io6 THE COTTON PLANT IN EGYPT chap. 



Lastly we have the weed cottoo, so-called " Hindi." It 

 is not a cultivated variety, but sporadic as a weed mixed 

 with other varieties. In general appearance it could 

 easily be mistaken for American Uplands, but the seed is 

 devoid of fuzz. Within the Hindi type there are various 

 sub-types ; thus, of some five huodred plants grown from 

 Hindi seed of commercial origin, only about a third were 

 very hirsute, while others were completely glabrous. 



The seven important varieties mentioned differ in age. 

 Ashmouni, or rather the name, dates back to the 'fifties 

 of last century. Afifi was introduced commercially about 

 1887, Abbassi in 1893, Yannovitch in 1899, Nubari in 

 1907, Sakel in 1909, and Assili in 1910. These dates 

 are, of course, approximate, being those years in which a 

 conspicuous quantity of the lint reached the spinners. 



Now with this multiplicity of varieties it might be 

 imagined that their differentiation was easy. Such is by 

 no means the case. All the varieties are similar in 

 external appearance ; even when grown side by side in 

 field rows on the same plot, they cannot be distinguished 

 with certainty. There may be far more difference between 

 individual plants within the same variety than between 

 two distinct varieties. 



Certain physiological differences are found, however, but 

 they are not very easily expressed in precise terms. 

 Thus Ashmouni is the crop of Upper l^gypt, Yannovitch 

 is concentrated round a centre in 'the N.E. of the Delta, 

 and Afifi gave the best results in the Southern Delta. 

 Again, Yannovitch is credited with cropping lightly, 

 about 10 per cent, below Afifi or Abbassi, and this opinion 

 is supported by the scanty data available. 



One of the cherished fables of the practician teaches 

 that heavy crops and fine staple cannot co-exist. The 

 inaccuracy of this belief, though long suspected, has only 

 recently been proved by the Sakel variety. The boUing 

 curves of Afifi, Sakel, Assili, VoltoS, and the pure strain 



