The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-03
COTTON IN EGYPT.
Conditions and Prices Which Cover
 the Staple in That Country.

Conditions and Prices Which Govern the Staple in That Country. Brooklyn Eagle.
 The sowing of cotton begins generally
 about the 18th of February in Upper
 Egypt and terminates in the first fort
 night of April in the most northerly
 provinces of Lower Egypt; occasionally in exceptional years the sowing is con tinued right up to the end of April, with out any prejudice to the crop In Upper
 Egypt the harvest begins about August 10 and in the delta between September 5 and 10, and by the end of November. even in the later or most northerly dis tricts, the season is regarded as over. The crop consists of three pickings the first representing about 50 per cent Of the total yield, which is, of course, the
 best quality obtained; in the second.
 about 70 per cent is gathered. and finally
 in the third picking the remainder. which is generally of inferior quality, is re- moved
 To better explain the method of selling cotton in the Interior. the various culti- vators should be classed under three categories, namely. the native cultiva- tors. the small propriators and the large land owners. who cultivate on a big scale. The small native cultivators bring
 their cotton to the nearest market, as soon as 1t is picked, but sometimes. in cases where the land Is rented, they sell
 their cotton to the proprietors. The cul- tivators of the second class are in bet ter position to look after their own in- | terests Unless they have previously
 disposed of their cotton to the money
 lenders in the summer they store 1t and
 await the arrival of the brokers, who go
 around the villages and sell 1t to them on the spot either harvest by harvest
 or the whole crop Sometimes these eul- l tivators obtain money advances from | the local buyers on the understanding that the latter have the preference al
 the time of selling. It very often hap. | pens that the inhabitants of one village
 or the members of one family, combine | and dispose of their cotton to one single buyer and this system usually secures | them better conditions. The large pro- prietors have every opportunity of dis
 posing of their cotton at best advan-
 tage to themselves. as. with the growina spirit of competition among the buyers
 they are afforded every facility to do SO
 Many of the large firms operating in the
 interior have their own gins and a num- | Der of them who export their own cot
 ton have steam presses to prepare the
 bales for shipment.
 It Is estimated that half the crop comes
 from the interior for account of the ex- porters and IS pressed eitner Dy steam
 ar hydraulic power. The other half is
 sent to Alexandria to be sold. All the l hydraulically pressed bales have to be pressed again by steam before shipping.
 The average weight of bale of cotton | hydraulicalIy pressed is about 1-2 can tars (Ss3 poundH), and one pressed by steam weighs from 1-2 to 3-4 cantars C734 to 76S pounds). At Alexandria the
 cotton is sold net, with an allowance of
 one-half of 1 per cent for humidity and
 sample The cost of weighing and sell
 ing brokerage are defrayed by the seller.
 The cotton is sold on a sample drawn
 by the seller. but the final fixing of the
 price only takes place when the buyer has seen a general sample drawn by his own men and considers this sample sat- isfactory. Even then the buyer Is free to reject the goods If on inspecting the cotton it docs not turn out equal to the samples or If 1t at that moment the sate of the market or newh from abroad is unfavorable. This is an abuse for which no remedy has yet been found. steam pressing in Alexandria costs planters u4.7 cents) per cantar (s3 pounds). Freight for Liverpool Is fixed at lis CS2.6s) per ton measurement of 40 cubic feet; two bales are Calculated for g. ton. For the United States. shipments are generally made via Liverpool, but freight Iltes vary every year.