Mr. Thayer to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the despatches of the department to No. 24 inclusive, the contents of which have been duly noted.
It appears that the quantity of cotton reported in appendix B, of my despatch No. 31, as exported from Egypt during 1862, only represents about the third of the crop actually raised, the whole amount of ginned cotton produced last season being nearly fifteen hundred thousand’ ginned cantars.
This year the breadth of land declared by the local officers of the government to be sown with cotton is 700,000 acres, promising the unprecedented yield of from two millions to twenty-five hundred thousand cantars.
The Nile has risen higher this season than for many years, but the canals are so clean, and the Viceroy has taken such precautions, that the fear of a destructive inundation has almost passed away. Such an accident would ruin both the cotton and Indian corn, (the latter the principal food crop of the country.) The cotton will be ready to commence gathering by the middle of the present month.
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I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.