COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 27 



gallum), further sugar cane, sesame, earth-nuts, castor, onions, 

 garlick, Spanish pepper, tomatoes, artichokes, celery, and other 

 vegetables, cucumbers, marrows, and melons. 



As a commercial crop, and for ready cash, they have the cotton 

 crop. This is the real foundation of to-day's prosperity of the coun- 

 try, and almost its only source of income, as far as international 

 commerce is concerned. One-third to one-half of the available land 

 is put down under cotton, and this area is usually increased, when, 

 during November/December, high prices for cotton rule. 



In the year 1911/1912, of the 7,683,000 feddans of the culturable 

 land in Egypt 3,039,000 feddans were situated in Lower Egypt, 

 2,446,000 in Upper Egypt; altogether 5,285,000 feddans were culti- 

 vated. 2,397,000 feddans were lying fallow. 



The chief products were : 



Cotton 22'42 % 



Maize 23'82 % 



Clover and other cattle food crops 21'58 % 



Wheat 16-70 % 



Broad beans or Ful 6'74 % 



Barley 4'74 % 



Rice * 2-94 % 



Cane sugar .. 0'65 % 



Fruit and vegetables 0'37 % 



100-00 % 



The whole of the culturable lands in Egypt is divided, according 

 to the systems of irrigation, in the two large classes of " Raye " and 

 " Sharaki " lands. 



The " Raye " land is irrigated directly from the Nile flood, and 

 keeps its humidity after the receding of the water until the crops, 

 which grow upon it, are ripe. 



The " Sharaki " land is at too high an altitude to be reached by 

 the Nile floods, therefore it must be irrigated by artificial means. 



" Baali " land is land which will bear fruit apparently without 

 water, i.e., where water penetrates invisibly. 



' Tawalef " is the name given to land which is barren. 



The irrigation and climatic conditions permit a winter, a summer, 

 and an autumn cultivation. 



The winter cultivation, or "el Shitwi," which comprises clover, 

 wheat, beans, lentils, barley, onions, and flax, is the most impor- 

 tant, and can only be used on " Raye " fields. The sowing begins 

 immediately after the receding of the flood, i.e., in the middle of Octo- 

 ber, and is carried out in stages running from north to south, last of 

 all in the Delta, towards the end of December; the corresponding 

 crops are gathered in Upper Egypt in February, in Central Egypt 

 in March, in the Delta in April. Summer cultivation lasts from April 

 to August or October, and can only be used on the Sharaki lands ; it 

 comprises chiefly cotton, rice, maize, and sugar cane, also indigo, 

 millet, cucumbers and vegetables of all kinds, but many of the plants 



