PREVALENCE OF HINDI COTTON IN EGYPT. 



25 



In addition to (he li<ilitor color assumed by the foliage of the E^^'p- 

 tian plants as the season advances, the proportion of yellow in the 

 fields is increased by the abundance of bracts and flowers. At the 

 lime these changes were taking place, about the middle of July, 

 the dark-green tone of the vegetative phase w^as still shown with 

 umch uniformity in some of the fields, while others had gone over to 

 I he yellower shades or were still more completely dominated by the 

 abundance of yellowish bracts and still yellower flowers. These 

 changes seemed to have come rather suddenly, for most of the fields 

 seemed to represent one phase or the other quite definitely, only a 

 few showing pronounced individual diversities of coloring among the 

 Egyptian plants. 



Table II. — Fields irifli Hindi cotton (iiiixinnt front Iruins 



Fields were noted between towns- 



Calioub and Chebin el Kaneter 



Chebin and Machetoul 



Mailietoul and lUlbeis 



Bilbeis and Zagaziu' 



Zagazisr and Abou-Kebir 



Abou-Kebir and Kafr Sakr 



Kafr Sakr and Abou el Chekouk 



Abou el ("hekoiik and Sinibellaouein. 



Sinil>ellaonein and Baklieli 



Baklieh and Mansurali 



Mansurah and Sanianoud 



Sanianoud and Mehalla Kebir 



Mehalla Kebir and Mehallet lioh 



Mehallel Roh and Tanta 



Total 



Percentage . 



Number 

 of fields. 



48 

 53 

 81 

 82 

 88 

 21 

 30 

 51 

 13 

 24 

 90 

 29 

 34 

 49 



(596 



Fields 



with 



apparent 



Hindi. 



46 



50 



70 



81 



82 



22 



24 



1(10) 44 



fo) 13 



(4)17 



(16) 73 



26 



(4)27 



(3)42 



623 

 89.51 



Fields 

 without 

 apparent 



Hindi. 



73 



10.48 



a In some loealities fields that showed a strikingly large proportion of Hindi cotton were specially noted, 

 and the numbers of such fields are given in parentlieses in the table. It would be safe to estimate that the 



Eroporlioti of Hindi cotton and obvious hybrids in such fields was more tlian n per cent. Many fields 

 etween Bilbeis and Zagazig appeared to be ciuite as thickly sprinkled with Hindi as any in Upper Egypt 

 where percentages of 15 and 20 were counted. 



In addition to fields noted in Table II, many other inspections were 

 made in the region between Cairo and Tanta. Several hundred fields 

 were seen in ITpper Egypt, in every one of which indications of Hindi 

 contamination were found. 



In the district between Abou el Chekouk and ISIansurah much of 

 the cotton at the middle of July was still too small and irregular to 

 give favorable conditions for seeing Hindi plants from the train. 

 Many of the fields had not begun to flower. In many the stand was 

 irregular, or the plants of irregular sizes, perhaps as a result of 

 alkali in the soil. Fields of rice interspersed among the cotton 

 showed the same irregularity. The unfavorable conditions may be 

 partly responsible for the larger proportion of fields with no apparent 

 Hindi in this district. Fields with larger plants often showed great 



210 



