November, 1909.] 



405 



Fibres. 



Rotation of Crops.— One of the chief 

 defects of Bast African cultivation is 

 the want of system of rotation of crops 

 to maintain and restore the fertility of 

 the soil. 



At present we have practically no 

 supplementary crops to use in rotation 

 with cotton, if we except groundnuts. 



Every endeavour is being made to 

 induce growers to adopt a system of 

 rotation, and groundnuts especially 

 would answer the purpose, and have 

 been recommended. ■ 



The leafy material should be buried as 

 soon as convenient after the crop has 

 been gathered. Treated in this way it 

 soon decomposes and greatly benefits 

 the soil. 



Without such assistance the land is 

 like a whip to a willing horse, becoming 

 weaker through overwork. 



Practices doubtless vary in different 

 parts of the Colony, although they are 

 mainly conducted on the exhaustion 

 principle. 



In Egypt Bersim or Egyptian Clover 

 is the great leguminous forage crop, and 

 what that country would do without it, 

 it is difficult to conjecture. 



The Cotton of Egypt is famous for its 

 quality and yield, but to a large extent 

 to the excellent physical and chemical 

 condition of the soil, produced and 

 maintained by the extensive cultivation 

 of Bersim. 



Labour. — There is practically no skilled 

 labour, but with the crude system of 

 cultivation in force it meets require- 

 ments. 



At certain times of the year it is 

 difficult to find sufficient labour — the 

 commercial development of East Africa 

 and the numerous improvements which 

 are being effected attracted a consider- 

 able amount of labour which would 

 otherwise be employed in Agriculture, 

 and a rise in price of labour has taken 

 place during the past two years, which 

 is likely to continue in the future. 



Seed Selection and Seed. for Planting.— 

 Specially selected imported seed has 

 been for past two seasons placed at the 

 disposal of planters and natives without 

 charge, but this system cannot continue 

 indefinitely. 



The British East Africa Corporation 

 have expended large sums in importing 

 seed from Egypt, but now every endea- 

 vour mast be made to enable us to be- 

 come self-supporting. 



The selection of good seed for sowing 

 is as it were the very starting point in 

 the successful raising of crops. 



No farm practice is attended with 

 more beneficial results, and this is even 

 more true in the case of the cotton plant. 



That selection is one of the most im- 

 portant factors in the improvement of 

 any plant is undoubted. 



Much of this work in England is 

 carried on by the Seed Merchant class, 

 which is entirely wanting in East Africa. 



These merchants are specially qualified 

 by profession to meet the requirements 

 of land-owners, by supplying them with 

 pure strains of any variety of farm seeds, 

 and thus cultivators, if not satisfied 

 with the strain of their own produce 

 can purchase from such merchants the 

 seed they require. 



These merchants are in fact experts, 

 who devote the whole of their energies 

 to the production of suitable varieties 

 of seeds, and carry on a work which is 

 beyond the scope of the ordinary 

 cultivator. 



As far as Cotton seed is concerned in 

 East Africa; we are now entirely depend- 

 ent on the owners of ginning establish- 

 ments, and to obtain absolutely pure 

 seed is an impossibility at present, what- 

 ever price one may be prepared to pay 

 for it. 



The remedy is the establishment of 

 seed selection farms on the alluvial soils 

 of the Coast, and to aim at, (1) longer 

 staple, (2) uniformity in length of fibre, 

 (3) strength of fibre, (4) a greater yield in 

 lint and seed. 



It may be noted casually that hardly 

 a century ago English farmers were most 

 ignorant of what science could do for 

 them. During the period of some twenty 

 years, early in the 19th century, great 

 progress was made and has been 

 continued. 



We may possibly look in time for a 

 similar record of progress in East Africa 

 in seed growing and in other agri- 

 cultural improvements. 



Ginners.— Starting in 1906 with one 

 Ginnery of six gins, generously placed 

 at the disposal of the Agricultural 

 Department by the British Cotton 

 Growing Association, the British East 

 Africa Corporation have now three 

 Ginneries established and working 

 twenty-five gins, and further develop- 

 ment in this direction is contemplated. 



It may be mentioned here that by 

 order of the Directors of the British 

 East Africa Corporation the writer was 

 deputed to proceed to Egypt with 

 a view of collecting information, which 

 would prove beneficial to East African 

 cotton growers, and the trip was in 

 every way a successful though costly one, 



