22 NOTES ON EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 



are always left standing together. On an average there are about 

 13,000 holes, as it were, per acre, each with 2 plants, making thus a 

 total of 26,000 plants, while there are often many more on poorer 

 lands. General experience seems to indicate that if too wide plant- 

 ing is adopted there is a reduction in yield, and it would be imi^ossible 

 to find an Egyptian planter who on any class of soil whatever would 

 bed his land more than 34 or 35 inches, and extremely few at that. 

 It is again very rare to find plants as far apart as 19 or 20 inches in 

 the row. The Egyptian cultivator is a believer in close i^lanting, but 

 there is everj^ reason to think that many have gone too far in this 

 direction. 



Beds, then, are much closer than is common in the United States, 

 while on an average the plants are a little farther apart in the row, 

 eliminating the fact that in Egypt 2 plants are left together. The 

 excessive shade and dampness induced by too close planting militates 

 against the production of the finest quality of fiber and encourages 

 at the same time various fungous and insect attacks. Yet it appears 

 to the writer that to adopt such wide distances between the beds as 

 are common in the United States would by loss of plants mean prob- 

 ably a diminished yield. 



It is true that the complete control which the Egyptian cultivator 

 has of his water supply enables him to regulate to a certain extent 

 the development of his plants, but in only too many cases this advan- 

 tage is not employed to the greatest extent, as will be shown subse- 

 quently. 



DATE OF PLANTING COTTON. 



Planting commences as early as the second half of Feln-uary, though 

 March is essentially the month of cotton planting. In the northern 

 part of the Delta it is delaj^ed until April. There are in Egypt no 

 late killing frosts to contend with, but merely short jjeriods of cold 

 and windy weather in early spring, which do considerable harm to the 

 very young cotton plant. There has been, during recent years, a dis- 

 tinct tendency toward early planting, it being contended that during 

 a series of years the largest yields, as well as the best qualities, are 

 produced by early planters. 



Early planted cotton grows more regularly and evenly and does not 

 tend to xiroduce such coarse growth (weed) as that planted late. It 

 also branches better from the bottom. In view of the rainfall to 

 which the American cotton crop is sul)jected, it is interesting to notice 

 the ill effects of rain in the case of Egyptian cotton. Though it may 

 be said that the crop is grown without rainfall, yet during the very 

 early stages of growth, and especially in the case of early sown cot- 

 ton, a shower of rain occasional!}- falls which does considerable harm 

 to the newly sown cotton, especially if the plants have just appeared 

 above the surface of the ground. If they are well established the 



