APPENDIX I 



METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 



THIS appendix is intended rather for the use of those who 

 wish to re-investigate this work. The subject is the 

 methods of investigation employed in recording and con- 

 trolling the condition of the plants, in the treatment of 

 the developing bolls, in. the examination of the seed- 

 cotton, and in the presentation and analysis of the results. 

 Crop-Records. A system of routine records of the daily 

 condition of the crop was developed by the author, in the 

 first instance for individual plants in breeding experi- 

 ments, and later for field crop conditions. At the end of 

 the author's service in Egypt these records had become 

 so comprehensive that they gave information as to the 

 state of the crop of the whole country, even when taken 

 on a single site only. They consisted in measurements 

 of the daily growth, of flowering, and of boiling, with sub- 

 sidiary measurements of other features, such as shedding, 

 and, in fact, of any character of the plant which the ex- 

 igencies of research and convenience combined to render 

 worth measurement. The cost of obtaining these data 

 was slight, unskilled native labour being trained for the 

 purpose, and checks imposed ultimately by the methods 

 themselves. The headman checked the work of his sub- 



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