CHAPTER XVII 



COTTON — VARIETIES OF AMERICAN UPLAND 



There are many hundred names to represent varieties 

 of cotton. The Alabama Experiment Station has tested 

 more than two hundred of these so-called varieties and has 

 found that a large proportion of them are merely synonyms. 

 However, it is probable that the number of distinct varie- 

 ties, each differing from the other in one or more items of 

 agricultural or botanical importance, exceeds one hundred. 



254. Reasons for variation. — Among the causes which 

 have led to this multiplication of varieties are the follow- 

 ing:— 



(1) Modifications of the plant resulting from continuous 

 selection, or from special soil and climatic conditions ; 



(2) Artificial crosses intentionally made with a view to 

 creating new varieties combining some of the qualities of 

 both parents ; 



(3) Natural hybrids resulting chiefly from the carrying 

 of pollen by insects from the flowers of one variety to the 

 stigmas of another ; 



(4) Names have been needlessly multiplied, both inten- 

 tionally and unintentionally, so that some varieties may be 

 purchased under half a dozen different names. 



255. Varieties of cotton not easily recognized. — The 

 differences between the numerous agricultural varieties 



282 



