378 



[November, 1912. 



8. Buildings and purchase of livestock and implements : houses, barns, 

 sheds, oxen, mules, riding-animals, Decauville rail-road, ploughs, levellers, 

 etc. The most appropriate system of settling requires in Egypt one 

 labourer's cottage for every 100 to 125 acres under crops. There are some 

 comparatively dry districts in which buildings of sun-baked clay will do, 

 but in the Lower Delta burnt bricks have generally to be used. For this 

 reason the cost per acre may be as low as 20s (including houses for the 

 hands, barns, etc.,) or may reach £2 to £4. The laying-down of lines for 

 the Decauville trucks costs 5s. to 20«. according to the metals and trucks 

 used. The rest of the stock, live and dead, does not generally come to 

 more than £ 1 per acre under the plough, that is being cropped or only 

 undergoing improvement. 



9. Upkeep, working, repairs, and sometimes repetition, for certaiu 

 classes of work specified. Expenses of upkeep are required specially for 

 the water-channels, which need yearly or two-yearly attention, coming 

 to 2s. or 3s. per acre. Expenses of working are entailed by the pumps in 

 use on the land under improvement. In general, and excepting rice 

 which requires frequent waterings, the expenses do not exceed 4 to 6s. per 

 acre per annum for each operation of irrigation or artificial drainage. 

 When any land which has been improved is allowed to fall back again 

 owing to bad cultivation, it must be again treated by means of improv- 

 ing crops etc; such repetition costs £1 to £3, 



10. Amortisement, general expenses, taxes and interest before the 

 land comes into full bearing. The charge for amortisement and interest 

 on the plots put out of cultivation for improvement, and which may be 

 worth £20 to £30, is 30 to 40s. per annum ; for land costing, or worth, as 

 much as £50 to £50, and not giving any returns the charge will be 50 to 60s. 

 Land under improvement has to bear expenses of management estimated 

 at 6 to 10s. per acre. The taxes on this land are generally between 2 and 

 5s., or more for certain plots surrounded by "hods " in bearing. 



The work of improvement lasts a variable number of seasons ; in the 

 best conditions two whole years, but it may be even 5 or 7 years before 

 the land can be properly cropped without fear of a rapid falling-off of 

 condition. The whole series of operations enumerated average £20 to £25 

 per acre in favourable cases; but it may make away with £40 to £50 where 

 the improvement is difficult and the fertility low. 



The following are the acreages under the various crops in the Nyasa- 

 land Protectorate :— 



CROP AREAS. 



Acres under culti- 

 vation, 1911. 



Acres under culti- 

 vation, 1912. 



Estimated crop 

 1912 nnginned. 



21,502 



7,542 



4,507 



1,830 



172 



Nyasaland Upland Cotton 

 23,300 

 Egyptian Cotton. 

 755 

 Tobacco. 

 7,411 

 Sisal Hemp. 

 75 



Ceaba Rubber. 

 9,014 



2,809 tons 



8,934 lbs, 



1,514£ tons 



74 



