COTTON VARIETIES 



285 



pearance of slenderness or erectness. The bolls are usually 

 small ; the seeds are small to medium in size and thickly 

 covered with fuzz. 



On account of the peculiar shape of plant, cluster va- 

 rieties may be left thicker in the drill than most other kinds. 



This class of cotton is 

 much less popular now than 

 formerly. This is probably 

 due to the deficiencies usu- 

 ally found in cluster cotton; 

 namely : — 



(1) A special tendency to 

 shed or drop a large propor- 

 tion of the fruit when con- 

 ditions of soil and weather 

 are unfavorable; 



(2) The small size of boll ; 

 and 



(3) The large proportion 

 of trash which must usually be included with the seed 

 cotton when picking, — this trash consisting largely of the 

 bracts, which at an earlier stage formed the square. 

 Examples of cluster varieties are Jackson and Dickson. 



258. Semicluster group. — The varieties of this class 

 present somewhat the appearance of cluster cottons, but 

 the fruiting limbs in the middle of the plant are of short to 

 medium length (Fig. 135). The bolls, while close together, 

 are not borne in clusters. This characteristic is sometimes 

 united with the qualities found in other groups, in which 

 case the variety is classed, not as a semicluster, but in 

 accordance with its other striking characteristic. 



Fig. 134. — A Fbuiting Limb of a 

 Clustek Cotton Plant. 



Showing four bolls ; also a branch 

 terminated by a boll, and hence not 

 capable of further growth. 



