246 



THE ACRICUTURAL NEWS. 



August 2, 1913. 



WEST INDIAN COTTON. 



Messrs. VVolsteiiholme and Holland, of Liverpool, 

 write as follows, under date July 14, with reference 

 to the sales of West Indian Sea Island cotton : — 



Since our last report the sales of West Indian Sea 

 Island have been confined to about 70 bales Jamaica 

 at 14(1 and SO Bales St. Vincent 2\d. to '25d , with a few 

 St.Kitts 16irf to 19A(/. 



The market is dull and the only enquiry is for cheap 

 cotton round 14(Z. and superior cotton from St. Vincent. 

 The medium grades have recently been quite neglected, and 

 any offers thit spinners may make for these qualities will 

 he in order to put into stock; consequently their ideas will 

 be lower. 



The report of Messrs. Henry W. Frost & Co., on 

 Sea Island cotton in the Southern States, for the week 

 ending July 12, is as follows: — 



Without any sales this week, we have only to report 

 the market hs quiet, and renew our last quotations. 



We quote, viz.: 



Extra Fine 28c. to 29c. = 16rf. to 16W. c.i.f., & 5 per cent. 

 Fully Fine 26c. to 27c. = 14|<f. to 15Jd. „ „ „ „ 

 Fine 25c. = l^d. „ „ „ „ 



ExtraFineotr|24^j^26c. = 13id.tol4|ci 



in preparation / ^ j .. i. 



Fully Fine off i.^., - I2\d 



m preparation J 



Fine off in j ,q^ ^ j^^_ 



preparation J 



This report shows that the total exports of Sea 

 Island cotton from the United States to Liverpool, 

 Manchester and Havre, up to July 12, 1913, were 2,703 

 bales, 6,713 bales, and 4,720 bales, respectively. 



COTTON IN EGYPT. 



In a recent number of the present volume of the A</ri- 

 cultural News (No. 292) were presented interesting particu- 

 lars concerning the object and the work of the Agricultural 

 Bank of Egypt. In the present issue, the information given 

 below regarding tlie cultivation of Egyptian cotton, abstracted 

 from a paper by the Superintendent of the Peradenyia Experi- 

 ment Station, should prove of equal interest to readers of 

 this journal. 



ADAI'T.MilLri V OK COUNTltV VOW. Ki;VPTIAN COTTON. 



There are several factors that are not generally con- 

 sidered by cotton planters in countries other than Egypt, 

 who attempt to grow Egyptian cotton. The first is, that 

 Egyptian cotton may almost be regarded as an exotic, seeing 

 that Egypt is <juite an exceptional country for growing it to 

 perfection, it being a land where neither drought nor flood 

 nor frost occurs. A second consideration is, that the 

 soil is perhaps one of the richest alluvial dejwsits 

 in the world-— rich, brown mud brought down from 

 the Abyesinian mountains by the Nile, and with which 



the land is replenished every year. Thirdly, by the 

 wonderful system of irrigation adopted, the amount of water 

 required by the cotton plants can be gauged to a nicety, 

 and it is of primary importance that the j'oung plants 

 should not have too much at first, and that there should be 

 plenty during the boiling .season; though even then it must 

 be carefully regulated, or over-watering will lead to shedding 

 of the bolls. Fourthly, Egypt has practically no rainfall in 

 the cotton-growing regions, and rain, falling when the cotton 

 is ready for picking, is very detrimental, dashing it to the 

 ground and rotting it. And, lastly, the demand for Egyptian 

 cotton is a limited one, as it is too fine for ordinary commercial 

 purposes, and is generally used mixed with American cotton. 

 The limited demand is especially noticeable in the case of new 

 varieties such as Sakellandes or Nubari, the latter of which is 

 said to be of particular value for the canvas lining of motor-car 

 tyres. Egypt herself can over supply the demand in these 

 special varieties, and it is therefore suggested that any 

 planter wishing to grow Egyption cotton should avoid these 

 and keep to the original and good-all round Mit Afifi. 



PRICE OF COTTON AND RENT OF LAND. 



Although the price obtained for Egyptian cotton is so 

 high, lie. 1 (l.s. \d.) per lb. being paid for first-class Mit Affi 

 on the spot, and for the other varieties, 1.?. iid. and Is. 6(/. 

 per B)., as against 6c? -Id. for American, it is not the fellah 

 or cultivator wlio profits, for the purchase prii;e and rentals 

 of land are very high. For first-class land 2,000 rupees is 

 a moderate price, and as much as 22.5 rupees the rental for 

 one year. Practically there are no private European planters, 

 but there are a few big European land companies, engaged for 

 the most part in reclaiming either the salt, waste land along 

 the seacoast of the Delta, or where the sands have encroached 

 on the good soil. 



On good lands, cotton is generally alternated with 

 either maize, wheat, barley or beans. The fellah does 

 not generally manure his cotton save with a little raanu- 

 rial refuse from his village and cattle sheds, with the 

 mud thrown up in cleaning the canals, or by ploughing in 

 his clover after the first or second cutting. With careful 

 cultivation, however, and provided his crop has been free of 

 insect pests, he can count on obtaining 1,260 Bb. of seed- 

 cotton per acre. But where artificial manures are applied, 

 as much as nearly double that (juantity has been obtained. 



METlIOl" OK CULTIX ATION. 



After the land has been thoroughly ploughed and 

 ridged, the seed is planted in May by hand two thirds up 

 the ridge, eight or ten seeds to a hole, and the distance 

 apart according to the soil, the average being 21 by H feet. 

 About a month after sowing, the young plants should be 

 thinned out, eliminating all small and sickly ones and 

 a species of poor cotton called 'Hindi' or Indian cotton, 

 which is invariably mixed in with the good, leaving only 

 two strong plants in each hole. The plants ilien receive 

 their second watering, the first having taken place directly 

 after sowing the seed —thus a month elapses between the 

 primary waterings. Thereafter the periods decrease in time — 

 twenty-five, twenty, eighteen, and twelve days, respectively. 



fJreat care is exercised not to allow any water to 

 stagnate on the land, as this is fatal to cotton, good drainage 

 being as essential as water; and this one thing Egypt has to 

 watch carefully, lest her soil becomes over irrigated and the 

 subsoil waterlogged. To guard against this, big drainage 

 pumps are now being erected, by which the surplus water 

 is pumped into the sea. 



The above account will be continued in the next issue 

 of the Affriadtural News. 



