MIXISTKY ()K AfilllCULTl III-. EGYPT. 



Bulletin No. 12. 



(FIELD 



KXI'MIM.MKNT WITH FLAX <!1M>\VI\<; 

 AT THi: GOVERNMENT I'AI.'M AT (il'K.MMKI/A. 



The chief sources of the supply of ll;i\ to Kngland and 1'Yance 

 having Keen cut oil' by the Kuropean war. the price- of this product 

 has been so enhanced that it appears worthv of consideration whether 

 in some parts of Kirypt it miirht not prove a profitalile venture to 

 plant the crop on a more extensive scale than has been adopted since 

 the establishment of a specialized col Ion taught the cultivator to con- 

 sider the last-named libre crop the main source of wealth. Previous 

 to the cultivation of cotton on a commercial scale, llax was an im- 

 portant crop, and maiiv looms were found in different parts of Ku'vpt 

 entirely devoted to the \veavi n- of it.* The cultivation of the plant 

 has now almost completely died out, as the ti^ures of the la-t few 

 years' areas show : 



1912-1913=1,;V.^ fed.lnns. 1914-1915= 866 feddans. 



1!)13-1 ( J14= 906 1915- 11)16= 1,1 is 



Whethi-.r the deleterious effect of flax-growing upon the soil, 



which is complained of in some of the northern countries, is felt in 



pt, it has lieen difficult to definitely determine. Habitual flax - 



growers in this country maintain that there is no deterioration, and it 



':i>, .1 Hit I'l. p. 96 (1906) ; I;II;AI:H />, ' /ui'lr. 



XVII. p. I'l 



