Cultivated-Plant Study 671 



5. Look at the lower side of a leaf and find, if you can, a little pit on 

 the midrib near its base. How many of these pits can you find on the 

 veins of one leaf? What is the fluid in these pits? Taste it and see if it 

 is sweet. Watch carefully a growing plant and describe what insects you 

 find feeding on this nectar. Note if the wasps and ants, feeding on this 

 nectar, attack the. caterpillars of the cotton worm which destroy the leaf. 

 Where are the nectar- glands of plants usually situated? 



6. Study the flower bud; what covers it? How many of these bracts 

 cover the flower bud? What is their shape and how do their edges look? 

 Push back the bracts and find and describe the calyx. How are the 

 petals folded in the bud ? 



7. Take the open flower; how many petals are there, and what is 

 their shape? At what time of day do the flowers open? What color are 

 the petals when the flowers first open ? What is their color later in the 

 day? What is their color the next day ? When do the petals fall? 



8. Describe the stamens; how are they joined ? How are the anthers 

 situated on the stamen-tube? Is the stamen-tube perfectly straight or 

 does it bend at the tip ? 



9. Peel off carefully the stamen -tube and describe what you find 

 within it. How many stigmas come out of the tip of the tube? Find the 

 ovary below the stamen-tube. Which part of the flower grows into the 

 cotton-boll ? 



10. Take a boll nearly ripe; what covers it ? Pushaway the bracts; 

 can you find the calyx still present? What is the shape of the boll? 

 What is its color and texture ? Can you see the creases where it will open ? 

 How many are there of these? 



1 1 . Open a nearly ripe boll very carefully. How many partitions are 

 there in it? Where are they in relation to the openings? Gently push 

 back the cotton from the seeds without loosening them, and describe how 

 the seeds are connected with the partitions. Is the seed attached by its 

 pointed or blunt end ? 



12. Howmanyseeds in each chamber in the cotton boll? Whereon 

 the seed does the cotton grow? How does the cotton blanket wrap about 

 the seed? If the cotton is not picked what happens to it? Of what use 

 to the wild cotton plant are seeds covered with cotton ? 



13. What makes the cotton -boll open? Describe an open and empty 

 boll outside and inside. 



14. How much cotton is considered a good crop per acre in your 

 vicinity? How much cotton can a good picker gather in a day? 



15. Write English themes on the following topics : "The history of 

 the cotton plant from ancient times until to-day," "How the cotton plant 

 has affected American history." 



"Queen-consort of the kingly maize, 



The fair white cotton shares his throne. 

 And o'er the Southland's realm she claims 

 A just allegiance, all her own." 



— Minnie Curtis Wait. 



