raises the value of 7,000,000 acres of otherwise valueless land to an average of 

 100 an acre, and perhaps more. 



In Egypt the crop which dominates all agriculture is the cotton crop, and 

 wherever " perennial " irrigation is possible all other crops become subsidiary 

 to it. The area under cotton has risen steadily within recent years. In 1893 

 it was represented by 966,000 acres, and in 1908 by 1,641,000 acres ; in 1893 

 it occupied 15-21 per cent, of the total area under crop, whilst in 1908 it 

 occupied 21-59 per cent, of the same area. There is no doubt, too, that with 

 additional facilities for summer irrigation in Upper Egypt the area under 

 cotton will be still further increased. Within recent years, however, notwith- 

 standing the increase of acreage under cotton, local authorities have been 

 faced with the disquieting feature of steadily decreasing outputs, implying a 

 shrinkage in yields. So serious does the position appear that a special com- 

 mission has been appointed to inquire into the question. Insect pests would 

 appear to have contributed somewhat to this decrease in yields. From what, 

 however, may be observed currently, abuse of irrigation and insufficient 

 attention to drainage would appear to be at the root of the evil. The water 

 supply has apparently been very abundant latterly at critical periods of the 

 ye ar, and the anxious grower has been unable to resist the temptation of giving 

 his plants more water than is good for them, with the result that the soil is abso- 

 lutely sodden and waterlogged, rendering impossible healthy root action. 

 An additional consequence of this excessive irrigation is the appearance of 

 salt patches where they had never been known before. I was at first puzzled 

 to account for the apparent failure of lucerne in Egypt ; I was told that it 

 would not grow in summer. But with land at its maximum of saturation at 

 this time of the year it is not difficult to realise why lucerne should not succeed. 



The Irrigation Department appear to supply ample drainage channels 

 for the removal of the surplus waters. These channels, however, must remain 

 more or less ineffective so long as they are not adequately fed by a huge 

 network of well-kept private drains, drawing off regularly and to a proper 

 depth the salt-laden waters of the sodden fields. The impression one gets, 

 even at this time of the year, is that drainage is very much neglected by the 

 average cultivator ; and that unless energetic measures are speedily put in 

 hand to remedy this defect there will be a still further decrease in cotton 

 yields in the near future. It might be added that it will be well if Australian 

 irrigationists keep these facts steadily in view. 



Next to cotton in importance indeed, excelling it in area, if not in value 

 comes the maize crop, which in 1908 occupied 23-69 per cent, of the area 

 under crop. It is grown very largely as a catch crop late in the summer, 

 either after wheat or more frequently after late clover. 



In third rank comes the Berseem or Egyptian clover (Trifolium Alexan- 

 drinum), of which there appear to be several local varieties. Although it is 

 mainly grown as a catch crop, it is in many respects the stand-by of the 



