The PRESIDENT : Gentlemen I am now going to ask Lord 

 Kitchener to preside at this meeting. We welcome him not 

 merely as a great soldier and as a great Imperialist, not only 

 as His Majesty's representative in a country where agriculture 

 is of the first importance, but I think I may say we also 

 welcome him, as the owner of an estate in British East Africa, 

 and therefore as a brother agriculturist in the tropics. 



Field-Marshal Earl KITCHENER then took the chair, and the 

 following papers were read : 



PROBLEMS IN CONNECTION WITH COTTON CULTIVATION IN 



EGYPT. 



By GERALD C. DUDGEON, F.E.S., 1 



Consulting Agriculturist to the Ministry of Agriculture, 

 Egypt; V ice-President of the International Association 

 for Tropical Agriculture. 



[ABSTRACT.] 



The area under cotton in Egypt has increased annually until 

 32*6 per cent, of the total cultivable lands are under that crop. 



Extension of the cotton area is limited, owing to the in- 

 sufficient drainage of the lands in many parts rendering it 

 compulsory to frequently introduce reclamation crops such as 

 rice. The difficulties occasioned by the incompleteness of the 

 original drainage scheme have made the position, with regard 

 to the undrained lands, almost impossible of amelioration. 

 The salt lands in the north are capable of reclamation, but the 

 work is at present delayed owing to the low Nile, and in any 

 case the lands are not expected to yield large crops of cotton. 



The increase of cotton areas has occasioned a correspond- 

 ing decrease in food-grain areas, the importance of which is 

 demonstrated by a table of production and value. About 95 

 per cent, of the food grain used in the country is grown in 

 the country itself, in spite of the large areas under cotton, 

 thus showing the great fertility of Egyptian soil. 



Although small effect has been yet caused by the intro- 

 duction of cotton into a rotation of two instead of three years 

 as previously, it is not recommended to increase this fre- 

 quency, which will result in a diminution of food crops, and a 

 probable deterioration in the yield of cotton itself. 



1 Read in the absence of the author by Dr. L. H. Gough, of the 

 Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. 



