128 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



oxen and implements in order to level the country, or if the soil is 

 heavy it is worked first by the steam ploughs belonging to the Com- 

 pany. The cultivation may then begin and the tenants receive advances- 

 every fortnight in proportion to the quantity and quality of their work. 

 These advances are made on account of the crop that is to be 

 gathered. No interest is charged on these crop advances, as it is 

 intended to encourage the tenant in every way possible and in order 

 to make him prosperous. That tenant who can show the largest 

 yield per feddan in any year receives a premium of 5. The first 

 large shipment of cotton from the Zeidab plantation in 1909 proved 

 conclusively that Egyptian cotton of excellent quality can be grown 

 in the Sudan. For this cotton $1 above the usual Egyptian contract 

 grade was paid. 



The land of the Company is not situated directly on the rich 

 silt soil near the banks of the Nile. That has been taken up in most 

 places by the natives, and is cultivated by them either with the help 

 of the Nile^ood or by means of primitive water-lifts. The land of the 

 Company is behind these native farms, further up in the interior ; 

 it is owned as " Karoo " by the Government, and the Nile water 

 must be pumped on to it. For the irrigation purposes there are 

 four 30in. pumps, one main canal of 6 k.m. in length and 10 m. 

 in width, and about 400 km. of contributory canals. The high price 

 of coal in the Sudan causes the expenses for the pumping station to- 

 be very high. 



For the ginning of the crop, the British Cotton Growing Asso- 

 ciation sold to the Company 10 gins and a hydraulic bale press of 

 250 tons. 



In the planting season of 1909, 720 feddans were planted with 

 cotton in Zeidab. These gave on an average l,3001bs. of seed cotton 

 = 4001bs. of lint which were sold in Alexandria at 30 P.T. to 40 P.T. 

 higher than " Egyptian fully good fair," whilst the seed realised 

 per ardeb. The yield per feddan was therefore : 



4001bs. lint at E6 per lOOlbs. = _,,.-, 



9201bs. seed at \ per ardeb = E 3i J ' ~ &** 



In 1909, the Zeidab Syndicate obtained the option to buy a far 

 larger estate adjoining the present concession, and also to supply 

 the water from the pumping station for 1,400 feddans of neighbour- 

 ing land belonging to the natives, in the hope that this trial on a 

 co-operative basis would be welcomed by the natives, and to further 

 stimulate private initiative in this direction, and finally to cause an. 

 entire disappearance of the ineffective lift-wheels. 



In 1910, the Syndicate took over further 5,000 feddans of land r 

 and of the 12,000 feddans which are now owned by them 3,270 are 

 under cotton, about 3,000 under wheat, and about 2,500 under 

 leguminous crops. 



The budget for the average tenant with 10 feddans of cotton land 

 works out as follows : 



