COTTON 79 
China; and these very differences have given rise 
to the many kinds and varieties of cotton we know 
to-day. 
Besides the factors above considered as influen- 
cing the tendency to variation, the cotton plant 
responds ra more freely than any other cul- 
tivated plant to ameliorated conditions of soil, 
climate, and cultivation. 
THE COTTON PLANT 
To understand its characteristics you must know 
the cotton plant itself. Its weed, flower, fiber, seed 
and an 8 are interesting —each and every one. 
In growth the stalk assumes a_ herbaceous, 
shrubby, or tree-like form. None but these her- 
baceous, shrub-like forms are grown to any extent 
in this country. You will find the larger and tree- 
like varieties grown occasionally, but only as 
curiosities, since with them the low mean tem- 
perature of the Cotton Belt is unfavorable to the 
production of lint of any commercial value. 
The cotton plant of the Southern States is a 
small annual shrub from two to four feet in height, 
always branching extensively. The limbs are 
longest at the bottom of the stalk, and short and 
light at the top, this top growth in all parts of the 
South usually being arrested by frost. ‘The flowers 
are white, or pale yellow or cream colored the first 
day, become darker and redder the second day, and 
fall to the ground on the third or fourth day, leaving 
a tiny boll developed in the calyx. This boll 
develops and enlarges until maturity when it is 
not unlike the size and shape of a hen’s egg. 
When matured, the boll cracks and opens the three 
to six apartments which hold the seed and the 
