Lower Egypt.
| Season. | Acreage. | Crops. |
|---|---|---|
| Summer | 1,674,000 | Cotton, sugar, vegetables, rice. |
| Flood | 980,000 | Maize (nearly all), rice. |
| Winter | 2,139,000 | Wheat, barley, clover, beans, vegetables, flax. |
Even if we look only to the summer acreage under crops, it is obvious that the water-supply in the summer is very important; but when we look to the value of the crop it becomes much more striking. Far the most valuable crop in Egypt is the cotton, which is the principal item in the summer. In Upper Egypt the value of a summer crop is, on the average, more than twice that of a winter crop per acre, and in the Delta the proportion is nearly the same. And though the value of the flood crops is increased by the date-palms, of which there are 5,700,000 paying taxes in Egypt, and whose produce is gathered at this season, it cannot be compared with the summer crops. Sugar-cane is now but little grown in the Delta, and even in Upper Egypt its acreage is rather less than that of cotton.
Valuable as are the cotton-plant and the sugar-cane, it must never be forgotten that one of the humbler winter crops, though valued much lower in point of money, is yet the foundation of well-being in the others—I mean the Egyptian clover, or bersine, the friend of beast and man alike. Long before I knew its remarkable properties, I admired it for its beauty. Green and glossy, it covers acre upon acre with a luxuriant carpet, in pleasing contrast both to the black soil and the desert sand, and most refreshing and comforting to the eye. A bundle of it will satisfy even the grumbling camel; even the melancholy buffalo looks a shade less depressed when her turn comes to be tethered in it for her meal. Sheep and donkeys can hardly eat it down fast enough within the circle of their ropes before it has grown up again. And all the time it is steadily collecting in the soil the invaluable globules of nitrate, which will put new life into the succeeding cotton or corn. The part it plays in preparing the soil can be estimated by the rotations of crops followed by the Egyptian cultivator. These are as follows:
On Rich Soils.
| Winter. | Summer or Flood. | |
|---|---|---|
| First year | Clover | Cotton. |
| Second year | Beans or wheat | Indian corn. |
On Poor Soils.
| Winter. | Summer or Flood. | |
|---|---|---|
| First year | Clover | Cotton. |
| Second year | Clover | Cotton. |
| Third year | Barley | Rice or fallow. |
Rice and barley have their place, because they are less affected by the injurious salts, which are the great enemies of the soil’s fertility.
In Lower Egypt cotton is sown from the end of February to the beginning of April. The land is well watered before it is ploughed for the seed, and again when the seed is sown. From then until the beginning of the flood it is watered on the average about once in twenty days. The harvest lasts from August 20 to November 10, and the cotton is picked two or three times over. During this time the crop is watered about once in every fifteen days, but as the water is now abundant there is nothing to fear. Indian corn is sown from July 5 to August 30, and October 15 to November 30 is the period of harvest. It is irrigated at the time of sowing, twenty days after, and then once in ten or twelve days. The first two of these waterings are, of course, the important ones. The earlier it is sown, the better the crop will be, because it will have better weather for maturing; but if the flood is late, and consequently the water-supply is low, the Government may have to resort to a system of rotations in sending water down the canals, and then the Indian corn crop may be sacrificed to the interests of the cotton. Rice is the wettest of all the crops; the kind (called ‘sultâni’) sown in May and reaped in November is watered once in ten days before the flood, but during the flood is given as much water as the drains can carry off. The other kind (called ‘sabaini’) is sown in August, and also reaped in November. Both in Lower and Upper Egypt it is purely a flood crop, and takes all the water it can get. The winter crops, wheat, beans, barley, and clover, are sown in November and December. Wheat and beans are irrigated twice, barley once, but clover goes on growing up till June, and takes more water according to the number of crops, sometimes three or four, that are taken off it.