It is eminently satisfactory that the Government is fully alive to all the possibilities. They have started an experimental farm at Shendi, where trials are being made of different sorts of cotton, of different methods of culture, and of different periods of sowing, as well as calculations of the cost of production and of carriage to the ginning factories in Egypt. Already some most interesting and important results have been obtained. It has been definitely shown that the cotton which is sown in June and July promises better, both in quality and quantity, than that sown in the autumn or in March and April. At that time the heat is not so great, and the river is rising, so that the cultivator gets his water during the most necessary time at the least cost, because with the least effort. If this is confirmed, it is extremely important, for the water will be taken at a time when the Nile is high, and when, therefore, Egypt can afford to allow it to be used without suffering in the least degree, apart altogether from new Reservoir works. As regards quality, it appears that the cotton grown, if not so good as the very best kinds of Delta cotton, is at least as good as, or better than, the best American, both in colour and staple. It is calculated that at the present time 1 acre producing 4 kantars will produce gross receipts of 1,060 piastres, against an expenditure of 1,000 piastres, showing a profit of 60 piastres, or 12s. 6d. per acre. But when the new railway has reduced the cost of fuel for the pumps, and also the cost of carriage, the expenses will be no more than 700 piastres, showing a profit of 360 piastres per acre, or 75s. It is estimated that the new railway will reduce the cost of freight by 50 piastres per kantar, and, wherever the Soudan has its own ginning factories, the profits will, of course, be all the greater, because only the prepared product will be carried. There is at present sufficient local demand for cotton to make it generally more profitable to sell it on the spot than to carry it to Egypt, but as the production increases it will soon outstrip the local demand. Any private capitalist investing money in cotton in the Soudan would be able to buy and clear land on the river in Berber or Dongola at from £5 to £6 per acre, so that he would get a very reasonable return on his investment. He would have the further advantage that in the Soudan two of the worst cotton diseases, ‘worm’ and ‘hog,’ are unknown.