11.   There were also aphids on the cotton plants, and now there are swarms of whiteflies.

12.   Wind and rain can knock down the cotton plants and damage the fibers, reducing both the size and quality of the crop.

13.   Wispy tufts of white still clung to the spindly cotton plants, as forlorn as the three black men silhouetted against an endless mid-autumn sky in the Mississippi Delta.

14.   Across the South, weeks without measurable rainfall and intense heat sapped young cotton plants, cutting production and threatening quality.

15.   But here, when cotton farmers plant, they favor cutting-edge science to ensure a bountiful harvest.

16.   The cotton plant also attracts protective wasps, but with a different chemical system that is still imperfectly understood, he said.

17.   Troopers in hazardous-materials suits planned to enter the cotton plant early today to find the cause of the leak.

18.   Troopers in hazardous-materials suits planned to enter the cotton plant early Sunday to find the cause of the leak.