-3- 



the autumn of 1919 probably did not amount to as much as ten 

 per cent of the total. 



Throughout all these campaigns the fellahm showed a disastrous 

 and increasing tendency to knock the bolls off on to the ground 

 instead of picking them and burning them. This is undoubtedly 

 worse than doing nothing at all, as if the bolls are left on the sticks 

 they may be burnt before the following summer or the worms in them 

 may be parasitized, whereas when the bolls are knocked on the ground 

 the chances of burning are entirely removed and the chances of 

 parasitization reduced. This practice was extraordinarily difficult to 

 check and became so widespread that the campaigns may actually 

 have done harm instead of go6d. This view is confirmed by the 

 following facts. At the end of the 1916 campaign the present writer, 

 judging by his own inspections and discussions with Mr. Ballou, 

 would have put the provinces of Lower Egypt in the following order 

 as regards the efficiency with which the cotton sticks had been cleaned. 

 Minufiya, Qalyubiya, Sharqiya, Gharbiya, Daqahliya, Beheira. The 

 following year the average infestation during the period July 12 to 

 September 13 was as follows : 



Minufiya 56 per cent. 



Qalyubiya 46 



Sharqiya 43 



Gharbiya 35 



Daqahliya 38 



Beheira' 31 



These differences may have been due to climatic or other factors 

 as the Southern Delta has always been more heavily attacked than 

 the Northern, but the fact remains that the boll worm in 1917 was 

 worst in those provinces in which the cotton sticks were cleanest in 

 1916. It should be carefully noted, however, that this is not the same 

 thing as saying those provinces in which most bolls were burnt. 



One can say therefore with absolute justice that boll-picking as 

 a means of controlling the pink boll worm has never been given a 

 fair trial in the country at large. However, in order to test the effect 

 of this control measure when properly applied, the Ministry decided 

 in '1917 to carry out as ideal a campaign as possible in a limited area 

 for several years in succession and by me;ins of boll counts to watch 

 the results. The Wadi Tumilat, i.e. the cultivated area alongside 

 the Ismailia Canal from Abu Hammad to Qassassin, was selected for 

 this purpose as being well isolated from other cotton cultivation. An 

 intensive campaign was carried out on the gum system devised by 

 Mr. Shepherd and described in Mr. Ballou's report. Under this 

 system the cotton sticks, instead of being stripped of their bolls while 

 still standing in the fields, are brought to a central yard or gurn in 



