- 60 -the time of the lands to be irrigated. It is hoped that this method will prevent the dispersal of lands by excessive water, which the farmer tends to do for fear of what he suffered in the past from drought in the summer. When the soil loses too much moisture, it is as harmful to cotton as excessive dryness. Experiments continued to determine the effect of water on the soil in terms of its scarcity and abundance, but the results were not uniform in all places, perhaps due to the flooding.

The abundance also affected the cotton worm, as in 1912, using the same methods, it succeeded as it succeeded the previous year, as in my previous report. Regarding the elegance of the worm, the internal disease I referred to in 1912 reduced the yield considerably compared to the previous year, and those affected by the worm were weak. When it reached its peak, the government officials did not approach because of it, nor did their respect diminish. When a large amount of worm appeared in the cotton in 1912, a new law was issued by the Ministry of Agriculture prohibiting the irrigation of cotton within a specific period, making this period May 31st in the rice-growing areas of northern Lower Egypt and May 10th in all other areas of Lower Egypt. If anyone irrigated their cotton after the specified date, they would be punished. The cotton was monitored, and if a large amount of worm appeared in it, it was to be cut immediately and the worms destroyed. The farmers did this and realized the benefit of avoiding the immediate wrath of the government officials. It is said that the farmers themselves admitted the benefit of this law. Therefore, in the 1913 season, no significant damage was caused by the cotton worm. The appearance of the worm infestation in Lower Egypt was announced on May 13th, and government officials began to combat it. The number of feddans where the infestation appeared gradually increased until the end of June and the beginning of July, then the infestation completely disappeared at the end of August. The total area planted with cotton was... 17,230 feddans, and the worm appeared in 486,600 feddans of it. In the previous year, it appeared in 980,300 feddans, and the number of days of combating multiplied by the number of fields was 2,471,500, compared to 434,444 feddans of government land in the previous year. The farmers undertook this work themselves in almost every place in the Beheira Governorate, where the infestation was severe. 2,900 individuals were punished for not reporting the appearance of the worm in their lands, and 681 of the village chiefs and elders were punished for not informing them. This compares to 23,500 in 1912. I mentioned in the introduction to this report that the rice worm, the armyworm, increased alarmingly.