34 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



are not sown so closely together as is mostly the case at present. 

 Fifty per cent, of the seed of the first picking from these demonstra- 

 tion farms are supplied to the Government for distribution. 



Among the publications of the Department are : ' ' The Agri- 

 cultural Journal of Egypt," a monthly review on the state of the 

 crops, widely circulated bulletins on questions of agriculture with 

 special reference to cotton. One of the latter was put into every 

 sack of cotton-seed sold to small holders, and another, dealing with 

 the campaign against the cotton pests, was publicly read out in the 

 villages. 



It is said that in 1913 the Agricultural Department is to be 

 formed into an independent Agricultural Ministry. It is a deplorable 

 fact that a great deal of petty jealousy, which is hardly concealed, 

 exists between the Agricultural Department and the Khedivial Agri- 

 cultural Society, and this, of course, renders the much required 

 co-operation between the two very difficult. 



Estimates of the Crops. The General Produce Association of 

 Alexandria sends at the end of each month an enquiry sheet with 

 questions to their correspondents up-country, and their answers, 

 together with private information of the members of the committee, 

 form the basis for the public reports as to condition of the plants, the 

 weather, the insect plague, and irrigation. The first estimate of the 

 crop, in figures, is issued in their report of the first week of Novem- 

 ber, and the December report is the final estimate. 



As the reports of the planters are frequently untrue and are 

 influenced by their personal interests, and as even the reports of the 

 local authorities leave much to be desired, it is evident that statistics 

 formed on such a basis cannot be relied upon, and the value of these 

 statistics of the Alexandria General Produce Association is therefore 

 questionable. 



The Survey Department publishes daily weather reports and 

 monthly reports on the water conditions of the Nile ; it also reported 

 du'ring two years as to the cultivated areas, but this latter work has 

 been unfortunately discontinued on account of the cost. The only 

 census of cultivated areas is carried out by the Serrafs or the land- 

 tax collectors, but not much confidence can be placed in their method. 



The Agricultural Department of the Ministry of Finance 

 publishes also monthly reports in percentages on the condition of the 

 crops ; in these the comparative number of 100 is taken, to mean the 

 average crop of the last 10 years. 



Lastly, the Director-General of Statistics sends once per year an 

 enquiry form relating to the development of the crop to his corre- 

 spondents. 



Meanwhile, the new Agricultural Department has developed its 

 own statistical methods and issues, in combination with the Statistical 

 Office of the Ministry of Finance, since October, 1912, monthly 

 circulars which give particulars of the development of the Egyptian 

 cotton crop from the sowing to the foreign consumption. The 

 method of calculation at present employed, which is based on the 

 quantity of seed sold and the output of the ginneries, gave so far 

 results which were differing remarkably from the estimates made 

 by the tax collectors. 



