The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-30
HOW COTTON GROWS.
Curious Changes in the Color of the
characterization of the BOlIs.

cotton field IS a pleasure-giving sight
from the very beginning of its cultivation.
\ First. the prim little green plants. ranged
in such long straight rows. or curved in
| equl-distant circles round some hilly slope.
the ground between kept soft and loamy,
and every hint of encroaching weeds or
grass strangled in the birth. Again, when
grown larger, the field appears one level
expanse of luxurious green, the broad
| leaves having reached out to each other,
as If agreeing with one accord to cover
all intervening space. When the bios
SONS come the broad acres resemble a
big flower garden dotted with color, and
| when August arrives and woolly bloom,
as white as the driven snow, appears IN
the place of each flower, the harvest Is
as beautiful as the anticipation.
The negroes admire cotton greatly and
often extend the rows of their cotton
patch up TO within a few feet of their
doorstep. One afternoon a young girl
who was visiting a cotton plantation
walked in among the rows in front of
negro cabin in order to examine the
plants.
II don't see any white blossoms" snc
exclaimed to the woman of the house,
who stood near, with a piggin of water
balanced on her head and a spent tobacco
pipe between her lips. The woman re-
moved the pipe to answer.
"Dere amt no white blossom dis time
O. day." she said pleasantly.
This time of day?' repeated the girl.
"Why. what has become of them? 1 was
always told that a cotton bloom was
white"
"Dey all done turn red by now" ex-
| planned the woman, glancing up at the
sun. soon cen de mawnin' dey is white
de fust day dey open, and when de hands
i raffx ri no
white yet; but when we go back cen de
field, couple OBJ hours later de blossom
| all is turnin'."
How stranger said the visitor, who had
turn for investigation. Il mean to tie
something on a blossom tomorrow morn
ing. so that l can tell 1t again,i and watch
| how 1t changes. Some of these blooms are
purple" she continued. do they open
| purple?"
mo. honey" said the woman, grinning
| broadly, pleased at being able to give
| information. 'Dey neber turns purple till
dey been out gwine. on tree days. Dem
| purple blossoms soon gwine fade way and
drap Off"
And she turned away to settle dispute
between two pickaninnies whose play had
come toshl9Ns.i Az A.. gUl
The ftsc oSeten sbiessdm APPEARS about
the 18th of June, and from the "germing'
! Of the embryo boil to the time Of its full
/ phases. The forms" first appear-curi-
Gus, triangular little box-lil1e affairs, seem
ingly formed by the joint Contribution Of
several fringy-edged green leaves cement
ed together The forms" are gemmed
| thickly along the sprays which branch out
from the main stalk. In the depths of the
form" the bud is germed. and when the
| form" has grown to sufficient size, the
blossom springs up out of it's center. sup
ported by the green fringe as If held in a
natural vase
The cotton blossom is shaped like lily
and is delicate in texture. The first
| morning that it opens it is a pale cream
color and CLEANS pure and spotless amid
the foliage. Twelve o'clock finds it still
gazing up at the sun without a hint of
color staining its petals An hour later a
delicate flush steals over it, like the blush
that comes suddenly to a fair girls cheek
Brighter and brighter the blush deepens
as the hours go by, and the sunset of the
day that saw its birth finds the pure white
blossom transformed into a rose-colored
flower that reflects the glow of the western
sky. 1t is wonderful, this laying on of
color by invisible hands even as we gaze
into the heart of the bloom. The next
morning the pink flower remains unchang-
ed, but by afternoon 1t is Streaked and
veined with the purplish hues of the morn
ing glory. The following day more pro-
nounced purple has come over it. and so
1t goes on deepening and darkening in tint
until bereftof its fresh beauty, its mission
fulfilled. it falls from the reluctant grasp
of the form"
IF drap of rain fall cen de heart of a
cotton blossom cen de mawnin while it, S
white, dat blossom neber gwine mex cot
ton" says negro cotton grower, and a
white neighbor of his who experimental
with the plant to satisfy himself as to the
truth or this assertion, found it to be cor
rect. The negro is very observant and
notes little things that escape people
whose minds are better furnished. Certain
cotton blooms that had opened for the
first time on a morning during which there
was a shower We're marked to note re-
suits, and were found never to mature,
dampness at that early stage evidently
having a fatal effect.
The cotton and the okra blossom closely
resemble each other in shape and color;
indeed, the plants are very similar in char
acter and appearance and okra fiourishes
finely in cotton patch or in soil that has
been prepared for cotton. The difference
between the blossoms is that the stamen
of the cotton bloom is feathery looking and
is tinted just a shade deeper than the
flower itself, whereas the heart of the
okra blossom is lined with ruby velvet
and the stamen is dyed with the same rich
hue.
After the withered cotton bloom has fall
len away from the form" the fringed
edges close again to shield the new treas
ure nesting in it's heart, the embryo boil
that all the time has been forming be-
meath the blossoms tender beauty. When
the young boil has become large enough,
it thrusts aside the protecting leaves of
the form" and discloses itself, a small
green globe, smooth and shining, with
merchandise lines marked upon it's oval
rind. AS time goes on, these lines be-
come thread-like crevices, which separate
the boil into four or five equal divisions on
plugs. Gradually these crevices open
wider and glimpse may be had of the
tough, tightly packed mass within, yellow
and sticky looking. Soon the fattening
rains and maturing suns cause the con-
tents of the boil to swell in bulk and
force the divided plugs further and
further apart, until, in just six weeks from
the day that the lily-like blossom made
its appearance, these plugs have rolled
back TO their utmost capacity, leaving a
tuft of woolly fibre, ripe and ready for the
picker's fingers, exposed on their saucer
like center. Successive suns have bleach.
ed the yellow mass into Immaculate white
ness and passing winds have ruffied the
filmy ibres into the fufiiness of puff
. 1nsan sue e..