62 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



degeneration of cotton, and consists chiefly in the pruning and graft- 

 ing of cotton stems with young shoots from the same mother plant. 



The price for seed varies, of course, very much ; cotton seed suitable 

 only for the manufacture of oil, costs, in Alexandria, about 80 P.T. to 

 90 P.T. ; selected Mitafifi seed for sowing purposes is sold by the 

 Government to small holders at 105 P.T. J. Planta & Co. asked for 

 Assili seed at first 300 P.T. per ardeb, an exceptional price, which 

 could, of course, only be obtained for the small quantities when the 

 seed made its first appearance in the market. At the end of 1912 

 Assili seed was sold already at only 20 P.T. more than the seed of the 

 other Delta varieties. The suggestion, that for the sale of cotton 

 seed a special Government license be required, seems quite feasible. 



THE CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 



Okre and Bikre Cultivation. Since olden times cotton was 

 cultivated in Egypt, where it seldom freezes, on the Okre 

 system, which means in perennial cultivation, and after 

 picking, about the end of November, the whole of the side branches 

 of the cotton plant were cut off and the main stem was cut back 

 to about 20 cm. or 60 cm. from the soil. The fields were allowed to lie 

 fallow until the end of March, they were then watered, arid shortly 

 afterwards new shoots sprung up from the main stem. The soil 

 was then treated in the usual way, relatively early crops were 

 obtained, and the cost of tilling was also saved, but it was 

 impossible to grow different crops on the same soil in the same 

 year ; at the most, a few vegetables were planted between the rows. 

 The scientists who accompanied the expedition of Bonaparte found, 

 at the end of the eighteenth century, cotton in Upper Egypt which 

 had been growing for 10 years ; they state that in the autumn the 

 dry branches were broken off and the plant would shoot out again 

 in the next spring ; only during the first two or three years Bamiah 

 (Hibiscus esculentus) and other vegetables were cultivated between 

 the cotton at the same time. From then to the tenth year cotton 

 was grown alone without a catchcrop. With the introduction of 

 the Jumel cotton the Okre cultivation was reduced to three years, 

 the yield of the second and third year was larger in quantity but 

 lower in quality; the plants were therefore pulled up after the third 

 crop. 



It was only by gradual stages that the fellaheen adopted the 

 Bikre cultivation, which has now been almost exclusively used in 

 Egypt for about 20 years, and is the system of sowing cotton 

 annually. It was already in use in the Delta at the time of the 

 expedition of Bonaparte. 



The changing from the " Okre " to " Bikre " cultivation marks 

 the third milestone in the history of Egyptian cotton cultivation. As 

 first milestone may be considered the introduction by Mohammed All 

 of rational cultivations on a large scale, and as second the increase 

 of the culturable areas through the construction of irrigation canals, 

 the next step will have to be the systematic manuring. 



The preparation (tilling) of the soil may be carried out on the 

 large Domains in the Delta more carefully and more intensively 

 with steam ploughs, and undoubtedly more attention is paid there 

 to the use of the best seed, proper time of sowing, and the frequent 



