COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 125 



The cottons grown recently from Egyptian seed, such as Ash- 

 mouni, Afifi, Abbassi, Nubari, Joanovitch, and Sakeilaridis are con- 

 siderably better than the indigenous kinds of the Sudan. The 

 staple is longer and finer in every case than " fully good fair Egyp- 

 tian," and the results obtained with Egyptian seed justify the expec- 

 tation that the Sudan will, at some later period, be able to produce 

 large quantities of cotton of a quality approaching the Egyptian 

 kinds. It is quite possible that in the course of years a special local: 

 variety may develop itself in the Sudan. Afifi and Nubari seem to 

 have given the best results. Unfortunately, Hindi cotton has been 

 introduced with the Egyptian seed, and in some districts this Hindi is 

 becoming very prevalent. 



The natives so far have not taken generally to the Egyptian kinds 

 because the low indigenous varieties, which suffice quite well to their 

 requirements, necessitates less care in the cultivation. But the women 

 who do the spinning have already found the great advantage which 

 the long-stapled Egyptian cotton has, and this fact should lead to- 

 the general introduction of Egyptian kinds. In most cases, cotton 

 cultivation is not carried on as a pure cultivation, but as a mixed 

 cultivation. Due to laziness and conservative principles, and in 

 order not to suffer too much from a failure of one crop, the natives 

 sow, according to ancient methods, together with cotton, other field 

 crops, as Durra, lentils, &c. The provinces of Wadi Haifa, Dongola, 

 Berber, and Sennar report that the natives find the cultivation of 

 wheat, barley, and vegetables frequently more remunerative than, 

 that of cotton. 



Experiments have also been made with American Upland varie- 

 ties, and as regards quantity and quality of the yield they have shown 

 very satisfactory results. These might be considered in some dis- 

 tricts where the cultivation of Egyptian cotton is excluded. 



As far back as 1899 Lord Kitchener distributed cotton seed irr 

 Berber and Khartoum. The Sudan Government established a cotton 

 trial farm at Shendi, and took various steps in order to promote the 

 cultivation of cotton ; for instance, it distributed free seed, published 

 in English and Arabic circulars which explained the best methods of 

 cultivation of cotton, and granted certain advantages to Egyptian- 

 settlers in order to indemnify them in this way for the lack of experi- 

 enced agricultural labour, by placing at their disposal land, water- 

 wheels, agricultural implements, and cattle at very favourable con- 

 ditions. 



The experiments on the Government farm at Shendi in the 

 province of Berber showed that cotton does as well, whether sown in 

 September/October, after the floods of the Nile, or in March /April, as 

 in Egypt, or in June /July, before the high flood. Every one of these 

 three planting periods offers certain advantages. Generally speaking, 

 the period of growth of cotton in the Sudan, corresponding with 

 the higher temperature, is slightly shorter than in Egypt. The 

 proper time for sowing is governed in the first place by the possibili- 

 ties of irrigation, and it is therefore different in some parts of the 

 country. In fact, experiments in this respect have not yet been com- 

 pleted in all parts of the country. 



On the banks of the Nile, north of Khartoum, in the province of 

 Berber, the sowing is generally undertaken in May and June, and the 



