X ECONbMICS 179 



distributing the existing varieties, have sunk of late years 

 into insignificance, through contrast with the urgent call 

 for physiological information . Still, they are by no means 

 trivial, and once stability is restored to the supply of 

 Egyptian cotton, there will be room for much improve- 

 ment in detail. The chief interest of the data on 

 genetics ^' ^' ^^' ^''' ^° relates to the extension of cotton cultiva- 

 tion into fresh countries and climates. The reader will 

 probably concede, whatever -may be the soundness of 

 the interpretations given, that there is no doubt as to 

 the formal nature of the inheritance of various characters 

 in cotton crosses, even where such inheritance appears 

 most dependent on simple chance. Such characteristics 

 as yielding-capacity, earl in ess of maturity, climatic 

 suitability, and others of agricultural importance, are 

 the outcome of complex and interacting combinations 

 of allelomorphs, and must in no way ^'' ^' ^^' ^ be con- 

 sidered as simple things ; but sufficient time and 

 research will ultimately deduce the laws of their trans- 

 mission, now that the said research has been placed on 

 a precise basis. The outcome of such deductions must be 

 that the colonial agriculturist of the near future will no 

 longer carry a bag of seed, searching for a district in 

 which it will grow to the consumer's liking, but will choose 

 his district first, and then manufacture a cotton plant to 

 suit it. A further impetus towards the precise study of 

 genetics will be given by the specialisation of manufactur- 

 ing processes, demanding more various types of raw 

 material, each suited to special purposes, and therefore 

 worked up with greater economy. The aeroplane is 

 already beginning to affect the Egyptian fellah. 



An important advantage of seed-supply projects lies in 

 their simplicity from the viewpoint of the native cultivator, 

 who is usually prejudiced and frequentlj'' unskilled. A 

 change in the variety of cotton supplied to him causes no 

 change in his habits or methods, and interferes less with 



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