LUTHER BURBANK 



more than twenty-five million acres, and the 

 annual yield averaging something like twelve 

 million bales, with a value of much more than half 

 a billion dollars. 



It is obvious that a plant that has such commer- 

 cial importance is one that beckons the plant 

 developer. For even slight improvements, when 

 applied on so magnificent a scale, may have vast 

 significance. 



CULTIVATON AND IMPROVEMENTS 



Some very good work has been done in the 

 improvement of the cotton by selection, without 

 the aid of hybridizing. 



The cotton plant came originally from the 

 Orient, having been cultivated in India from time 

 immemorial. It belongs to a large family that 

 includes the hybiscus, bearing beautiful flowers, 

 and the vegetable called in the South the Gumbo. 



The Egyptian and Peruvian cotton and Sea 

 Island cotton falls into one group and the Ameri- 

 can upland cotton and India cotton into another. 

 It is doubted, however, whether the wild proto- 

 types of the cultivated species are known. 



The newer classifications recognize twenty-four 

 species or sub-species of cotton, ihcluding a num- 

 ber of American species that have attained great 

 commercial importance. 



The American upland cotton is a perennial 



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