EARLY REJECTION OF SUPERFLUOUS SQUARES. 21 



the season most of the flower buds and leaf buds blast and fall off 

 while still very young, before the weevil would give attention to them. 

 By the time the first of the cotton is beginning to ripen, most of the 

 plants have ceased flowering and no new leaves are being put forth. 

 Generally there are bolls only near the base of the plant. 



It is a normal character of the cotton plant that the fruiting 

 branches shall produce a bud at each node or joint ; that is, at the base 

 of each leaf. If all these buds were to be retained and treated impar- 

 tially to the food materials which the plant is able to supply, the 

 result would undoubtedly be disastrous, since the plant would be able 

 to bring very few of its fruits to maturity, perhaps none at all, unless 

 a part of the burden were removed by the weevils or by other outside 

 causes. a It is under the necessity of throwing off a part of its load of 

 fruit at one stage or another of its development, the younger the 

 better. 



The rejection is accomplished by the formation at the base of the 

 peduncle, or fruit stalk, of special layers of cells of soft texture, 

 which soon disintegrate and allow the bud or young fruit to fall off. 

 This is one of the many instances of the prodigality of nature, which 

 makes so many allowances in advance for the accidents which beset 

 the existence of all living things. The waste of buds is. perhaps, not 

 so large in proportion among the perennial " tree " cottons, which 

 form a considerable shrub before beginning to blossom. In cultiva- 

 tion, however, the tendency has always been to encourage early bear- 

 ing, and thus reduce the early vegetative period of the plant and 

 bring it to a precocious maturity. The result is that fruiting branches 

 are produced, even on young plants, and buds are formed out of all 

 true proportion to the actual productive power. 



The habit of rejecting a large part of the squares and bolls is espe- 

 cially obvious in the " cluster cottons," varieties in which the branches 

 are abnormally shortened, so that the leaf surface of the plant is still 

 further reduced. This cuts down still more the productive power of 

 the individual plant, though there may be a gain in the number which 

 can be grown on a given area. 



But cluster cottons have not learned to moderate their promises to 

 correspond with their powers of performance, and continue to set 

 vast numbers of buds, flowers, and bolls, which they are unable to 

 ripen. The same is true to a less obvious extent of all our Upland 

 varieties, but until the advent of the boll weevil the superfluous buds 

 were not a serious factor, and the waste under favorable conditions 

 was often well compensated by the power to recover and set a new 



« In Texas it is believed that rain at the time of flowering reduces the crop to 

 half the normal quantity, or even less. The explanation given is that water 

 settles in the flowers and prevents fertilization. This might serve as an addi- 

 tional indication that cotton originated in a dry climate. 



