Of cotton
cloth edged at the bottom with oil-skin were arranged something after
the fashion of stop-nets for ground game in covert-shooting in England.
This wall, with a slippery groundwork, prevented the insects from
proceeding. As they never turn back, they were obliged to search
sideways for a passage, and were thus led into the pits in millions,
where they were destroyed by burying the masses beneath heaps of earth.
If a few gallons of petroleum were sprinkled over them, and fire
applied, much trouble would be saved. This is a crude method of insect
destruction which could be improved upon, but great praise is due to the
efforts of M. Richard Mattei and Said Pacha for having devoted their
energies so successfully to the eradication of a scourge which proved
its ancient importance from the Biblical registration of a curse upon
the Egyptians.
There is a reward given by government for the destruction of locust
eggs. Each female deposits two small cases or sheaths beneath the
ground, containing thirty or forty eggs in each. The position is easily
distinguished by a shining slimy substance. A certain sum per oke is
given, and the people gladly avail themselves of the opportunity of
earning money at the same time that they destroy the common enemy.
The British administration is keenly alive to the importance of this
warfare, and I have frequently met commissioners of districts galloping
in hot haste, as though in pursuit of a retreating enemy, towards some
quarter where the appearance of locust swarms may have been reported, in
order to take immediate measures for their destruction.
Unfortunately the locust is not the only enemy of cotton cultivation,
but the (to my mind) abominable system of dimes, or tenths of produce to
be valued while growing, restricts the cultivator to an inferior variety
that will remain within the pod, instead of expanding when liberated by
ripening.
The cultivation of cotton differs according to the many varieties of the
plant. Pliny described the "wool-bearing trees of Ethiopia," and I have
myself seen the indigenous cotton thriving in a wild state in those
parts from whence they were first introduced to Egypt, during the reign
of Mehemet Ali, grandfather of the Khedive. It is well known that
although comparatively a recent article of cultivation in Egypt, it has
become one of the most important exports from that country. Cotton of
the first quality requires a peculiar combination of local conditions.
Water must be at command whenever required during the various stages of
cultivation; and perfectly dry weather must be assured when the crop is
ripe and fit to gather. The collection extends over many days, as the
pods do not burst at the same period. Some of the most valuable kinds
detach easily from the expanded husk and fall quickly to the ground,
which entails constant attention, and the quality would deteriorate
unless labour is always at hand to gather the cotton before it shall
fall naturally from the plant.
