54 COTTON PRODUCTION 



alluvial delta region of Mississippi and Louisiana, and 

 to a smaller extent in the valley lands of the Red 

 River in Louisiana and Texas. 



' Improved " Upland cottons usually have a length 

 of between ij and if inches, and a diameter inter- 

 mediate between those of Egyptian and ordinary 

 Upland. 



They are generally less lustrous than Egyptian 

 cottons, and are not so well adapted to the mercerising 

 process. There are a great many varieties of these 

 cottons, among which may be mentioned, " Allen's 

 Long Staple," " Bates' Big Boll," " Black Rattler," 

 " Bohemian," " Commander," " Cook's Long Staple," 

 " Culpepper," " Excelsior," " Griffin's Improved," 

 " Hawkins' Improved," " Moon," " Peterkin," 

 " Richmond," " Russell's Big Boll," " Shine's Early 

 Prolific," " Sunflower," and " Truitt's Big Boll." 

 Most of these forms were obtained by the selection of 

 choice individual plants in fields of ordinary Upland 

 cotton. It has sometimes been supposed that some 

 of the " improved " varieties were produced by 

 hybridisation of ordinary Upland with Sea Island 

 cotton, but it is now generally considered that most, 

 if not all, of the present forms were derived directly 

 from Upland cottons by methods of selection. Many 

 attempts have been made to obtain new varieties by 

 the artificial hybridisation of Sea Island and Upland 

 cottons, but there is apparently no authentic instance 

 on record of such a hybrid ever having been definitely 

 fixed. 



PRODUCTION IN EGYPT 



Although it is sometimes stated that cotton has 

 been grown in Egypt for many centuries, there does 

 not appear to be any authentic record of its cultiva- 

 tion prior to 1583. The crop was not cultivated 

 systematically until about 1820. In this year, Jumel, 

 a French engineer, called attention to a tree-cotton 

 growing in gardens, and suggested that the cultiva- 

 tion should be extended and an effort made to replace 

 the forms then existing by superior varieties. About 

 the same time, a change was made in the irrigation 



