Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-03-20
CHIEF PRODUCTS OF EGYPT.
Area OF Land Devoted TO Cotton Is
steadily Increasing.

"AAS" Z A~thh DetOAtu ~ #SOItOh H
Steadily Increasing.
Consul-Cseneral l.. Vi. Iddings, 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
stationary, or has even diminished.
The total crop in 1904-5 was 6,352,OO0
kantars, a kantar being 1906 pounds.
This was less thar the crop of the pre-
ceding years, as follows: In 19O3-4,
6,5O9,00O kantars; 1902, 6,372,OOO
kantars; 1%S99-19U0, 6,51O,O0O kantars;
and 1S97-9S, 6,543,0GO kantars. The
quality of the cotton also tends to be-
come less satisfactory. 1t has been
stated that the deterioration is largely
due to the building of the Assouan res
%ervoir. 1t is thought by some that
this work. by arresting the velocity of
the current OF the Nile, causes the sedi-
ment to deposit III the river bed, and
thus deprives the water of its ~fertillz-
ing properties. Sir William Garstin,
English adviser in the department Of
public works, says that only the sur
plus water Is stored, the ordinary sup
ply passing down the river with but
little diminution of sediment. During
the period of storing, the water CON
tains no sediment. When the cotton
sowings begin, in March the water in
the river is perfectly clear. This has
always been the case with the Nile,
and the reservoir has in M way alter
ed the former conditions of the river.
1t was the Assouan dam which saved
the country from greater losses last
year, when the stream was exceeding
~ low. Other causes of harm, which
ore more probable. are insect pests,
! principally the cotton worm, which it
is hoped to exterminate; the effect Of
the rotations, overwhelming and over
cropping. Great efforts are making
to overcome all these evils.
THE question of the quality of cot
ton seed has received the close atten-
ton of the Egyptian Agricultural So
ciety.. A considerable area of land was
set apart for the production of as pure
u strain of seed as possible, the seed
for the sowing of which had been pre-
yiously subjected to a system of hand
picking. During the growth Of the
crop all plants not true to the variety
which it vas intended to produce were
removed. About 1880 bushels of seed
were produced in 1905, which were dis
tributed to well-known growers in
suitable districts. In his manner
some 10000 acres of land will be sown
with this seed during the present sea
son. The crop resulting from this area
will provide seed for distribution for
ut least 100000 acres in the following
year. 1t is, however, almost certain
that this measure alone will not suf-
fee and that results of further expert
ments mus be awaited. Owing to the
high price of cereals and the loss which.
cotton c%ultivators incurred last season,
the evil Of overcropping may to a GER
tain extent disappear. Moreover, the
price of cotton may fall, which would
not in soIne respects be an unmixed
evil for Egypt, because the temptation
to push the cultivation of this staple
too far would be greatly diminished.
Until the year 1881 there were no
sugar refining factories in Egypt. The
Daira Sanieh mills crushed the sugar
cane and extracted the raw sugar,
which was either consumed locally in
that condition or exported and refined
abroad. In 1881 a refining factory was
erected at Hawamdieh by the Societe
dc la Rafinerie, and eleven years later,
in 1892, another company, called the
Societe des Sucreries de la Haute-
Egypt, built a second factory at Sheikh
Fadl. These two companies nmalga-
mated in 1897, under the title Of the
Societe Generate des Sucreries ct de la
K%alfinerie d'Egypte, and shortly after
ward constructed the large refinery at
Nag Hamadi. The company had by
this time extended its system TO crush
ing the cane as well as refining the
raw sugar. In 1902 a financial syndi-
cate was formed under the title Of the
paira Sugar corporation, which con-
/ trolled all the sugar business of Egypt.
In 1905 it was engulfed in the failure
Of NM. Henry Say ct Gle, and. was
ruined. After long litigation r%eorgani-
cation is now in progress, but nc one
can tell how it will succeed. The opin-
ion prevails that sugar will not be
much raised nor manufactured in
Egypt hereafter, but that the land will
b. cultivated for cotton. The natives
will raise a little cane near their
houses, but only for their own con-
sumption"
IN