The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-10-26
THE CHIEF PRODUCTS OF EGYPT

| Consul -General l.. NJ lddings, writ
 ing from Cairo on cotton and sugar in
 Egypt, says: "of recent years the
 area of land under cotton cultivation in
 Egypt has been steadily increasing, yet
 the total of the crop has remained sta
 tionary, or has even diminished. The
 total crop in 1904-5 was 6,S62,O00 kan
 tars, a kantar being 99. O5 pounds. This
 was less than the crop of the preceding
 years as follows In 1903-4, 6,5O9,O00
 tantars; 1ao1-2 6,S72,OOO kantars; 1SS9- s190O 6.510.0O0 kantars k and 1S97-9S, s.
 543, 900 kantars. The quality of the cot ton also tends to become less ssatisfacto- ,, ry. It has been stated that this deteri- oration is largely dtfe to the building of the Assouan reservoir. 1t Is thought
 by some that this work by arresting l, the velocity of the current of the Nile,
 causes the sediment to deposit In the river bed, and thus deprives the water I of its fertilizing properties. Sir Will
 liam Garstin, English adviser In the
 Department of Public Works, says that D only the surplus water is stored, the ordinary supply passing down the river 7 with but little diminution of sediment. z During the period of storing, the water contains no sediment When the cot Y ton sowings begin, in March, the water ' in the river is perfectly clear. This z has always been the case with the
 'Nfle, and the reservoir has In no way U, altered the former conditions of the il river. 1t was the Assouan dam which 'l saved the country from greater losses " last year when the stream was exceed VI fngly low, Other causes of harm :. which are more probable, are insect pests, principally the cotton worms 1i which it is hoped to eXterminate thi: io summer; the effect of the rotations 'l overwhelming and overcropping. Great , ,.' efforts are. making to overcome al a, these evils,
 "The question of the quality of cot ~ ton seed has received the close atten - ton of the Egyptian Agricultural soci
 etv. A considerable area of land wa
 set apart for the production of as pur
 a strain of seed as possible, the seer
 for the sowing of which had been pre-
 viously subjected to a system of hand
 picking. During the growth of tn crop all pants not true to the variet
 ' which it was intended to produce wer
 removed. About 12500 bushels of see
 were produced in 1905, which were dis
 < tributed to well-known growers in sui able districts In this manner som ten thousand acres of land will be SOW with this seed during the present sea .. son. The crop resulting from this are will provide seed for distribution for , least one hundred thousand acres tho following year, It is, however, a most certain that this measure aIor
 will not suffice and that results of flu
 ther experiments must be awaite
 owing to the high price of cereals al
 the loss which cotton cultivators i cured last season, the evil of overcro \ ping may to certain extent disappef
 Moreover the price of cotton may ia
 which would not in some respects be z unmxed evil for Egypt, because t 2 temptation to push the cultivation a this staple too far would be greatly q. unfinished.
 Until the year 1881 there were no S a gar-refining factories in Egypt. T 70 Daira sanich mills crushed the sug a cane and extracted the raw sugt n which was either consumed locally ss that condition or exported and ref1n le abroad. In 1881 refining factory " le erected at Hawamdich by the Socdt d de la Raff1nerie and eleven years lat i- in 1892, another company, called 50 Societe des Sucreries de la Hau W Egypte, built a second factory ld Sheikh F'adl. These two compan ama1gamated in 1897, under the title le the Societs Generale des Sucreries ct !" la Raff1nerie d'Egypte, and shortly as ter wards constructed the large refl " " at Nag Hamadi. The company h
 by this time extended its system IT IT. crushing the cane as wei as reflni IOS the raw sugar. In 1902 financial s! q in dicate was formed under the title ho the Daira Sugar Corporation, whl Fl controlled all the sugar business @ ra Egypt. In 1905 it was enguHed in m failure of NM. Henry Say ct Cie, a ,- was ruined. After long litigation re ed ganization is now in progress, but al one can tell how it will succeed. of opinion prevails that sugar will not he much raised nor manufactured
 Egypt hereafter, but that the land ies be cultivated for cotton. The nau' ow will raise a little cane near their ho E. es, but only for their" own consun j." tion.'
 1pp- Vs,.xrT Tlrs