12ti COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



picking from November to February. It is necessary to be governed 

 in this direction according to the time during which the Sudan is 

 allowed to take water, i.e., from the 15th July to the end of Febru- 

 ary, although one runs the risk that the minimum temperatures, 

 which are at times very low, in December and January, may influ- 

 ence very unfavourably the growing and ripening of the plant. 

 Cotton cultivation is in these districts, therefore, a lottery. .One year 

 it may turn out very well, and the next be a complete failure. 



On the White Nile, near Khartoum, sowing is generally done in 

 July, when the Nile has already risen ; three pickings are made before 

 it reaches its low level in February. 



On the Blue Nile we met, up to the town of Sennar, frequent 

 cultivations along the banks, the fields being irrigated by means of 

 M Saquias. " From there the villages and settlements extend right up 

 to the White Nile, and the fields of Durra follow in an uninterrupted 

 line for miles along the banks of the river. In going towards the 

 south, the cultivation becomes gradually less, and the population 

 sparse, in spite of the rich soil. Even along the banks the popula- 

 tion is not very numerous. In the south of the Sennar province, 

 where cotton is grown with the help of the rainfall, the sowing is 

 done in October after the rains, and the crop is being picked in 

 February and March. 



On the Dinder river cotton is sown in July when the first rains 

 are falling, in the flood-beds of the river, and four months later the 

 first picking is made. In good years 4001bs. to l,0001bs. of seed 

 cotton are taken from one feddan. 



In Tokar sowing is carried out according to the arrival of the 

 flood, which varies from August to October, and the crop is 

 accordingly from January to May. 



The British Cotton Growing Association has also assisted the 

 cotton growing experiments of the Sudan, although, owing to lack 

 of funds, was not able to take, until recently, an active part in the 

 development. By their request, Carver Bros. & Co., a large cotton 

 firm in Alexandria, sent, in 1904, buyers to the Sudan for the direct 

 purchase of cotton from the planters against cash payment at 40 P.T. 

 per kantar indigenous, and 60 P.T. for Egyptian cotton, dry and 

 clean picked, and free railway station. In later years it was arranged 

 that no indigenous kinds of cotton should be bought by them, and 

 this should be left for the consumption in the Sudan. The purchases 

 were to be only for the Egyptian kinds grown in the Sudan, at a 

 promised average price of 66 P.T. per kantar for unginned cotton, 

 and 200 P.T. per kantar for ginned cotton, which was to be ginned in 

 the new ginning station adjoining the workshops of the Gordon 

 College in Khartoum and Kassala. These prices were not very high, 

 but they showed to the different planters, nevertheless, the possibility 

 of a ready sale of the cotton, and in order to further encourage 

 cultivation Messrs. Carver & Co. promised to the native chiefs a cash 

 premium of H P.T. for every kantar of cotton grown from Egyptian 

 seed which was brought to the market in the district of the chief. 



Trie Sudanese kantar of seed cotton is not calculated on the saTne 

 basis as in Egypt, at 3151bs. , but only at 100 Rottls of 449 grammes. 



