18 FIELD CROPS FOR THE COTTON-BELT 



of fruit. Close-jointed plants throughout, including the 

 main-stem, the primary and fruiting limbs, bear the max- 

 imum number of bolls. While this character of the plant 

 is influenced to some extent by environmental conditions, 

 it is also a hereditary character and can be greatly modified 

 by careful seed selection. 



18. The seed. — Within each lock of cotton there are 

 six to ten oblong or angular seeds. The seed tapers some- 

 what toward the hilum end, terminating Ln a sharp point. 

 The crown or free end is enlarged and rounded. The seeds 

 of both long-staple and short-staple upland cotton, after 

 having the lint removed, are covered with a pronounced 

 fuzz which may be grayish, rusty or green in color, often 

 changing cplor with maturity and age. The seeds of Sea 

 Island cotton are naked and black. 



The'cotton seed is composed of (1) the testa or hull, (2) 

 the endosperm, a layer of cells composed largely of aleurone 

 grains, and (3) the embryo or meat, which consists of the 

 two cotyledons, the embryo sprout and the embryo root. 



The seeds of upland cotton as they come from the gin 

 have been found to have the followiag physical composi- 

 tion: linters, 10 per cent; hulls, 40 per cent; meat, 50 per 

 cent. 



The legal weight of a bushel of upland cotton seed varies 

 from 30 to 333^ poimds; it is usually 32 pounds. A legal 

 bushel of Sea Island cotton seed is 44 pounds. 



19. The lint. — A cotton fiber may be defined as a 

 imiceUular hair which has been developed from the cuti- 

 cle of the cotton seed. According to Watt ^ each fiber 

 is composed of the following parts: (a) the cell-wall or 

 cuticular envelope of the elongated hair; (b) the deposits 



1 Sir George Watt, "The Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of 

 the World," p. 30. 



