3 November 1855: Sheet #4 Original title: spettatore-egiziano_0024.jpg Protection: Open to all Expiration: Never Status: In progress Mark this revision as complete Cancel 3 November 1855: Sheet #4 Go full screenExit full screen Layout Reset == Reflections on the Cultivation of Cotton in Egypt == ===Cotton: from the country, Abyssinia, India, Malta === === Gossypium: Herbaceum, Alboreum, Indicum, Vitifolium, Religiosum=== Cultivated on the lands of the Nilotic valley, these species or varieties of cotton are summer crops that begin by settling into the soil during the month of March. In April, sowing takes place, and in November, harvesting occurs. The amount of seed used to cultivate one feddan of land varies from 5 to 6 kilograms; the result of the year's harvest, on average, is three and a half cantara of purified cotton, with the same amount of seeds, more than twenty camel loads of dry wood to burn. The cotton of this country (Gossypium herbaceum) has a very distant introduction, and originated in northern Nubia in Ethiopia. Now, its cultivation is limited almost exclusively to northern Egypt, and almost not at all in the middle and southern regions where you see Indian cotton cultivated on large plots of land. This type is distinct by its nickname ''''jumel cotton'''' named after the French agronomist who first introduced its cultivation in Egypt about 50 ago. The new cotton in India has produced two varieties: the Gossypium Indicum and the Gossypium Vitifolium. A third has the common name ''''Mako' Cotton'''' because it originates from a province in Abyssinia called this. This third variety's scientific name is Gossypium alboreum, but I believe that they are allele simply varieties of the Gossypium Indicum. The Nanjing cotton from Malta, with yellow-reddish wool (Gossypium religiosum) was at one point introduced in the cultivation of the Nile Valley, and although it produced satisfactory results, its harvest was never expanded more. This species, when found in good condition for farming, prospers greatly and provides much more cotton than the others, even six cantara of feddano, but its thread is not very long or thin. At its introduction, the varieties of Indigo cotton supplied European trade; in the past, they were the best quality of cotton among the greatest competitors, preferable to many others from the Orient and from America. The indigo cotton of Egypt, when it receives all the right agricultural care, offers a very fine, limp, and strong fiber, and is a perfect white with a silvery radiance. The cotton of India has a lifespan of 4 to 5 years but the best product is produced from the first and second year of its planting. Therefore, to obtain the best quality of cotton, it is necessary to replenish the seed every few years, making it return from its native countries of origin. By also collecting them from various countries like America, etc., Egypt's agriculture can have different varieties of cotton which are needed for different commercial industries. Besides the renewal of the seed, it is also necessary that great care is taken when growing the cotton plant so as to not make changes that would corrupt the high quality of the cotton. For this reason, I intend to talk about the excess of buds, of branches loaded with flowers and then with fruit whose weight causes the plant to bend and curve towards the soil, harming its growth. In this condition, the fruit develops imperfectly, with too much shade and no influence from the sun, not from the humidity of the soil. So these conditions together facilitate the growth of a parasitic insect that takes shelter in the cassole of the cotton plant, destroying its thread or rendering it yellow-colored, crinkled, and not as long. In addition, there is a lack of options of the different qualities of cotton at the time of its harvest, which is why it loses its value and can barely be classified above mediocre. This experience has taught us that the product created from the first year of cultivation is superior in quality to that made from the second year. The plants that are near the sides of the fields also produce cotton of a super quality since they are more exposed to the air and sun. Given the separation of the different types of crops in different areas, it will allow for a superior quality that the industry will willingly accept, even at 25 thalers per cantaro. The second variety then will be chosen even more than what makes up the first variety today, that which is exported in Europe's industry. The third variety will consequently achieve a higher ranking–and so Egypt's cotton will regain the respect it had in ancient times for the quality of its thread and its skin which justifies its price–as soon as lower Egypt's railways are entirely active and when transportation is easily done. The small amount that has been discussed so far on the cultivation of cotton could be enough for the Egyptian farmer to make him give up a bad habit that, if continued, will leave Egypt with the worst quality of cotton. Another article will discuss the Indaco of Egypt; then with these small notes we can understood and listened to, we will find ourselves happy to have been involved with bettering Egypt's agriculture and its global commercial industry.