THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES OF COTTON 35 



covered with a pronounced fuzz which gives them a green- 

 ish or grayish color. The lint adheres very firmly to the 

 seeds, necessitating the use of the saw-gin to remove it. 



It is thought that American upland cotton originated 

 in Central America where it has been cultivated since 

 prehistoric times. Dewey maintains that this cotton came 

 originally from Mexico, it being the same type as that 

 cultivated by the Moqui Indians long before the coming 

 of white men to this continent. 



39. Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense). — The 

 growth of this species of cotton is restricted to the 

 James and Edisto Islands and the adjacent mainlands 

 .along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 

 The best grade of Sea Island cotton is produced on the 

 two islands mentioned where the farmers have practiced 

 rigid seed selecting for many years. This cotton presents 

 a rather uniform type throughout the area to which it is 

 adapted, not having been split up into distinct types or 

 groups of varieties. There are two reasons for this. The 

 first is the narrow geographical range under which it is 

 grown, while the second is the fact that the breeders of 

 Sea Island cotton have been selecting for one and the same 

 pm-pose — to obtain staple of high quality. 



In habit of growth. Sea Island cotton differs somewhat 

 from the upland cotton. The plants are rather tall and 

 bear long slender branches. The leaves are 3- to 5-lobed, 

 the lobes being deep and distinctly pointed. The stems 

 and leaves are smooth or glabrous with the exception of a 

 very scanty coating of hairs on the leaf-stems and veins. 

 The flowers are of a pale yellow color, each petal bearing 

 red spots near its base. The bolls are 3- sometimes 4- 

 locked, are much smaller and slenderer than those of up-^ 

 land cotton, and are more or less pointed. The seeds are 



