46 THE DEVELOPMENT OF EAW COTTON 



field recovery is a second crop of flowers or even fruits 



in a single season. Before a regular water-supply was 



secured for the Egyptian crop during the 



juvena- summer, senescence following water short- 

 tion. 



age, and rejuvenation when the flood came 



down, were probably much more normal phenomena than 

 they are at the present day. We shall meet with the 

 same senescence in the fibre itself. 



Until this senescence is shown individually by the 



various branches of the same plant, all branches grow at 



nearly the same rate. Thus, measurements 



Crop O f the daily growth-rate of the main stem in 

 Forecasts. 



the early part of the season show (Figs. 4 and 



10) the variations in the rate at which the scaffolding of 

 flowering branches is being laid down. It therefore shows 

 also the daily variation in the rate at which flower-buds 

 are being formed on this scaffolding, and consequently 

 since each bud takes a fairly uniform time to develop 

 into a flower this pre-senescence growth-record of the 

 main stem anticipates the daily variations in the rate of 

 flowering. In Egypt this leads to remarkable possi- 

 bilities of forecasting flowering from growth, and conse- 

 quently of forecasting the crop, since the variations in 

 the rate of flowering in the early part of the season are 

 the same all over Egypt from day to day, some days 

 being good and others bad, mainly as the result of rapid 

 or slow growth during warm or cold nights, nearly a 

 month previously. How far this will apply to other 

 countries remains to be seen. 



The point of especial interest up to which WQ have been 



