PREVALENCE OF HINDI COTTON IN EGYPT. 19 



of the Nile. The period of high water comes during the Hie summer 

 and autumn, the fruiting season of the cotton. Egypt did not gain 

 importance as a cotton-producing country until the modern system 

 of perennial irrigati:)n from stored water was developed, in the 

 nineteenth century. 



The Egyptian system of close planting greatly increases the diffi- 

 culties of finding the Hindi individuals and of counting the Hindi 

 and Egyptian plants to determine the percentages of each. Early 

 in the season, while the plants are still small, each one can readily 

 be seen as a separate individual, but with larger growth they fuse 

 together, as it were, to form a solid mass of foliage. Early inspection 

 has the further advantage of utilizing the differences in the color 

 of the foliage that are readily appreciable in the vegetative phase of 

 development, but tend to disappear after the fruiting stage has been 

 reached, as already explained. 



If actual countings are not made, the proportion of Hindi cotton 

 is likely to be seriously underestimated after the plants have reached 

 the adult or flowering stage. It has been said that the Hindi plants 

 can be distinguished from the Egyptian by their taller growth, but 

 this seems to be true of hybrids or of young individuals rather than 

 of mature plants of the true Hindi type. It was noticed at Calioub 

 and at several other points that while many of the hybrid plants ran 

 several inches above their Egyptian neighbors, the true Hindi plants 

 had usually been outgrown by the Eg}^ptian. In fact, some of the 

 Egyptian cultivators consider that the hybrids rather than the true 

 Hindi plants ought to be pulled out. They have noticed that many 

 of the large overgrown hybrids produce very little fruit and are 

 willing to pull them out so they shall not crowd their more productive 

 neighbors. Careful roguing in the early part of the season is more 

 likely to take out all of the true Hindi plants and leave a few of 

 the hybrids, so that careful cultivators are more likely to be familiar 

 with mature hybrids than with mature Hindi individuals. 



The true Hindi plants, being less obtrusive when the stage of 

 maturity is reached, are very easily overlooked unless special care 

 is taken to separate and count the plants of each hill. Though two 

 plants are usually left at thinning, regularity in this respect can 

 not be depended upon. It often happens that only one plant sur- 

 vives, or careless cultivators may leave occasional hills with three or 

 four plants. 



It may be that the value of countings as the basis of general esti- 

 mates of the proportion of Hindi cotton would not be seriously 

 impaired by assuming tAvo plants to each hill. The saving of time 

 in this way would enable more extensive counts to be made. This 

 plan was followed in a few of the later countings mentioned below, 



210 



