28 NOTES ON EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 



large growers can find sufficient manure to apply as much as 15 tons 

 per acre, especially so as a greater proportion of the land is now 

 under cotton. It may be assumed, however, that under the ordinary 

 circumstances of successful agriculture 15 tons per acre are employed. 



The manure is certainly not covered as deeply as in America, the 

 use of the native plow after its distribution over the land resulting 

 in its being buried to a trifling depth oulj'. The irrigation water 

 employed tends to wash the valuable ingredients of the manure down 

 into the soil; furthermore, in Egypt great importance is attached to 

 the feeding of the cotton plant during the early stages of growth, and 

 opinion would be rather opposed to burying the manure as deeply as 

 is practiced in the cotton States of America. It is again laid down 

 as a rule that the manure should be old; that is, should have been in 

 the heap for some time. The use of fresh stable manure causes rank 

 growth, late maturitj^ and an inferior fiber. 



Though great importance is attached to the use of stable manure, 

 the best results are not, as a rule, obtained when large quantities 

 are used without the api)lication of chemical manures. The basis of 

 the mixture of chemical manures employed is superphosphate. About 

 400 j)ounds per acre of this substance are applied, the quality in com- 

 mon use being that which contains 16 to 18 per cent of soluble phos- 

 phoric acid. It is found that this substance exercises a most beneficial 

 effect on the crop. It checks the tendency to coarse growth, and thus 

 encourages ripening, while it greatly improves the quality of the fiber. 

 It is generally considered that the best results are obtained when this 

 manure is applied previous to the sowing of the crop. The use of 

 basic slag as a substitute for sui^erphosphate has not been attended 

 with satisfactory' results, the more soluble forms of phosphoric acid 

 being preferred. 



While phosphoric acid is the basis of the mixture of manure 

 employed, it is universally conceded that the application of soluble 

 nitrogenous manures during the early stages of growth is most bene- 

 ficial. It is found that the cotton plants require pushing when j^oung, 

 and that though there may be theoretically quite sufficient nitrogen 

 in the stable manure applied, it does not act as earl}' as is advisable; in 

 fact, when large quantities are applied it causes growth at too late a 

 period, and consequent harm. Some few j^ears since, when the idea 

 gained ground that the question of the manuring of cotton merited 

 more attention than had been given to it in the past, some excellent 

 cultivators, by the addition of large quantities of organic manures 

 produced cotton of poorer quality than they had growu previously 

 with a less liberal application. 



The question whether nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia is 

 the most suitable substance to employ as the basis of nitrogenous 

 manuring, or whether a mixture of the two is advisable, has been 

 made the subject of many experiments. There were those who 



