MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 485 



possibility of controlling the flood water of the river 

 Baraka, which supplies Tokar with the means of carrying 

 on cotton cultivation. Plans have also been devised 

 for dealing with a somewhat similar stream, the Gash, 

 which has formed a large delta of highly fertile land near 

 Kassala in the Eastern Sudan, eminently suitable for 

 cotton and other crops. 



It is estimated that with better control of the flow of 

 the flood some 80,000 acres might be regularly cultivated 

 at Tokar, and some 200,000 acres at Kassala. 



Over and above these specialised forms of agriculture 

 there is the large problem of improving the primitive 

 methods by which the industry is carried on by the popu- 

 lation in general. Reforms must necessarily be very 

 slow, and the rate of progress is largely a question of 

 staff, to provide instruction and demonstration. Possibly 

 it may be found that some application of dry farming 

 principles will have an important influence on this 

 question. Some small experiments of this kind have 

 been begun. 



The Sudan is singularly fortunate in that cotton and its 

 staple crops represent articles of consumption in world- 

 wide demand. In the opinion of competent authorities 

 they are not likely to suffer from adverse fluctuations 

 in price for many years to come. 



On irrigated estates, the Sudan can produce some of 

 the best long-stapled cotton in the market, and there is 

 no need to enlarge on the prospects of the world's future 

 demand for cotton of this description. 



There is good reason to believe that in other parts of 

 the Sudan, where irrigation is not likely to be available, 

 good long-stapled American cotton can be substituted 

 for the degraded type of Egyptian cotton which the 

 native has been in the habit of growing for centuries 

 as a rain crop. 



Similar market conditions apply to another Sudan 

 product, to which only a brief reference is possible. 



The Sudan is a pastoral as well as an agricultural 

 country, and already reckons the numbers of its cattle, 

 sheep and goats in millions. 



The difficulty which Europe is experiencing in keeping" 



