The Khedive's Country. Edited by G. Manville Fenn. (Cassell and
Co. 5s.)—Mr. Fenn, whose appearance in a new line of literature we welcome, explains that his information comes in the main from the Superintendent of the Khedive's farms near Cairo. A wonderful record it makes; one, too, in which an Englishman may feel a perfectly legitimate pride. That the volume is full of interesting things need hardly be said. Prominent among them are the details of the newly constructed and planned reservoirs. The Assouan Dam at present supplies water for the irrigation of five hundred thousand acres. By raising it twenty-one feet it will suffice for as much more. Then it is sug- gested to make another dam in the Wady Rayan. These two, supplementing each other, will suffice for all Egypt. The Wady Rayan Reservoir will suffice for April and nearly the whole of May ; in May the Assouan Reservoir will begin to contribute, will give almost all the June, and the whole of the July, supply. Cotton is a matter of supreme importance to England; it can be grown in Egypt for 44 4s. per acre (including picking). The average crop may be put at 1,890 lb. = £15 (about), raw cotton fetching £1 for 125 lb. Here, again, is the balance-sheet of a piece of reclaimed land. Land on the desert border—i.e., within the reach of irrigation—can be purchased for .217 the acre, and made fit for cultivation for .610. A rent of £4 can be ob- tained, making a return of more than 15 per cent. Potatoes, of which two crops can be raised in the year, bring in 435. Of course, there must be a rotation. Sixty bushels of earth-nuts are worth £10; fifteen bushels of sesame = £7; thirty bushels of chickpeas = £6. Then maize, lupin, clover, &c., can be utilised. How these may be worked in with each other is a matter of local knowledge; but it is clear that farming in Egypt is a good business.
ANTWERP.
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