Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from A Study of Diversity in Egyptian Cotton
The diversity found in the Egyptian cotton in Arizona appears to be of four different kinds, evidently arising from different physio logical factors. Precautions which may tend to avoid one kind of diversity will not be fully effective unless other factors are taken into account at the same time. Methods of acclimatization, breeding, and culture have all to be adapted to the special needs of the case if the full possibilities of the new crop are to be definitely ascertained.
The first and most striking kind of diversity is due to hybridization. The cross-fertilizing insects are much more abundant and active in our Southwestern States than in any other cotton-growing region thus far investigated. This will render it impossible to maintain a culture of pure Egyptian or other high-grade cotton unless all other kinds of cotton are excluded from the localities in which superior stocks are planted. Though the lint of the hybrid plants is often superior to that of the pure Egyptian plants, it is sufficiently different to interfere with the commercial uniformity of the product.
The second kind of diversity that affects the Egyptian cotton is evidently due to incomplete acclimatization. As with other types of cotton, transfer to new conditions induces great variation, not only in the habits of growth and other vegetative characters of the plants, but also in fertility and in the abundance and length of the lint. This form of diversity is to be eliminated by the selection each year Of the plants that approach most nearly to the normal form of the variety, are the most fertile, and have the best lint.
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