The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-08-13

"a TT brown IN Color 1gAu - -
Sickness, which makes 1t valuable Ior
manufacturfng merceriZed cotton. we
import an enormous uantlt Of EsSp
tian cotton to mix with our COTTON l
hear Of cotton here selling LOT ~ am
% cents per pound, ana am lold lh@O
there is d great difference IN n va
rieties raised, and also as TO the parts
~ The Nile valley in which each KIND
is raised.
deIra and that region is now producing
more than four-hfths OF the crop.
Less than a quarter or q lnnl4oh dcio"
are now in cotton in the valley OF the
Ui1a above Cairo, and the yield is mel
Their so large nor SO good as lA"e U
the delta.
Epypt's Cotton Plantations.
I wish / could take you with me on
a trip through the cotton feds OF lhe
N1Ie valley. The scenes there are no
thing like those of our southern
states. Much of the cotton IS raised On
small farms, and every held - luath
ed out with little annals into Wnlch tue
water is introduced from time TO t4hlo'
There are no great farm houses scat
tayed over the landscape, and no
harms. The people all live in mud VII
lagos and go out to work IN the nelu;
They use animals for own anu
narrowing, and the CROP Is ndhuIeu y
E. different way. Let me give you d
few pictures as l have MADE lneni
while travelling through the Couhtis.
Here is a field where the INT mas
heen gathered. The land is black ana
il has windroWs of cotton stalks run
ming across it. Every stalk has beeh
pulled out by the roots and plled up
Further on we see another nelu ~
which the stalks have been ued lnlo
bundles. They will be sold as fuel
z~ It'll rrnI11aa 81 full ton or drY
wood to the acre. There are no Tor
ests in Egypt and all sorts OF fuel are
scarce. The stalks from one acre VIII
sell for So or more. The stalks are
used for cooking, for the farm engines
on the larger plantations and even
for running the ginning establish
ments. In that village over there you
NAV see great bundles Of stalks stored
away on the tops Of the f1at-roofed
houses. Corn fodder is piled up beside
them, the caves of the FODDER having
been torn off for stock feed. is not
this a queer country where the people
keep their wood piles on their roofs?
Cotton Picking.
Here is a field where they are pick
ing cotton. There are scores Of little
Egyptian boys and girls working away
among the white bolls. They nave
dark brown faces. The boys wear blue
gowns and dirty white skull caps. The
girls have cloths over their heads. All
are barefooted and some of the boys
are almost naked. They are picking
the fibre in baskets and are paid 50
much per hundred pounds. a boy will
gather thirty or forty pounds in a day
and he does we'll if he earns as much
as ten cents.
The first picking begins in Septem-
Der. After that the land is watered
and a second picking takes place in
October. There Is a third in Novem-
Der, the land being again irrigated be-
pickings yield the best fibre. They
are kept apart from the third and
sold separately.
CameIs and Cotton Bales.
After the cotton is picked it is put
into great bales and loaded upon cam
els. They are loading four such beasts
in that fed at the side Of the road.
The camel lies fiat on the ground,
with their long necks stretched out.
Two bags are a load for each camel
and together they will weigh about
900 pounds. Each bag is as long and
wide as a single bed mattress and
about four feet thick. Listen to the
camels groan as they load them. There
is n which is actually weeping. You
a see the salt tears run down his
cheeks.
Now, watch the camels get up. Each
rises, back end first, the bags swaying
to and fro as he does so. How angry
he is. He goes off with his lower
lip hanging. grunlbling and ~groaning
like a spoiled child. How odd the
camels look as they travel. The bags
on their backs reach almost to the
ground and each ungainIy beast seems
to be walking on six legs.
Looking down the road, we can see
long caravans of camels loaded with
hqlnS md on tJln ntJnr rjID - +I-x
little canal is a small drove of dom
keys bringing in cotton. Each donkey
Is hidden by q bag which covers his
back and all but his legs. 1t looks
like a bed-tick walking off upon legs.
In the way the cotton is brought to
the railroad station and to the boat.
The latter go out Of one little water
"a into another unit they get into
the Mahmudych canal, and thence to
Alexandria The railroads are filed
with cotton trains during the har-
vesting season, and just now there
are long strings of cars loaded with
cotton coming into the city. Some
of this cotton has been ginned and
baied upon the plantations; others is
sent in in the seed and ginned here.
There are also ginning establish
ments at the larger cotton markets
of the interior, many of which are run
by steam and which have as up-to-
NdSIC 1ilS11IIiiitIS oo We idNS- AL
these gins the seed is carefully saved
and shipped to Alexandria by railroad
or by BOAT.
How They Plant Cotton in Egypt.
These Egyptians spend more work
on their crops than our Southern
farmers. In the first place, the land
has to be plowed with camels or buffa-
loes and prepared for the planting,
1t must be divided into basins. each
walled around so that it will hold
water, and have little canals inside
each basin. SO arranged that the water
VIII run in and out through every
row. The whole field is cut up into
peds of this description ranging in
Slze from t~wenty-four feet to seventy
five feet square.
The cotton is planted in rows thirty
llVe inches apart the plants being
from fourteen to twenty inches apart
IN the rows. 1t takes q little more
than a bushel of seed to the acre.
Ihe seeds are soaked in water before
painting. and any which rise to the
surface are thrown away. The plant
ing is done by men and BOYS. and the
cost is something like a dollar an acre
ne seeds soon sDrOut and in ten or
twelve days the plants appear. They
: are now hjnnn cd Nv ho-l