COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN, 53 



only few have lasted, and they are varieties which came into existence 

 without the assistance of human skill. Man has done nothing else 

 but grown them separately in the fields. 



Most of the varieties are called after the name of their dis- 

 coverer, breeder, or after the place where they were first found. 



The chief commercial varieties within the last century, begin- 

 ning with those descended from the original Mako/Jumel cotton, 

 were the following brownish types : 



)Aschmouni, or Upper Egyptian, called after the place Asch- 

 moun, in the province of Menufieh in Lower Egypt, where it was 

 detected; it supplied from 1863 to 1892 the major quantity of all 

 the Egyptian cotton crop. Its colour is light brown, its staple length 

 29 to 32 mm., ginning outturn about 30 to 32 per cent, of lint, its 

 seed particularly smooth, very rich in oil. Gradually new sorts 

 came up, especially in the Delta, which had a longer, finer, and more 

 silky staple, and gave larger yields. Aschmouni is the oldest kind 

 still in cultivation, but at present it is restricted almost entirely to 

 Upper Egypt and Fayoum, where, in 1911, with 93 per cent, of the 

 cotton cultivation, it is almost exclusively grown, as the soil and 

 the dryness of the air there are particularly suitable for it. In 

 commerce it goes bluntly under the name of " Upper Egyptian." 

 Of all Egyptian varieties it still supplies to-day the second largest 

 crop. 



. Bamiah, or " Bamieh," so-called on account of its similarity 



U' with the habits of the Hibiscus esculentus (Arabian Bamiah), of 

 which it is perhaps a hybrid (?), had formed itself spontaneously 

 in 1876, at Birket-el-Sab in Lower Egypt, and was cultivated there 

 in large quantities from 1878 to 1898. It is a plant up to 3 metres high, 

 of coarse growth, which, however, is less hardy than Mitafifi, and 

 ripens later; its light brown fibre in comparison with Mitafifi is quite 

 as long, but not as fine, and less resisting. For this reason its 

 cultivation, after a lengthy time, decreased steadily, and to-day it is 

 not grown at all ; people also gave it up, because its sturdy growth 

 required plenty of waterings. Its ginning outturn was 32 to 34 per 

 cent. 



The largest portion of to-day's Egyptian cotton crop is made up 



I by Mitafifi, so-called after the village Mit Afif in the province of Menu- 

 y^ 1 fieh, where a Greek merchant first discovered it in the season of 

 ' 1882/83; he became accidentally interested in the seed of this plant 



through the bluish-green downy spot on the seed tips, and after 

 planting this seed he found that this new kind had many advantages 

 over the old Ashmouni from which it had descended. It is more 

 resisting and hardy, ripens unusually early, its colour is darker and 

 richer than the Ashmouni, and is the darkest of the chief varieties, 

 its staple length varies between 29 and 38 mm. ; on an average it is 

 34 mm. The fibre is fine, silky, and very strong ; the yield, in spite 

 of early ripening the largest, even on average soil being 560 to 

 670 kg. of lint per hectare. At the same time the lint is easily 

 picked and ginned, and the difference in the qualities between the 

 first, second, and third pickings is generally less marked than with 

 other Egyptian species. At first the ginning outturn was per 3151bs. 

 of seed cotton 1151bs. of lint, a very high rate, which, 

 after gradual degeneration, went down to 1031bs. Mitafifi is almost 



