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T HE flmy-ers of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) are largely self-pollinated, but some natural crossing does occur. The natural crossing is caused primarily by bees, the amount of crossing varying widely from locality to locality (Kime and Tilley,8).3 Cotton breeders must protect flowers from insects in order to be sure of self-pollination or of cross-pollination in the case of emasculated flowers. There has been considerable work done on the effect of time and method of pollination, on the number of bolls set, and on the number of seed obtained. Meade (9) found the number of seed per boll was increased about 10% for Durango and 5% for Acala when emasculation followed by hand pollination was compared to normal open pollination. Kearney (5) found the mean number of seed per boll was higher in localities having large numbers of bees in relation to cotton plant population than in areas where bees were scarce. Hand pollination increased the number of seed per boll in areas of few bees but not in areas where bees were plentiful. Banerji ( 1) found no significant difference in per cent bolls set between open pollinated flowers and hand crossed flowers. Kearney (6) reported that bagged flowers had significantly fewer seed per boll than unbagged. He also reported that pollen extracted from anthers and applied to the stigmas in the evening prior to anthesis showed a very limited ability to effect fertilization.A preliminary experiment was conducted at College Station, Tex., in 1939 to determine the effect of time and method of cross-pollination on the number of

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