14 HINDI COTTON IN EGYPT. 



DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF HINDI PLANTS. 

 HABITS OF GROWTH OF HINDI COTTON. 



If the Hindi cotton could be recognized only by the characters of 

 the lint and seeds, it might be impossible to effect a complete elimina- 

 tion of the Hindi characters by selection. As long as Hindi plants 

 are allowed to flower in the fields with the Egyptian plants and cross- 

 fertilize them the undesirable Hindi characteristics may be expected 

 to reappear. Even if no seeds of the Hindi form are planted, some 

 of the apparently normal Egyptian seeds are likely to contain Hindi 

 hybrid embryos, and these in turn can grow to maturit}^ and j^roduce 

 pollen for continuing the Hindi infection to further generations. It 

 is fortunate, therefore, that the Hindi cotton has several veiw definite 

 differences in the vegetative parts, so that all Hindi plants can be 

 recognized and rogued out of a field or a seed plat before the age of 

 blooming and cross-fertilization is reached. 



The general form or habit of growth of the Hindi plants is different 

 from that of the Egyptian cotton, though this is not so apparent in 

 the Egv'ptian fields, where the plants are crowded closely together, as 

 in experimental plantings, where more space is allowed the individual 

 l^lants. The tendency of the Hindi cotton is to produce a broader 

 and more bushy plant, more like the Upland than the Egyptian 

 cotton. (See PI. I, fig. 2.) 



There is a general impression that the Hindi cotton is larger and 

 more luxuriant than the Egyptian, but this may relate to the Hindi 

 hybrids rather than to the genuine Hindi individuals. The Hindi 

 plants may appear larger early in the season, perhaps as a result of 

 more prompt germination, but they are usually outgroAvn by the 

 neighboring Egyptian plants by the time the fruiting stage is reached. 



The Eg3"ptian cotton, as well as the Hindi, shows different habits 

 of growth under different conditions. In the cooler climate of Lower 

 Egypt there is no such luxuriance of vegetative growth as in Arizona, 

 but the branches are more sjireading and the foliage more open. The 

 habit of the Eg}'ptian cotton in Egypt is more like that of Upland 

 cotton in our Southern States. The similarity was especially strong 

 in the Fayum Oasis, where some of the cotton is planted on rather 

 poor land. It flowers and fruits when only 8 or 10 inches high, ma- 

 turing small, bushy plants, like Upland cotton on poor soil in the 

 South. Something of the exuberant tendency was shown in an ex- 

 perimental i^lanting of Egyptian cotton at Siut (Assiut), in Upper 

 Egypt. 



The habits of bi'anching of the Hindi cotton are also different from 

 those of the Egyptian. The fertile branches are less definitely spe- 

 cialized than in the Egyptian cotton and have a stronger tendency 



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