Egyptian cotton

“ Its average yield is around four hundred and fifty pounds per acre, which is far in excess of ours. Our Department of Agriculture says that our average is only one hundred and ninety pounds per acre, although we have, of course, many acres which produce five hundred pounds and more.
It is, however, because of its quality rather than its quantity that Egyptian cotton holds such a commanding position in the world’s markets. Cotton-manufacturing countries must depend on Egypt for their chief supply of long-staple fibre. There are some kinds that sell for double the amount our product brings. ”

“ The result of all this intensive effort is an abundant crop of long-stapled cotton with an extremely strong fiber, bringing in the open market a price second only to that of the American Sea Island variety. Much of the Egyptian cotton is used in the manufacture of hosiery and other knit goods, sateens, sewing thread, etc., but recently it has also been found to be exceedingly well fitted for the manufacture of the fabric used in pneumatic tires, and for the duck or filter cloth used in such industries as the refining of sugar. ”

“ Egypt is divided into three great areas:—Lower Egypt, which includes the whole of the Delta of the Nile; Upper Egypt; and Nubia. It is in the first-named district where the whole of Egyptian cotton is produced. At the present time immense sums are being spent on irrigation and drainage works, and as these are extended the areas devoted to cotton production will greatly increase.
At the present time five distinct varieties of cotton are cultivated—
The latter variety was originally known by a different name, Mako Jumel. ”

“ Cotton grows wild in many parts of tropical Africa, and is exported in small quantities in the raw state; but the main export is from Egypt, which comes third among the world’s sources of supply of the article. It is also cultivated in West Africa—the industry in the Guinea coast colonies having been developed since the beginning of the 20th century—and in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, whence came the plants from which Egyptian cotton is grown. Sugar, which is the staple crop of Mauritius, and in a lesser degree of Reunion, is also produced in Natal, Egypt, and, to a certain extent, in Mozambique. ”

“ The cotton boll is formed of five carpels, or leaves, and the fruit, when it bursts forth from this enclosure, is white and smooth, in contrast to the Peruvian, which is of a pink color, and, as already stated, extremely rough. The culture of Egyptian cotton has increased in favor within recent years, in consequence of the advanced prices in foreign markets. ”

“ It has, however, certain characteristics which cause it to be in demand even in the United States, where during recent years Egyptian cotton has comprised about 80% of all the “foreign” cottons imported. These special qualities are its fineness, strength, elasticity and great natural twist, which combined enable it to make very fine, strong yarns, suited to the manufacture of the better qualities of hosiery, for mixing with silk and wool, for making lace, &c. ”

“ Egyptian cotton is also of great value in the production of good yarns, and is very largely used for this purpose. Owing to the existence of a number of short fibres, always found in commercial quantities, but present here in larger proportion, it is necessary to comb all Egyptian cotton. ”

“ Sugar is Egypt’s crop of second importance. Heavy investments of French and British capital in the Egyptian industry were first made when political troubles curtailed Cuba’s production.
The greater part of Upper and Lower Egypt can be made to grow cotton, and cotton plantations may eventually cover over five million five hundred thousand acres. If only fifty per cent. of this area is annually put into cotton it will produce upward of two million bales per annum, or more than one sixth as much as the present cotton crop of the world. ”

“ Experimental work has been carried on, and in 1904 Uganda exported about 43 bales of cotton, and British East Africa about 177 bales. In 1906 the combined exports had risen to 362 bales, including a little from German East Africa. In 1904–1905 there were some 300 acres under cotton in British East Africa. Lack of direct transport facilities is a difficulty. Some of the native cottons are of fair quality, but Egyptian cotton appears likely to be best suited for growing for export.
India is probably the most ancient cotton-growing country. ”

“ It is evidently due to hybridization in the past history of the plant with a brown cotton. In Peru and other places, you know there are cottons which are perfectly brown; and we are now making tests in hybridizing the brown Peruvian cotton with the Sea Island and upland varieties in order to get this color. The color varies in Peruvian cottons all the way from a light brown to a deep brown; and it is supposed, I don't know how truthfully, that the color in this Egyptian cotton comes from a strain of one of the brown South American cottons infused into Sea Island. ”

“ As the value of the wool depends very mainly upon the cleaning or ginning, great attention should be given to this important operation, which is so differently accomplished on different estates, that it is often a principal cause of the variation in price of the same description of produce. It is thought that if the Egyptian cotton were thoroughly well ginned, and thus freed from the gross impurities with which it is commonly mixed, it would approach nearer in value to the genuine Sea Island than any other sort imported ”

“ Viewed in this light, Egyptian cotton is the strongest, and this fact, in conjunction with certain other qualities to which attention will afterwards be called, renders it of high value. It only remains to be said that a waxy covering is found on the outside of each fibre, which requires to be softened by heat during spinning so that the flexibility of the fibre may be fully maintained. ”

“ Exotic Cottons.—American and Egyptian seed have been introduced in many localities, especially in the Provinces of the Niger valley. Cotton grown from American Upland seed in Bassa Province has been well reported upon, but the deterioration of the quality of seed reproduced by this kind has proved a serious drawback to establishment. It is generally acknowledged that the indigenous cottons are hardier and more prolific than the introduced varieties, and are better able to withstand the attacks of the local insect pests. ”

“ The cotton in Central Asia promises to become an important article for the future. It is cultivated in large quantities in the three Khanats, furnishing the material for the upper and under garments of every body, high and low, for their bed-clothes, and cloths of every kind. The cotton in Turkestan is better than the Indian, Persian, and Egyptian, and is said to equal the far-famed American cotton. At present, however, Russia alone consumes this article in her manufactures at Moskau, Wladimir, Tverskoy, &c., and in quantities which increase annually in a surprising degree. ”

“ In addition to grain of various kinds, cotton is also grown by the natives in small quantities, and tobacco is very commonly to be obtained. Flocks of goats and sheep are numerous; but the natives will not readily part with their live stock. Cattle are only to be seen very rarely, as the natives fear to possess these lest they should attract the cupidity of the Abyssinians.
The Anuaks are very ready to sell flour and grain in exchange for beads, more especially in the Finkio district, which is very largely populated. They also hire themselves readily as carriers. ”

“ The inner part is of a whiter and finer quality. Men are not ashamed to prepare it” (Pliny, N.H. xix. 1) . For many ages, even down to the early part of the 14th century, Egyptian flax occupied the foremost place in the commercial world, being sent into all regions with which open intercourse was maintained. Among Western nations it was, without any competitor, the most important of all vegetable fibres till towards the close of the 18th century, when, after a brief struggle, cotton took its place as the supreme vegetable fibre of commerce. ”

“ Cotton.Cotton is cultivated by the natives on the Blue Nile either on the foreshore of the river or inland on ground found by experience to be suitable in a good rainy season.
On the Dinder the only crop raised is the rain crop. This is sown in July after the heavy rains have commenced at the same time as dura, etc. The foreshore sowing takes place simultaneously with that of other foreshore crops, i.e., about December, after the river has fallen, according to the state of the Nile and the height of the submerged banks thus cultivated. ”

“ On the Blue Nile, the most favourable land for cotton cultivation is said to be from Sennar southwards to Abu Naama; on the Dinder, the land above Deberki and Abu Rakhis is considered best. Good cotton (irrigated) , however, was grown at Wad Medani last year (1903-1904) on the Government experimental farm; 63⁄4 kantars [73] being actually grown on 1,000 square metres, or a 1⁄4 feddan, giving an average yield of 27 kantars (2,700 lbs.) per feddan.
Principal towns.Roseires.—On the right bank; residence of a British Inspector and Egyptian Mamur. Post and telegraph office ”

“ H. J. WEBBER. Well, so far as the hybrids are concerned, they do not ; but the pure Egyptian, when brought over here and grown, do seem to preserve the quality and color of fibre to some extent. In one of the cases that is passed around you will see a sample of the imported fibre of Egyptian, which I take to be the variety Mit-Afifi, in comparison with the same variety which was imported into Texas five years ago and grown there for very nearly five years, and then grown by us in our experimental plats in South Carolina last year. ”

“ The noise was made no longer by merchants—who seldom so far remount the sources of their wealth—but by a certain amount of wooden machinery and by a great many Arabs. Some of them were fighting with masses of the stuff which was poured over them from an endless staircase. Just as they mastered it, more would arrive and completely bury them. They would shout with laughter and struggle, and then more cotton would come and more, quivering from the impetus of its transit, so that one could not tell which was vegetable, which man. ”

“ It is surprising that notwithstanding the comparative proximity of Egypt to India, cotton, which had been for ages so extensively manufactured in the latter country, should have remained so long unknown or unappreciated by a people to whom it would have furnished a cheaper and more comfortable article of dress than the flax-plant. But it is certain that linen was held in favour and the use of it prevailed in Egypt till the Christian era, although the cotton fabrics imported into Berenice were gradually coming into more general wear. ”

“ The area devoted to cotton in Egypt is about 1,800,000 acres, and nine-tenths of it is in the Nile Delta. The delta soil is typically a heavy, black, alluvial clay, very fertile, but difficult to work; admixture of sand is beneficial, and the localities where this occurs yield the best cotton. Formerly in Egypt the cotton was treated as a perennial, but this practice has been generally abandoned, and fresh plants are raised from seed each year, as in America; one great advantage is that more than one crop can thus be obtained each year. The following rotation is frequently adopted. ”

“ There is therefore no reason to question the statement which has repeatedly been made, that at least three centres are known in which the Cotton plant from very early times has been indigenous, and that the peoples of these countries were well acquainted with the property and uses of the cotton wool obtained from the plant. An average of more than 1,000,000 bales, each weighing 500 lbs., are exported from Egypt every year, and the question has been raised whether the cultivation of the plant in Egypt can be said to date far back. ”

“ But among them all the keen commercial instinct is awake, even if it cannot fully express itself. Nigeria itself is as large as the German Empire before the war, Italy and Holland combined, and a relatively small proportion of it lies within the oil-palm bearing zone. Beyond that zone, in the western and northern provinces, cotton has been cultivated for centuries, in both cases for internal consumption. It is woven into enduring fabrics, beautifully dyed and embroidered. In late years an export trade in cotton lint has grown up through the enterprise of the British Cotton Growing Association. ”

“ But little of the cotton grown at home is exported, most of it being spun and woven by women, though some of the fibre is sent to Japan.
Cultivation of Cotton in Egypt.—It is now over thirty years since Sir Samuel Baker, the great African traveller, wrote these words: "The Nile might be so controlled that the enormous volume of water that now rushes uselessly into the Mediterranean might be led through the deserts, to transform them into cotton fields that would render England independent of America."
The crop for the season 1900-01 was no less than 1,224,000 bales of 500 pounds each. ”

“ But, practically speaking, we possess but two sources of supply, and both present such powerful obstacles to extended cultivation, that we are not surprised at the habitual uneasiness of those whose interests demand a continually increasing quantity. Those two sources are the United States and British India. It is true that Brazil, Egypt, the West Indies, and some other countries, furnish small quantities of cotton ”

“ Egypt enjoys many advantages over her competitors across the Atlantic. In the first place, she can get almost twice as much cotton from the acre, so productive is the soil. Labour is cheaper, and the plant itself when young is not subject to the devastating frosts so often met with in America. ”