64 CROSS-FERTlLlSATlON IN TtlE INDIAN COTTONS. 



the past only to lead to disappointment ; there is sufficient scope 

 for the iinj)iovenient of the races of the truly Indian cottons to ren- 

 der this the most promising line of work as far as Northern India 

 is concerned. If, however, the causes for lack of success in the 

 past are those here indicated, it follows that the possibility, or the 

 reverse, of acclimatising such forms as the higher grades of Ameri- 

 can or Egyptian cottons remains yet to be proved.* 



Since the above notes were submitted to the Press a paper 

 deahng with the Natural Crossing in Cotton and published in the 

 American Breeders' Magazinef has been received. In this paper 

 the author describes certain experiments and observations which 

 he has made with the direct object of ascertaining the amount of 

 cross-fertilisation taking place. He concludes that in N, Georgia 

 at least 20 per cent, with strong probabilities of 40 per cent, of the 

 blossoms are crossed. 



• For a farther account ot this phenomenon of ' degeneration,' the reader is referred to 

 Section C of Studies of E{;yptian Cotton, containing a biological sketch of the cotton crop of 

 Egypt by Balls, in the Vcar-booV, Khedivial Agricultural Society, 1909. 



t Allard, Amcr. Breeders' Mag. 1, I'.'ld, i, p. 217. 



