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A reference to the comparative value of flood and low Nile 
water as a fertilizing agent is made, drawing attention to the 
fact that the disintegrated rock which largely comprises the 
silt is not lost by canal irrigation or reservoirs, as is frequently 
maintained. 
The deterioration in quality of the cotton is chiefly due +o 
Earias boll-worm attacks of the second and third pickings. 
The effect of the low Nile of 1913 may be experienced in 1915, 
due to the inability to plant a land-washing crop such as rice 
in 1914, and the consequent return of salt. 
The general stability of Egyptian conditions, the improb- 
ability of a permanent decline in the quality of the cotton crop 
in the near future, and a suggestion of the position of the 
country without cotton are referred to. 
The extension of area and the effect on the quantity of 
cotton produced having been treated, two important factors 
influencing the quality are brought to notice: the first, the 
effect produced by the approximation of a large number of 
different varieties of cotton plants and the defects in the 
ginning of the crop; and the second, the occurrence of insect 
pests, chiefly the boll-worm. In both cases the remedial 
measures which are being adopted are referred to. 
THE IMPROVEMENT OF COTTON BY SELECTION. 
By J. Stewart J. McCatt, P.A.S.1., C.D.A.Glas., 
Director of Agriculture, Nyasaland. 
[ ABSTRACT. ] 
Under this heading a general review of the progress of the 
Cotton Industry of Nyasaland is set forth, and special atten- 
tion is directed to the necessity of Government control at the 
ports of entry, to prevent the promiscuous importation of 
many varieties of seed. 
Careful tests on a Government Experimental Farm are of 
real value to a new country and form a safeguard against the 
production of mixed staples, which are practically unsaleable 
and give the centre of production a bad name. 
It is further recommended to use all possible influences to 
preserve one distinct variety to each district at least, and it is 
considered after five years of experiment that better results 
will be obtained by selection from acclimatized stock rather 
than frequent importations of exotics. 
