419 



not has yet to be proved. Mr, Joseph Gibbs, a most intelligent writer upon the 

 subject,* states the yield to be, under Arab cultivation, nearly equal to that of 

 American plantations, acre by acre, and this comparison is with our green-seed, not 

 our sea-island plantations. And what Arab cultivation was may be inferred from 

 the f(dlowing statements : "At present all the cultivation is similar to that prac- 

 ticed in the time of the Pharaohs, except upon the model farms belonging to the 

 Pacha. It may be said that in Egypt there are no ploughs, properly so under- 

 stood, except such as were used in the time of the Pharaohs, and which consist 

 of a great beam of wood with one upright handle, and a wooden shoe to tear 

 up the ground, wliich is only done in alternate furrows, leaving one-half alto- 

 gether unploughed." If such a croj) — that is, a crop equal in quantity to ours, 

 acre per acre — could be produced in 1862 by such cultivation, it will be well 

 worth while to make the experiment with this seed upon our bottom lands, and 

 with better methods. Although a black-seed variety, and similar in many re- 

 spects to our sea-island, it does not seem to require, like that, the saline manures 

 or the conditions of climate found upon our coast islands. On the contrary, 

 some of the very best cotton is raised upon plantations in Upper Egypt culti- 

 vated by irrigation. 



Since Mr. Gibbs wrote upon the subject a great improvement has taken place 

 in the cultivation, partly under the direction of the Pacha, who is, probably, 

 the largest and most successful cultivator of cotton in the world, but to a greater 

 extent from the introduction of a large amount of European capital, the use of 

 steam-ploughing, and of better methods of irrigation. 



In a report made in 1S63 by Mr. Wm. S. Thayer, our former consul, I find the 

 method of cultivation stated as follows : 



"In planting, the method found by experience to be the best is to sow the 

 cotton every year and to rotate the crops. The ploughing begins very early iu 

 the spring ; about the middle of March the land is irrigated, and after it becomes 

 sufEciently dry it is tilled, and sown early in May. (^n some estates the land is 

 tilled four times before and four times after irrigation ; the plants are watered 

 as many as four times during their growth, and are weeded every thirty days. 

 As a rule, but not invariablj', manure is not used, the Nile being the sole fer- 

 tilizer. Three cantars (the can tar is 100-^^^ pounds) are a fair average yield 

 per acre, but sometimes six, seven, and even eight are attained." 



This statement gives product of clean cotton. 



In 1841 the average net income of an Arab laborer was about two and 

 a half pence, or five cents per diem ; but owing to the great stimulus arising 

 from the increased price of cotton, wages have risen, and, as nearly as I can 

 ascertain from Mr. Thayer's statements, amounted in 1863 to twenty to twenty- 

 five cents per day in gold. 



Mr, Thayer gives a statement of the cost of raising cotton as follows : 



" I subjoin here what I have reason to believe a statement of the exact cost 

 of cultivating a single aci-e with cotton. It is furnished me by a successful 

 planter at Mansanah, in Lower Egypt, but the items are upon a scale of expense 

 considerably larger than is necessary in some of the other districts : 



Land tax, or rent paid to government 110 piastres. 



Ploughing 50 " 



Irrigation 60 " 



Seed 20 



Hoeing 100 " 



Picking 100 " 



Ginni!!<:: 40 " 



480 



Cotton Cultivation, by Joseph Gibbs. London, 1862. 



