636 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



proportions. The author also concUules that these results were not due to 

 mutation and that their occurrence can be explained through Mendel's law. 

 A bibliography covering the period from 1859 to the present day, representing 

 the books and pamphlets consulted for the work in band, is appended. 



Reappearance of a primitive character in cotton hybrids, O. F. Cook ( U. S. 

 Dcpt. Agi:, Bur. Plant Jiulii.s. Virc. IS, m)- U)- — In a discussion of this subject 

 the author points out that hybrids between the Kekchi cottons of (Juatemala 

 and varieties of the Sea Island and Egyptian series conmionly show seeds with 

 green fuz^ in the first generation. As this character does not normally appear 

 in either of the parental varieties, it is considered as probably an ancestral 

 character of both of them. The fact that the green fuzz largely disappears in 

 the second generation of the hybrid is taken as indicating that the recall of 

 this character to expression in the first generation marks a preliminary stage 

 in the process of conjugation. " The complete results of conjugation first 

 become visible in the second generation, when the parental characters reap- 

 pear in many combinations and gradations. . . . The practical point is that 

 such departures fron) the iiarental characters in the first generation of a hybrid 

 may not remain to detract from the value of later generations. Hybrids in 

 which these undesirable primitive characters come into expression must be 

 grown for at least two generations before selection can be effectively applied. 

 The characters shown by the first generation do not afford any i)ractical indi- 

 cation regai'ding the charjicters of the later generations." 



British cotton cultivation, W. Dunstan (Colon. Rpts., Ali.sc. [(It. Brit.], Xo. 

 50, PI). .'f6). — Reports on the quality of cotton grown in the P.ritish possessions 

 are presented. The regions considered are Cypi'us in Eurojie, the Sudan, East 

 Africa Protectorate, Uganda, Nyasaland I'rotectorate in East Africa, Rhodesia, 

 Transvaiil, Orange River Colony, Xatal, and Cape Colony in South Africa,' 

 Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Lagos, Southern Nigeria, and Northern 

 Nigeria in West Africa, the Seychelles, the Straits Settlements, the Federated 

 Malay States, and British North Borneo in Asia, Australia, British New 

 Guinea, the West Indies, British Guiana, Honduras, and Bermuda. These 

 reports form an account of progress in native cultivation and experimental 

 trials fostered and inaugurated largely by the British Cotton Growing Asso- 

 ciation. 



An excellent quality of American cotton is reported as growing in the 

 Zoutpansberg district of the Transvaal, and it is believed that American cot- 

 ton has apparently proved successful in Nyasaland and Uganda. 



Cotton production, 1907, W. M. Steuart and D. C. Roper (Bur. of the 

 Census [U. S.] Bui. 95, pp. 58, figs. 7, dgnis. >i, map 1). — This bulletin presents 

 data with reference to the annual cotton production in the United States as 

 returned by ginners and delinters, distributed by States from 1899 to 1907 

 and by counties from 1903 to 1907; statistics as to annual production compiled 

 fi'om trustworthy sources of previous years beginning in 1790 ; figures on the 

 world's cotton production in 1907 by countries : illustrated discussions on the 

 growing, harvesting, and handling of cotton ; and data regarding the production 

 of cotton seed and the manufacture of and trade in cotton-seed products. 



The total crop of 1907, including linters, is givA as 11,425,156 running bales 

 or bales as pressed at ginneries. The distribution of the crop was as follows: 

 Upland cotton, square bales, 10,871,652; upland cotton, round bales, 198,549; 

 Sea Island cotton, 86,895 bales, and linters, 268,060 bales. The average pro- 

 duction of cotton in the United States for the last 6 years is 345,914 bales 

 in excess of the crop of 1907. 



Flax experiments, 1906 (Dept. Agr. and Tech. Instr. Ireland Jour., 8 (1908), 

 No. 3, pp. Jt23-JfJtO). — The largest average yield of retted straw, 3,127 lbs. per 



