136 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RAW COTTON 



for the sake of reducing that irregularity which is due to 

 environment, and which does not amount to more than a 

 quarter of an inch (see Chapter IV. ) . 



As in the case of other peculiarities of the crop which 



we have discussed, the lint properties are therefore 



average properties, the deviations from the 



T average being widest in bad cultivation, 



and least when cultivation is good. To 

 conclude with an instance which is perhaps more striking, 

 and certainly simpler, than these target diagrams. The 

 colour of a sample of ginned cotton is an average colour. 

 Thus the modern Ashmouni cotton has deteriorated in 

 colour, losing the full, rich golden-brown which formerly 

 characterized it, and becoming much paler. If we take 

 a prize sample of modern Ashmouni, and raise thirty or 

 forty plants from it, we shall find a few plants whose lint 

 is nearly white, many creams and light browns, and 

 perhaps about one quarter of the plants will be found to 

 bear rich brown lint, which, when placed side by side with 

 a sajnple of twenty years ago, matches exactly. The 

 colour of a prize sample of Ashmouni is thus produced 

 by placing together hairs of these various colours, the 

 lighter hairs diluting the colour of the darker ones. The 

 old colour can immediately be restored by propagating 

 some of the plants which bear the rich brown lint. 



The photographs we have given (PI. IX.) show very im- 

 perfectly the differences from plant to plant within a 

 variety. Cotton is a difficult photographic subject, 

 except when single plants are taken with a background, 

 and in that case much of the impression is lost, as com- 



