IMPORTANCE OF UNIFORMITY IN EGYPTIAN COTTON. 9 



not prove to be the case. It is quite possible that the crop of Upper 

 Egypt comes to maturity earlier in the fall, owing (o hotter weather 

 in the summer, but there was very little difference at the middle of 

 June. The effect that would naturally be expected from higher day 

 temperatures in Upper Egyj^t ma}^ be neutralized in the early part 

 of the season by cooler nights, due to the greater radiation allowed 

 by the drier air. In any event the cotton was found at nearly the 

 same stage of development about Beni-Suef as about Cairo and 

 Tanta. (See PI. I, fig. 1.) Even at the middle of July much of the 

 cotton in Upper Egj'pt, between Beni-Suef and Minieh, was still 

 quite small, having scarcely reached the flowering stage. In some 

 fields the plants were only 6 or 8 inches high. The same was true 

 of many fields in Lower Egj'pt in the region of Mansurah. (See 

 PI. II, figs. 1 and 2.) To what extent the later planting was resi^on- 

 sible for the more backward state of the cotton in these districts was 

 not learned, nor the reasons that may exist for later planting. 



The most important local differences perceptible in Egypt were not 

 those of the external conditions or of the methods of cultivation. 

 The Huperiorit}^ of the cotton raised in the Delta region nuiy be due 

 in jjart to superior conditions, as generally assumed, but better knowl- 

 edge of the Hindi cotton among the native cultivators is another 

 factor of great importance, since it determines whether the inferior 

 Hindi cotton shall be rogued out or left to mature in the fields. 

 Mail}' native cultivators at Beni-Suef pay no attention to the Hindi 

 cotton, while about Mansurah it seems to be known to everybody. 

 But even about Mansurah the human factor is by no means uni- 

 form, as shown by widely varying proportions of Hindi cotton in the 

 different fields. 



IMPORTANCE OF UNIFORMITY IN EGYPTIAN COTTON. 



The requirement of uniformity increases with the presence of other 

 good qualities of cotton. A long, strong cotton commands higher 

 prices, because it can be spun into stronger or finer thread and used 

 to make stronger or finer fabrics. An admixture of short, weak 

 fibers not only reduces the strength of the threads and impairs the 

 ([uality or durability of the fabric; it interferes also w^ith the work of 

 the spinning and weaving machinery by the more frequent breaking 

 of the threads. 



The superiority of the Sea Island cotton does not consist alone in 

 its length and strength, but in its extreme uniformity. This is main- 

 tained b}' a highly developed system of selection, well recognized 

 among the Sea Island planters but not. yet applied to any other 

 commercial type of cotton. The seed for each season's crop is raised 

 by itself, apart from the general planting, and traces its ancestry 



210 



