COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



133 



The areas sown with cotton were given in 1904 as 7,400, in 

 1908 as 18,000, in 1911 as 29,000 feddans. 



The so-called "Suakin" cotton was, until recently, certainly con- 

 siderably inferior to Egyptian in quality ; it was rather coarse and 

 short, and therefore obtained a price per kantar which was El less 

 than that paid for Egyptian. In the year 1909, however, the 

 Government, to which all the land under cotton in the Tokar district 

 belongs, took the matter up energetically, caused the eradication of 

 the old cotton roots before the fresh sowing, distributed good Egyp- 

 tian Mit Afifi seed of a uniform quality, suppressed the use of inferior 

 and mixed seed, and insisted upon careful picking and packing, so 

 that the cotton is now brought into market pure, without sand and 

 dirt, and it secured the same, or sometimes a slightly higher price 

 than Egyptian, although at times there is still mixing with inferior 

 kinds of cotton carried on in the ginning factories. In order to 

 instruct the natives, who cultivate the cotton without European 

 assistance, in rational agricultural methods, the Government has 

 appointed a permanent cotton inspector in Tokar, with a sufficient 

 staff, and has established in various parts of the district three model 

 farms each of 75 feddans. 



It is hoped to increase the present area under cultivation to 

 60,000 feddans by the making of irrigation works, and the controlling 

 of the flood, which, no doubt, will demand careful investigation ; the 

 work will cost about ;E80,0(JO, and would make the construction 

 of a railway about 70 km. long, from Tokar to Suakin, desirable. 

 Private capital has already been offered for a line from Tokar to 

 Trincitat, but the Government refused this offer, principally on the 

 ground that it wished to retain the railway system in the Sudan 

 under its own control. 



In the south-eastern Sudan, where nothing but rain cultivation 

 is possible, wide stretches, which have been opened up by the railway, 

 are, similar to Uganda, very suitable for the growing of American 

 Upland cotton, but, of course, the uncertainty of the rainfall has to 

 be reckoned with. 



The land planted with cotton in the whole 

 according to official figures, was : 



of the Sudan,. 



