PROBLEMS IN CONNECTION WITH COTTON 

 CULTIVATION IN EGYPT. 



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



Consulting Agriculturist to the Ministry of Agriculture, 

 Egypt; Vice-President of the International Asso- 

 ciation for Tropical Agriculture. 



THE unique position which has been attained by Egypt 

 with respect to the cultivation of cotton is chiefly due 

 to the remarkable equality of climatic conditions which 

 prevails and the control which is capable of being exer- 

 cised upon the water supply of the land. 



The area under cotton cultivation has increased fairly 

 steadily during the past ten years, exhibiting the follow- 

 ing proportions with respect to the cultivable lands of 

 the country : 



Year Per cent. 



1904 ... ... ... ... ... 26-7 



1905 ... ... ... ... 28-9 



1906 ... ... ... ... ... 28*0 



1907 ... ... ... ... ... 29-6 



1908 ... ... ... ... ... 30-8 



1909 ... ... ... ... ... 297 



1910 ... ... ... ... ... 307 



1911 ... ... ... ... ... 32-5 



1912 ... ... ... ... ... 32-5 



1913 - 32-6 



If Lower Egypt (including Gizeh) alone be taken into 

 consideration, cotton will be found to represent 42*7 per 

 cent, of the area in that part for 1913. Further expan- 

 sion is checked for some time, owing to the fact that the 

 drainage on certain lands is inefficient. Large tracts 

 exist approximating some of the most productive cotton 

 areas, on which it has been rendered necessary to intro- 

 duce frequently a land-washing crop, such as rice, in 

 order to get rid of the salt which rises to the surface in 

 the subsoil water with the advent of the flood. Without 

 the introduction of such cultivation, the surface soil in 

 these areas speedily becomes impregnated with salt, to 



