structed so far. The two together irrigate but 51,660 acres. Another project, intended to provide water for 166,050 acres was begun in 1900 but its completion has not, as yet, been reported.
The most conservative estimates place the cost of irrigating one acre at about one hundred roubles, but it is probable that the actual cost is considerably higher, in view of many difficulties, usually unforeseen, presented by the work. In order to double Turkestan's crop of cotton, it would be necessary to expend for irrigation work about four hundred million roubles. The completion of all the projects would probably take twenty-five years. The work may be carried on either by the government directly, or by private individuals acting as concessionaries. The money would be returned with interest and a considerable profit by the sale of the irrigated lands to colonists, in the case of government operation. As we have already seen, the price of land in this locality is much higher than the expenditures for irrigation could possibly be. In the case of concessionaries, the returns would accrue either from sub-leasing the irrigated land, or from going directly into the business of cotton growing.
The cost of production in cotton growing to the planter is about two roubles a poud (36 pounds), and the transportation to the textile centers of the country costs about twenty copecks per poud. The price of cotton fiber is kept at a high level by an import duty on raw cotton, which amounts to 5 roubles 25 cop. per poud. The market price varies with the fluctuations of the American and the European markets.
While by far the most important cotton-producing region of Russia, Turkestan is not the only part of the Empire where cotton can be grown and is grown at the present time. In Transcaucasia the cotton-growing industry is much older than in Turkestan, although neither the size of the territory nor the general soil and climatic conditions are as favorable there as they are in Turkestan. Still, some portions of the governments of Elizavetpol, Tiflis, Baku, Daghestan, and Kutais are very well adapted to the growing of American cotton, and, as far as local conditions permit, American methods have been largely introduced there. In 1912 about 325,000 acres were reported to have been planted for cotton in the eastern part of Transcaucasia. The present production of cotton in Transcaucasia is about 25,000 tons.
In November, 1912, a Congress of cotton growers was con-
