Vol. IVII. No. 42S. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



29o 



•resteJ will be so treated lor a short period at least. Perhaps 

 the good results will prove an effective object-lesson and 

 cause planters in general to apply one of the soundest 

 , principles of agriculture. 



The cultivation of the fields for the crop to be planted 

 at the close of the year proceeds apace. The black soil is 

 well up and the initial tillage has been practically completed. 



Jn the red soil there is still much to be done. 



The provision crops have revelled in the favourable 

 •weather of the past fortnight- Yams have madersplendid 

 progress, even though they may not be as advanced as we 



'have frecjuently seen them at this time of year. There 

 is hardly a fieli I planted in this vegetable which has not 



: received a fair share of manure. The spires look very healthy, 

 and with favourable weather, in October particularly, this 



■ crop should give a satisfactory return. 



The worm has been busy of late. We have seen several 

 fields where the leaves of beans, woolly pyrol, and potatoes 

 have been freely eaten. This is not unusual at this time of 

 the year, and we hope that the potatoes will not be affected 

 to any e.xtent. Where the plant lias reached the point of 



■maturity this may not be the case, but the attack might 



•retard the progress of younger fields. (The Barbados .-/,?•'/- 



.■:u/tii >■•)./ RtforUr, September 7, 19L"<.) 



VARIETIES OF EGYPTIAN COTTON PRO- 

 DUCED BY MUTATION. 



l-;gyptian cotton is much in demand on the American 

 aiatket for the manufacture of articles requiring a high 



■ degree of tensile strength, s^jch as sewing thread, durable 

 hosiery, and motor-car tyre fabrics- At the suggestion of 

 the United States Department of .\griculture, and under the 



■ direction of Dr. H. -J. Webber, numerous comparative cul- 

 tural experiments were begun in I'.JOO at agricultural stations 

 in the South and South-west, using cotton seed imported 

 directly from Kgypt. These experiments, as summarized in 



' the liHirnnl of Hiiality for February 1918, showed that it 

 is possible to cultivate Egyptian cotton in the United States 

 if it is grown on the irrigated lands of the South-west. 

 Nevertheless, even under the most favourable conditions, the 

 newly imported varieties produced little, ripened late, and 



- varied greatly. This latter circumstance is probably due to the 

 fact that, in Egypt the cotton fields are often exposed to cross- 

 fertilization with hybrid varietie.s, particularly with the 

 'Hindi' cotton, which grows wild iu the fields. 



Careful selection was therefore reijuired to obtain 

 earlier, inore productive, and more uniform types. Selection 

 experiments begun at \ uma (Arizona) gave very satisfactory 

 results in a tew years, involving the improvement and gradual 

 fixing of the desired characters wiihout altering the structure 

 and appearance of the original type, 'Mit Afifi'. 



In 190.S a new era began with the unexpected appearance 

 of two lines, obtained by selection, differing greatly from the 

 parent .stock, and from each other. The.se tw^) lines gave rise 

 to the ^ uma and Somerton varieties. The second variety 

 Lad to be di.scirded because of its excessive production of 

 sterile branches, but the first became the basis ^if the l:;gyp- 

 tian cotton industry in Arizona. This new variety difiers 

 from the Mil Afifi variety in longer and more pointed boils, 

 and iii a longer (U inches) and lighter fibre. 



Mr. E. W. Hud.son obtained a third variety, (Jila, from 



■ a plant selected in]90S!na field of acclimatized Mit A?5H 



cotton at .Sacaton, Arizona. Although differing less frona 

 the original stock than the N'uraa and .Somerton varieties, 

 Oila is sufficiently distinct to be considered as a new variety. 



The \ uma, Somerton, and Gila varieties are thus all 

 derived from the .Mit .\fifi 1-^yptian cotton. 



In 1910, in a field of Yuma cotton at Sacaton, a sf»eci- 

 men was selected and kept separate because of its superior 

 productiveness and length of fibre. \'tk>m this plant was 

 derived. the Pima variety which differed from the Yumi 

 variety in fewer vegetative branches apd Better developed 

 fruiting branehes, by its plumper, more viharply pointed, and 

 less deeply pitted bolls, lighter, sillggr ^nd longer (lij to 

 1 -l inche.s) fibire. ^^ .- 



The new -varieties spread rapidly, especially in the Salt 

 Itiver Valley, where they were gj^wn over ever-increasing 

 areas: in 1912, \ uma,"-200 acres; in 1917, Yuma, 23,000 

 acres, and Pima, 7,000 acres (a total of .30,000 acres); ia 

 1918 it is estimated that the crop will cover 100,000 acres. 



The ^'uma and Pima varieties supply first quality 

 material for spinning and for motor tyres. Pima is pref€rre<l 

 on account of its earliness and long fibre, and will undoubt- 

 edly completely supersede Yuma. It is not easy t-o solve 

 definitely the problem of the origin of these varieties; certaia 

 phenomena point to roguing, whereas others point rather 

 to true mutation. 



Roguing. (1) Mit Afifi cotton probably originated 

 tcwards the middle of the 19th century from hybridization or 

 Sea I.sland with a brown-linted Afriqau tree cotton: (2) as 

 has been already stated. Egyptian cotton fields are frequently 

 exposed to cross-fertilization. Consequently the presence of 

 many heterozygous ch;i.racters would explain the frequenii 

 appearance of rogues. 



Midation. The following phenomena, however, are in 

 favour of the mutation hypothesis: (1) the sudden appearaiice 

 and fixation of the new types; (2) the total absence of forms 

 intermediate to the original and new types: (3) the differential 

 characters of the new type, which are entirely new, and of 

 which no trace is found in the species of varieties of cotton 

 which are likely at any time to have come in contact with 

 Mit Afifi. 



Rubber in North Borneo.— Ihe area planted with 



rubber at the end of 1 916, according to returns received from 

 managers of estates says the Monthly Bidlctni of Agricitltura! 

 liift'Uigfiice and I'laiii Diseasi's, May 1918, was 30,910 acres. 

 Small holdings planted by Chinese and natives are not 

 included in these figures. The amount of new land planted 

 during the year, was only ■529 acres. The number of trees 

 in tapping at the end of the year was 2,030, l-iO, or a little 

 over half the total number planted, which is returned at 

 -1,049,050. The area in full tapping was 14,720 acres as 

 against 9,806 acres at the end of the previous year. 



According to the figures supplied by the Customs 

 Department, the export in 191.J was l,9.)7-7 tons, an increase 

 of 844 per cejit., ')d the total of l,0.5ii tons shipped in 191-5. 

 In .January the privC of smoked sheet reached 4,>. "Ji/., but 

 dropped quickly to about 3.\. 6^/., it then declined .steadily 

 until August, when it had fallen to 2\. \hi.. .ifter which ii; 

 rose to ab')ut '^s. in December. 



The extension if tapping operations necessitated an in- 

 crease in the Ubour force at most estates. At the end of tha 

 year the toul number of coolies employed was 12 '^'^ I. an 

 increase of 2,69^ over last year's total. 



