THE FIBER CROPS 



277 



stout, erect stems from one to five feet tall with wide, 

 spreading branches, the longest ones being nearest the 

 ground and the shortest ones at the top. The flowers of 

 both are regular, with five petals which are creamy white 

 or yellow in color. The butter print flower remains open 

 but a short time while 

 the flowers of many 

 varieties of cotton 

 open in the early 

 morning, showing a 

 creamy yellow color, 

 turn pink or red dur- 

 ing the day and at 

 nightfall close never 

 to open again. The 

 pistil of the flower of 

 either butter print or 

 cotton develops into a 

 boll. When ripe, 

 these bolls open, ex- 

 posing dark-colored 

 seeds. Those of the 

 butter print show a 



trace of lint when examined under the hand lens, while 

 the lint on the cotton seed is pearly white and from one- 

 half to two and one half inches long. 



Flu. 121. — Cotton seeds with lint. 



210. Growing the Cotton Crop. — Rotation. — The 

 chief criticism offered to the methods practiced by cotton 

 growers is that they raise this crop in the same fields too 

 many j^ears in succession, selling the fiber and seed and 

 returning nothing to the land. 



The yield of the crop is in proportion to the fertility of 

 the soil. To maintain this fertility, a rotation of at least 



