bank may require to realize a large portion of its securities at any time to meet sudden demands by its customers.

The position of the Agricultural Bank is entirely peculiar. It was established in 1902 under the auspices of the Govern

FIGURE 2.-STORE OF A BANK IN BENI-SUEF.

(The Banks make advances on all kinds of produce. The bales in the illustration contain cotton, the heaps on the left and in the center are oil seeds.)

ment and the National Bank to take over a special class of financial work which had already been carried on since 1895 on experimental lines, first by the Government and then by the National Bank after its foundation in 1898. Its funds are derived from its own capital, which now amounts to £10,310,000, raised partly under Government guarantee, and are lent out on two classes of loans to the fellaheen: (a) Short loans not exceeding E20 for not more than fifteen months, to enable them to buy seed, etc.; (b) longer loans for periods not exceeding twenty and one-half years, and limited to LE500, to enable the fellaheen to buy stock, erect buildings, or make improvements on their farms. The rate of interest is now 8 per cent.

It is not the business of the Agricultural Bank to lend money. to the fellaheen to enable them to make speculative purchases of land, but it is to be feared that during the recent boom many of the fellaheen were buying land to an extent so far beyond their actual resources, either of purchase or cultivation, as to be really little better than speculative purchases.

The Governor of the National Bank of Egypt is president of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Bank, and the Government Commissioners on the National Bank are entitled to attend the meetings of the directors, to examine the books of the bank at any time, and to report any breach of the statutes to the Government.

The bank has the assistance of the Government's sarrafs in the provinces in collecting the interest and principal of its loans. For this the sarrafs receive one-half per cent. on the sums collected, while the bank pays to the Government the cost of any extra staff specially required for the work.

The land banks proper, however, may quite safely embark in land mortgage business, because the source of their funds is different from that of the deposit banks. It consists of their own capital and funds received from debenture holders, none of which can be called up except at stated times. Thus the bank may safely invest these funds in more or less permanent securities without fear of having to realize in a hurry in order to meet some unexpected call. There are many of these banks in Egypt which have drawn large sums of capital from Europe, but as a considerable part of the money is placed on loans repayable over long periods, it is obvious that they can only continue the business on a large scale as long as fresh supplies of capital continue to come from Europe.

There is nothing in the Egyptian banking system corresponding to the position occupied by the Bank of England in London as the bankers' bank. The National Bank of Egypt holds the Government balances on certain conditions, and has the exclusive right of issuing bank notes, but there is no central reserve system, each bank keeping whatever reserve it thinks fit.

There is no clearing house, but the use of the notes of the National Bank, and the fact that most of the principal banks keep accounts with each other, to some extent serve the same purpose.

HISTORY OF COTTON IN EGYPT.

Mr. JOHN A. TODD says in the same book:—

The modern of cotton in Egypt dates from 1820, when a French engineer, called JUMEL, who had recognized the possibilities of improving the cotton crop in Egypt, succeeded in interesting MOHAMMED ALI in the subject. The new Jumel cotton, as it was afterwards called, (the French spinners still call Egyptian cotton "Coton Jumel,") was a tree cotton which JUMEL had found growing for ornamental purposes in a Cairo garden, and the cultivation on a large scale was soon shown to be a commercial successs. The results encouraged MOHAMMED ALI in further experiments, and he began to import foreign seed, principally Sea Island and Brazilian. The result has been the gradual development of a cotton which is distinctly

Egyptian, and which, through many different varieties, possesses the characteristics which have given it a special value.

Its importance as a part of the world's supply was first established during the Civil War in America in 1861-64 when the price. of Egyptian cotton rose to an unprecedented level. The subsequent relapse to something like the old prices contributed largely to Ismail's early financial difficulties. In 1894 the price fell below seven dollars per kantar.

Of recent years the improvement in the processes of production of cotton fabrics and the increased demand for the finer cotton goods have given a special value to the Egyptian cotton. The introduction of the process of mercerizing, enabling cotton goods to attain a quality and finish almost like silk, gave a fresh impetus to the demand, and in 1906-07 prices rose to a level unheard of since the war. The general depression which fell upon all the markets of the world after the American crisis of 1907 had its effect on the demand for these fine cotton goods, and the price of Egyptian cotton fell heavily. In 190910 again, owing, in the first place, to an expected shortage of the American crop, and then to the sudden failure of the Egyptian crop to come up to the expected yield, the price of Egyptian cotton again jumped to the highest figure on record.

A renewed demand for Egyptian was also caused by the increased desire for luxury of the well-to-do classes all over the world, as Egyptian cotton serves to make the finest kinds of textiles.

AGRICULTURE.

It seems necessary to explain that one distinguishes the crops in Egypt between winter, summer, and Nile crops, that is, crops of which the seed is sown in winter, summer, or directly after the flood. Cotton is of course the most important crop of the

country.

METHODS OF COTTON CULTIVATION.

Large estates are using steam ploughs, but the small cultivator prepares the ground in autumn by means of the primitive

Egyptian plough drawn by a pair of oxen. I have seen as many as twelve ploughs in one field at one and the same time. The plough is made entirely of wood; only the front part of the beam which goes into the soil is shod with iron.

The plough does not cut deep into the soil, but simply scratches it; the fellah will generally plough his field four times, sometimes oftener, each ploughing being done at right angles to the previous one. When making ridges for cotton, the beam