Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/541

 AOBICULTUBB. 487 it is gathered into the granaries it becomes a prey to weevil. The linseed also contains foreign grains in the pro])ortion of one-fifth ; the indigo iH parched and earthy ; the opium adulterated with lettuce-juice ; the cotton fibre mixed with all kinds of impurities. The fields cultivated by the peasantry grow scarcely any large plants except palms, while the products of the Euroj^un fruit-trees arc usually of very indifferent quality. The tree valued beyond all others is still the date-palm, each plant of which yields an average yearly revenue of about sixteen shillings.* The domestic animals are badly cared for, nor have the Egj'ptian stock-breeders any right to boast of their really splendid breeds of asses, especially the large white variety, which appear to have come originally from Yemen. Wheat, barley, durrah, lentils, peas, haricots, lupins, saffron, clover, hemp, the poppy, melons, and divers kinds of vegetables, are cultivated in all the small holdings of the fellahin, while other plants unknown to the ancient Egj'ptians have also been introduced into the annual rotations of crops. Such are indigo, tobacco, maize, rice, the sugar-cane, mulberry, and cotton plant. Progress has shown itself especially by the great change that has taken place in the method of cultivation. To the plants grown in past times there have been addetl many others; artificial irrigation also now supplements that of the periodical inundations, while steam ploughs have in many districts replaced the primitive implements, such as we see figured on the bas-reliefs of the ancient tombs. The pointed sticks by which the surface is scratched rather than ploughed in Dar-F6r, have also every- where disappeared iu Egypt, except in the neighbourhood of Kom-Ombo. In good years the cereal crops amount altogether to from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 quarters, of which about 2,000,000 are wheat, 1,250,000 barley, 1,750,000 maize. Rice and lentils are also exported in considerable quantities. The sugar-cane is cultivated especially in Upper Egypt and in the Fayum, on the large estates of the State and industrial companies. The great capital required for the establish- ment of factories and " smoking obelisks" necessarily prevent small holders from engaging in this industry.f Cotton, however, has been introduce<l on the farms of the peasantry, thanks to the Greek agents, who buy up the raw material and prepare it for the market in their small jinning mills. But no foreign hands are ever found working jointly with the natives. The low price of manual labour must always prevent European agricultural settlements from being established in Egj-pt. Immigrants from the AVest can find a footing only in the large towns. Introduced into Egypt during the government of Mohammed AH, largely through the efforts of the Frenchman Jumel, the cotton plant has gradually acquired, under the name of niako, a certain importance in the export trade of Egypt. When the usual supplies of raw cotton were suddenly arrested by the outbreak of the war of Secession in the United States, all the efforts of the Egj'ptian cultivators were directed towards the production of this valuable commodity, vast quantities of which were then exported from Alexandria. t 6ug&r plantations in 18S0, 38,000 acre* ; yield, 46,750 tona; ralue of the crop, £935,000.
 * Dute-treca of Egypt in 1875, 5.000,000 ; annutU yield, 100,000 to 120,000 tons of fruit,