'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎298v] (599/862)

460 IRRIGATION, AGRICULTURE, AND MINOR INDUSTRY
in the growing period, followed by the sharp fall of temperatures in
the autumn, all helped to produce large crops. Departmental experi
ments have shown that the best sowing period for central Iraq is
from mid-March to mid-April, and that cultivation on ridges is
better than on the flat.
The principal difficulties of cultivation are certain pests, particu
larly the boll weevils, and soil salinity, much disliked by cotton and
intensified by the heavy irrigation which is necessary and by the
inadequate drainage. The crop is, however, more popular with land-
owners, pump-owners, and sarkals than with the fellahin Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. , who dis
like a crop the value of which depends on factors beyond their control
and cannot be realized until the product has been marketed, unlike
a food crop which pays rent and fills bellies independently of markets.
The Department of Agriculture produced several strains of which
the Akala and Rustamiya proved most satisfactory. The Akala strain
yielded 1,750-2,100 lb. to the acre, the average length of fibre being
27-5 mm., the product from ginning 31*9 per cent., and the weight
49-8 grammes per 100 seeds. By 1928 5,200 bales were being pro
duced, but then a series of seasons of low water, visitations of Nejdi
locusts (p. 464), and finally the catastrophic fall of cotton prices in
the world economic crisis of 1930-1934, led to a considerable reduc
tion of plantation. In later years the crop recovered its popularity
with the improvement of world prices, and in 1939 both plantation
and export reached the highest known figures of 79,000 acres and
2,900 tons of ginned cotton. By 1941 the acreage had increased to
225,000, but in 1942 acreages were cut by 75 per cent, when the
Japanese market disappeared (p. 492). Evidently neither the peace
time nor the war-time importance of cotton in Iraqi agriculture is yet
firmly fixed.
Tobacco
The principal tobacco districts are Sulaimaniya province, and the
districts of Koi Sanjaq, Rania, and Ruwandiz in Erbil province.
Tobacco has been grown for centuries in Kurdistan, but the crude
local methods produced an unfermented powdery straw suitable only
for the Kurdish cigarette-tube. It is a summer crop usually grown
in small plots in the mountainous districts by local irrigation. In
1929 the Department of Agriculture sent instructors, hired from
abroad, through the tobacco-growing villages, and a small quantity
prepared under their instructions gained a much higher price than
had hitherto been given for ‘Kurdi’ tobacco. The department also