294 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. II, No. 4 
No. 382-10-0-14-5 were grown in progeny rows in 1913, when the superi¬ 
ority of this group as compared with the related groups of progenies was 
incontestable. 
In July, 1913, careful examination failed to reveal any noteworthy 
departure from the type of the variety among the approximately 1,000 
individuals in the progeny rows of this group. Hence, in the third genera¬ 
tion from the parent individual this type showed practical uniformity in 
the expression of its botanical characters. 
CHARACTERS OF THE PIMA COTTON 
Main stem stout, its internodes rather long, its first fruiting branch 
usually borne at the ninth or tenth node; vegetative branches few, 
remaining much shorter than the main stem and developing late or, 
frequently, altogether wanting; fruiting branches long, becoming pendu¬ 
lous, having a very long first intemode; leaves large and thick, those of 
the main stem usually deeply 5-lobed, involucral bracts triangular ovate, 
separate or nearly so to the base; bolls large, plump, conical, very sharply 
and rather abruptly pointed, light green in color and not deeply pitted; 
seeds large, having both ends and often a part of their faces covered with 
bright green fuzz; fiber long (i^i to 1^ inches), in color very pale buff 
with a tinge of pink. 
THE GILA VARIETY 
The Gila variety originated with a plant discovered in 1908 by Mr. E. W. 
Hudson 1 in a field planted with the same stock of acclimatized Mit Afifi 
cotton which gave rise to the Yuma and the Somerton varieties. The 
distinctness of the characters of the parent individual and the uniformity 
with which these characters have been expressed in its descendants justify 
the conclusion that this variety, also, is of mutational origin. The Gila 
variety is very distinct from the Yuma variety. It resembles the Mit 
Afifi as grown in Arizona from imported seed, in the characters of the 
leaves, involucres, and bolls, but differs in its smaller vegetative branches, 
better fruiting branches, earlier ripening, much greater productiveness, 
and much longer and lighter colored fiber. Two selections made by Mr. 
Hudson in 1910, one having larger bolls and the other longer fiber than 
the parent variety, probably represent mutations from the Gila. 
HISTORY OF THE GILA COTTON 
In regard to the parent individual, Mr. Hudson states that it had much 
browner fiber and ripened considerably earlier than the surrounding 
plants. In appearance the original plant was rather dwarf and the 
leaves very deeply lobed, much more so than in the average plants in the 
field, which gave a strikingly open appearance to the plant. 
1 An account of this variety is here presented with the concurrence of Mr. Walter T. Swingle, Physiologist 
in Charge of the Office of Crop Physiology and Breeding Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. This 
office administers the Cooperative Testing and Demonstration Gardens at Sacaton, Ariz., of which Mr. 
Hudson is superintendent, in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior. 
