30 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



India ; it \vas formerly extensively practised in Egypt, but since 1862 

 has been given up by all intelligent farmers, and at present is as 

 little in use as in North America. Cotton is mostly planted by itself, 

 and even the growing of vegetables and melons has disappeared 

 everywhere since the perennial cultivation of cotton has been given 

 up. 



Draught Animals. Oxen and buffalos are used as agricul- 

 tural draught animals ; in Upper Egypt oxen and camels. The usual 

 daily performance of a ploughing team is about half a feddan ; it is 

 estimated that 10 feddans of land can be worked in one year by 

 one team. 



The agricultural implements used by the fellaheen are still of a 

 very primitive kind, they are the hand-hoe or " fass " and the old 

 ancient " Belledi " plough, from the times of the Pharaohs; it is 

 nothing else but a kind of a scraping pole with a two metres long 

 beam, on which the draught animals are harnessed, in a yoke ; the 

 end of the scraper which goes into the soil has a crooked piece of 

 wood fastened on, which ends in three iron points. This piece is 

 pushed into the soil before the animals begin to draw, and the 

 ploughing has more the effect of loosening the soil than ploughing it 

 up in furrows. As a matter of fact, this wheelless frame is more like 

 a one-spiked cultivator. But it hardly costs 20 piastres, does not re- 

 quire repairing or upkeep, no lubricating, no grinding of the blade, no 

 setting up of its parts, -and these are all important points for the 

 fellah. This native plough is well suited to the Egyptian soil ; a 

 modern plough specially adapted for Egypt does not seem to exist 

 yet, and this may account to a great extent for the disinclination of 

 the fellah to use a European plough. The few foreign ploughs that 

 are employed so far are mostly English. 



Other Egyptian agricultural implements are the following : The 

 " Kassabia " serves for levelling, it is a sort of sledge; for the 

 levelling of the upper surface the " Zahaffa," a simple wooden beam 

 upon which the driver stands, is drawn over the field by oxen, and 

 may be said to take the place of our harrow or light rollers. Some- 

 times this harrow is substituted by the " Kumfud," which is a roller 

 covered with iron spikes. For forming ridges the " Battana," a kind 

 of sledge-like wooden frame, 90 cm. long, is used. 



. However simple and ancient the Egyptian methods seem, the 

 experience which the fellah has gained with them, through using 

 them for thousands of years, have made him to be a cultivator who, 

 on an average, is hardly less advanced than some of those of the 

 more progressive European nations. 



On the large plantations we find in the place of the old Egyptian 

 plough, locomotives, steam ploughs, and agricultural machines of all 

 kinds. In 1862 the first rather unsatisfactory steam plough of 

 Fowler came into Egypt, and Mr. Max Eyth deserves great credit 

 for its introduction and improvement; he became later the founder 

 of the German Agricultural Society. From 1863 to 1866 he was the 

 chief engineer to the Prince Halim Pasha, and his letters on his experi- 

 ences during this period are very amusing. Next to Fowler the firm 

 of Clarens, Ltd., of London, supplied many steam ploughs of excel- 

 lent quality. A steam plough of Clarens, Ltd., of 16 h. p. costs 

 ;E3,000, does the work of 70 oxen, and uses one ton of coal per 



