COTTON 
259 
County, northern Texas, cotton is also the 
main dependence for a honey crop. 
HONEY FLOW. 
The honey flow may last from June until 
long after the first frosts, yielding in some 
localities as much surplus as all other 
sources combined. Even after the first 
frost, if there is pleasant weather, the bees 
may continue for two weeks longer to work 
upon the plants and make a large increase 
in the honey crop. Cotton yields best when 
the atmosphere is warm and damp. The 
yield is most abundant in the early morn¬ 
ing, and deci-eases toward the middle of 
the day as the atmosphere becomes drier. 
In the afternoon, unless the season is very 
dry and hot, the yield begins to increase 
again. During cloudy days or when the 
atmosphere is damp, nectar is secreted 
abundantly thruout the entire day. The 
flow has also been observed to increase to¬ 
ward the close of the season. 
COTTON HONEY. 
Cotton honey is very light in color and 
mild in flavor when thoroly ripened, and 
it compares favorably with the very best 
grades of honey. When first gathered cot¬ 
ton honey has a flavor very characteristic 
of the sap of the cotton plant itself, but 
this disappears as the honey ripens. During 
a heavy flow there is a strong odor in the 
apiary like that produced by bruising cot¬ 
ton leaves. At Trenton, Texas, in 1909, 
during a very long drought a very fine and 
pure grade of cotton honey was obtained 
from cotton growing on rich bottom land. 
It was so thick that it was almost impossi¬ 
ble to extract it, and entirely out of the 
question to strain it thru even a single 
thickness of cheese cloth. It was light in 
color, mild in flavor, and very heavy, and 
was considered superior to the famous hua- 
jilla honey. Ordinarily cotton honey gran¬ 
ulates quickly, and in the granulated form 
is almost pure white and very fine-grained. 
THE HONEYBEE AND THE COTTON-GROWER. 
How far is beekeeping beneficial to the 
cotton-grower by more effectively pollinat¬ 
ing the flowers and increasing the number 
of bolls? This is a question of far-reach¬ 
ing importance which deserves careful at¬ 
tention. The percentage of cotton flowers 
that develop into mature bolls is generally 
low, a great number proving sterile. The 
pei’iod during which pollination is possible 
is only a few hours in length. The flowers 
open soon after sunrise, and at midday 
commence to wither and close in the eve¬ 
ning when the stigma is dry. On the sec¬ 
ond or third day they fall off from the 
plant. The long staple varieties of cotton 
are better adapted to cross-pollination than 
the short staple. In the former the pistils 
are longer than the stamens, the stigmas 
standing 15 mm. (7/12 of an inch) in ad¬ 
vance of the anthers, while in the flowers 
of the short staple varieties the pistils are 
of the same length as the stamens, and the 
anthers come readily in contact with the 
stigmas. According to ft. M. Meade the 
bolls of the long staple varieties have 23 
to 45 per cent of aborted seeds, which it 
seems not unreasonable to attribute in part 
to imperfect pollination. He found by ex¬ 
periment that the bolls failed to set unless 
at least 25 grains of pollen were applied to 
the stigma. Even with this number only 
one or two seeds matured to each cell or 
lock, whereas the normal number should 
be 8 or 9. In order that all the ovules or 
young seeds may mature there should be 
over 50 grains of pollen placed on the 
stigma. In 1913 Meade performed the 
following experiment at San Antonio, 
Texas, to determine whether complete pol¬ 
lination would increase the number of bolls 
produced. A long staple cotton (Durango), 
in the flower of which the stigma stood 
in advance of the anthers, and a short 
staple variety (Acala), in which the stig¬ 
mas were on a level with the anthers, were 
selected. Two rows of each variety (or 4 
in all) were planted. One row of each va¬ 
riety was carefully pollinated by hand, the 
other row of each variety was left un¬ 
touched. The following results were 
noted: (1) The hand-pollinated rows were 
much more productive than the rows un¬ 
touched. (2) The long staple cotton (Dur¬ 
ango) received greater benefit (nearly 11 
per cent increase) from artificial pollina¬ 
tion than did the short staple cotton (Ac¬ 
ala). Insects were not excluded from any 
of the flowers and the weather was clear 
during the experiment. Meade concludes 
that growers of the long staple varieties 
might find beekeeping a distinct advan¬ 
tage to the cotton crop. The value of hon- 
