40 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RAW COTTON 



direction; but the fact remains that it is almost impos- 

 sible to analyze the results of such experiments (cf. Fig. 19). 

 So many circumstances may act on the plant, and the 

 water relations are so important, that to disentangle the 

 manurial effects from the accidents, over a cropping 

 period of two months, is almost impossible. Solution of 

 these manurial problems can only be obtained except 

 in the simplest cases by keeping continuous records of 

 the growth, flowering, and fruiting, of the plant day by 

 day, so that the action of the various factors may be 

 distinguished from one another. This is more particu- 

 larly the case with regard to the many cases in which it 

 is stated that manuring diminishes the yield through 

 causing too rank growth. The author has never yet met 

 with a case under Egyptian conditions in which growth 

 was ever the cause of reduced yield in itself. Secondarily, 

 it may lead to the exaggerated influence of external 

 causes, if cultivation is not, or cannot be, modified to 

 meet the new dimensions of the plant ; but it is much to 

 be hoped that a more thorough analysis may ultimately 

 relegate this view to the limbo whither several venerable 

 fictions have already been despatched, such as the 

 dictum that " the longer the staple of cotton, the lower 

 must be the yield." We will return to some of these 

 points subsequently. 



Thus far we have attempted to give some idea of 1^he 

 interplay of circumstances which act upon the living body 

 of the plant, modifying the growth of its various por- 

 tions, and building up the scaffolding upon which the 

 cotton is borne, as well as the fruit and the cotton itself. 



