — ■ and 

 these should be close together. Likewise on the limbs, the 

 distance between bolls or secondary branches should be 

 short, especially where earliness is important. 



231. Bark and stem. — The bark of the cotton plant is 

 fairly strong and tough. To a limited extent cotton bark 

 has been used as a coarse fiber, once proposed as a cover- 

 ing for cotton bales, and in the making of paper. 



The woody stem inside the bark is weak and brittle, so that 

 after the plants are killed by frost the stalks can readily be broken 

 or cut, and after being plowed under, they rot more rapidly than 

 do corn-stalks similarly treated. 



The color of the bark of the nearly mature plant is usually 

 reddish brown, but the shade varies on different sides of the same 

 stem and in different varieties and individuals. Some plants 

 have a dark greenish bark. Such plants tend to drop their leaves 

 early and to mature early. 



232. Roots. — The cotton plant is supplied with a 

 tap-root, or continuation of the stem, from which the lateral 

 roots branch. In deep, well-drained soil, the tap-root may 

 go deep into the ground, but on shallow soil or on that in- 



