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There is a reward given by government for the ' destruction of locust eggs. Each female deposits two small cases or sheaths beneath the ground, con-| taining 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 j 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 o l 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 ini 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 com paratively 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

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