. Bulletin. Agriculture. 14 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. of both of these varieties is remarkably free from this so-called longer group of fibers. In the case of the greatly improved Russell strain, which has become distinctive enough in good lint characters and jneld to be designated as a new variety—the so-called Columbia cotton— these longer fibers are evident to a remarkable degree. THE TRUE NATURE OF THE LONGER FIBERS. It has been more or less the rule with cotton breeders and cotton growers acquainted with the requisites of desira])le lint characters to regard these extra-long fibers as an unfa
. Bulletin. Agriculture. 14 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. of both of these varieties is remarkably free from this so-called longer group of fibers. In the case of the greatly improved Russell strain, which has become distinctive enough in good lint characters and jneld to be designated as a new variety—the so-called Columbia cotton— these longer fibers are evident to a remarkable degree. THE TRUE NATURE OF THE LONGER FIBERS. It has been more or less the rule with cotton breeders and cotton growers acquainted with the requisites of desira])le lint characters to regard these extra-long fibers as an unfavorable feature. In this light they meant a variation toward nonuniformity. In the work of selec- tion, to avoid as much as possible a perpetuation of this sort of varia- tion, plants showing this character most markedly were regarded with suspicion and later even discarded, although in other respects they were among the best in the field. A careful examination leads to the conclusion that these fibers should be regarded in a wholl}^ different light. They are not longer fibers aS they have heen generally considered^ hut are Fig. 1.—Single cotton fibers from caused hy more OT less curling and interweaving^ the so-called longer group of y^Jiich results in the ptdUng out of fibers from fibers. t ^ t adjacent seeds. In the ordinary manner of stretching the locks to determine the drag, the fibers are slowly separated and drawn out, and at those points of greatest binding, as shown in Plate II, C, «, b, and c, the groups of longer fibers appear to rise. If, now, a single seed is selected and detached from the rest and the entire group of fibers loosened from its attachment to the seed coat in the neighborhood of the longer groups, one can with fine forceps draw these fibers out carefully and com- pare their length with those of the rest of the seed. In many instances the sin- £rle fibers now readilv Sepa- i i«- ^•—a few extra-long cotton fibers, sliowing two " . , '
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