It will be noted that no mention has been made of the tracts between the foothills of Abyssinia and Wad-el-Medani which can produce good crops of Indian corn, millets and even cotton in nine years out of ten with the aid of rain without irrigation. If the land could lend itself to basins similar to those of Bundelkund or to river fed pans as in Madras, a development of this country would be possible. Ordinary Egyptian basin irrigation would be, I think, of no use.
The following quotations from a letter written by Messrs. Choremi, Benachi and Co., of Alexandria, to Mr. Foaden on the 8th February 1904, will give an idea of the estimation in which Sudan grown cotton is held in Alexandria:—
“The cotton generally is good and superior to any Sudan cotton I have yet seen. Last year the best I saw was sent by the Sudan Government and grown in Miralai Stanton Bey’s garden, with artificial irrigation and quality was (first picking) class “good”, equal to Beni-Suef or Minieh cotton, but more woolly. In any case it is saleable cotton for coarse Nos. of Yarn, not what we call Bolton Spinners’ cotton.
“I now give you the following classification and values compared to Standard of Full Good Fair Lower Egypt which is the basis of “Futures” in our Market and Liverpool.
“On Upper Egypt the outturn in ginning on basis 315 lbs. per cwt. in seed runs from 100 to 104, and Lower Egypt 105-110 according to province grown and quality of seed.
| No. 1 | Outturn | 96 | Class “good”, value P.T. 5 over Delta fully good fair—colour rather light—good staple, better than Beni-Suef Ashmouni or even Afifi. |
| No. 2 | „ | 981⁄2 | Long staple and finish does not look grown from afifi seed but from superior quality, value about P.T. 15 over F.G.F. |
| No. 3 | „ | 99 | Class “good”, the seed of this is from Delta because mixed—there is also some Abassi in and does not look as from afifi seed because finer than any afifi grown in Minieh and Beni-Suef, value 5 to 10 over F.G.F. |
| No. 4 | „ | 1021⁄2 | “Good” in class, from mixed seed—some looks afifi, other better, probably Yannovich seed. There are traces of abassi—and is irregular in strength, value P.T. 15 to 20 over F.G.F. |
| No. 5 | „ | 100 | Also from mixed seed—I can trace afifi quality and Yannovich, also some abassi. Value over F.G.F. about 7 to 10 P.T. |
| No. 6 | „ | 1031⁄2 | About same as No. 5 and with same mixture. |
“From the above report you will see that quality generally is good—but I regret the seed got mixed—probably through mistakes in transport or if in single bags some broke and seed became mixed.
“The outturn in ginning I consider good and the seed I notice deteriorates but very little as you can see—though with that of Stanton Bey’s I examined with you last year, the deterioration was, if I remember right, something like 10% in one year. The seed from the non irrigated Sudan (I suppose near Khartoum) though from good Afifi seed, almost becomes unfit for sowing and the quality of this cotton had a very poor outturn of about 73%.
“Rain crops cannot be depended on, because if no rain for some time the quality will be totally spoilt.
“I fail to find any trace of sand in the samples—though the common Sudan non-irrigated cotton was very dirty and sandy.”