G. t. KOTTUR 245 



that is to say, the proportion of lint to seed cotton. I have already said 

 that kum'pta cotton on the average has a very low ginning percentage, but the 

 actual figures vary very widely within the type of cotton. Some plants 

 give as low a percentage as 18, others as high as 30. The average is usually 

 considered to He about 26, but in one hundred plants taken at random 

 on the Dharwar farm the mean percentage was 23*6. The actual figm-es were 

 as follows : — 



Ginning percentage Frequency 



18 .... 1 



19 .... 2 



20 .... 9 



21 .... 12 



22 .... 19 



23 .... 11 



24 14 



25 9 



26 .... 6 



27 7 



28 1 



29 .... 8 



30 1 



The curve which follows (Fig. 10) illustrates still more clearly the very 

 wide variation. 



Of course it must always be recognized that the ginning percentao-e 

 is the product of a complex of factors, including season, climate, soil 

 and luxuriance of plant, and that the variety or strain is only one of these 

 factors. But when plants are grown mider identical conditions m the same 

 field, a curve like that shown below can hardly be due to anything except a 

 complicated mixture of strains yielding cotton of widely different ginning 

 capacity. 



(7) Seed weight. The weight of the seed is an important character 

 in cotton, as it has a bearing on the yield and ginnin.g percentage. Ccoke^ 

 points cut that lighter seeds raise the percentage of lint, as is indeed obvious, 

 and at first sight it would suggest that the aim of a cotton-breeder should be 

 to reduce the seed weight. But the evidence at present in hand seems to 

 indicate^ that there is a high positive correlation between the seed ^\ei<'ht 

 and luit weight. Though this statement needs confirmation as applied to 

 Indian cottons in general and to Gossypimn herhaccvm in particular, yet, 

 in the meantime, considerable mterest attaches to the variation m the seed 

 weight of the cotton we are studying. 



1 Cooke, v. S. A. Bweau of Plant Industry, Circvlar Ko. 11. Talis, L. " Cotton Tlant in 

 Egypt," pp. SG and 101, 



