SUGAR CANE. 43 



to iiidividiuil cultivators, owned until quite recently the ^renter part 

 of the supir-growini? lands and possessed several factories. Tlu' land 

 under this administration was cultivated chiefly through tenants. 



Considerable areas were leased to large cultivators who grew cane 

 under an auroement to sell tlie produce 1o the administration at. a 

 tixcd pric(^ (genei'ally about lo cents pci" hundred pounds of canes). 

 The leases for cane cultivation were for three years and bound the 

 tenant to one year's fallow, during which it was plowed by the admin- 

 istration at a fixed rate. This was followed by cane for two years. 

 This again was followed by a three years' lease for minor cj-op cultiva- 

 tion, after wliich cane was grown again. The growtli of summer crops 

 was i^rohibited during the intermediate years, but coin was cultivated 

 during the flood seaso)i, this being heavily manured. Th<^ growth of 

 clover was practiced dui'ing the winter, and thus the land was brought 

 into condition for cane again. Small owner pi'oprietors, however, 

 crop their land more intensiv(dy. They numure tlieir cane heavily 

 (while this was prohibited on the Daira lands) and only take one cane 

 crop; that is to say, they do not take a rattoon crop. This is followed 

 by two or three years' ordinary croi)ping with grain crops and clover, 

 when cane is gi-own again. Though a large yield jkm- acre is obtained 

 in this way, yet by applying heavy (quantities of numxire the sugar 

 content is considerably reduced. 



The factories of the Daira Sanieli have been sold to a i)i'ivate com- 

 l)any, and the sugar industry' of Egypt is now jjracticall}" a monopoly 

 in the hands of a French company known as the Societe Generale 

 des Sucreries et de la Raftinerie d'Egypte. This company owns the 

 majority of the factories and may be said to crush practically the 

 whole of the crop, except that employed for the manufacture of 

 molasses in small mills owned by natives and Syrians. 



The rotation employed is either one of four or five years. In the 

 former case cane is grown for two years, followed the next year by a 

 flood and a winter crop, and this again during the fourth year by a 

 fallow in preparation for the next year's cane crop. Since the intro- 

 duction of the growing of beets into Egypt a modification in the rota- 

 tion has been introduced in some i)laces by growing a crop of beets 

 before the fallow, thus making the I'otation a five years' course. 



Steam plows and cultivators, which do most effective work, are 

 employed by the company; but on ordinary" plantations the native 

 plow is used, and four plowings and even more ai'e given with this 

 implement in preparation for the sowing of the crop. The laud is 

 thrown into ridges or beds about 40 inches apart; but native culti- 

 vators allow a less distance than this, generally about 'M) inches. The 

 ridges are made north and south and should have a depth of 15 inches 

 measured from the top of the ri<lge to the bottom of the furrow. The 

 soil at the bottom of the furrow should be well pulverized, and this 



