WINTER MEE'IING. 177 



extent that we might eavy him his opportunity, if we do not envy him 

 his self-satisfied condition of laziness. But if he is satisfied with his 

 condition we should be, unless his hungry cry makes us restless, in 

 which case we may contribute for his relief; but if we were no more 

 industrious and provident than the people of India are, we would ail 

 die within a few years. They have a country that has no superior in 

 natural resources, and the horticultural possibilities of India are prac- 

 tically without limit, for they have a variety of fruits that would please 

 the taste of an epicure, and in such abundance and of such quality as 

 to make a considerable portion of their food, and yet they suffer and 

 die of famine when the store-houses of nature fail them. 



Africa diifers in some particulars from India, but the people are 

 more industrious and would be more provident were it not for the pre- 

 scriptive policy of the government. Turkey rules Egypt with an iron 

 hand, tempered by Britain's mercenary motives ; for Britain finds that 

 dead men are not wealth producers. But the tax exactions fall so 

 heavy on every industry as to crush out and destroy, and when we 

 think of the wonderful tyranny we should not so much blame the peo- 

 ple of Egypt because they are mostly thieves or beggars. Horticul- 

 ture suffers from taxation to such an extent that the industry is grow- 

 ing less and less important, and yet there would be wonderful possi- 

 bilities for fruit-growing in that country. The date palm alone would 

 make an amount of fruit that would be a valuable export product. 

 Bananas, citrous fruits and even apples grow, but the apples are of 

 poor quality, lacking in flavor and keeping qualities, but there is not 

 much variety in the fruits and yet many kinds would succeed wonder- 

 fully if there was any inducement to plant, and any prospect that the 

 growers would be allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labor. 



Western Asia has many natural flowers, but few cultivated ones. 

 Many orchards and wonderfully productive. The olive (oranges at 

 Joppa and a few other places), the fig, apricots and other fruits of that 

 class thrive wonderfully, and in grapes they excel most of the countries 

 of the world. Here too, taxation depresses, but not quite so much as 

 in Egypt, for there it destroys, but in Palestine it only depresses and 

 taxes to a heavy amount. But the wonderful yield of fruit from tree 

 and vine passes the conception of these who have never seen large 

 crops, such as are grown on the hills of Western Asia. Many of the 

 plantings are small, some in the valleys, but mostly on the terraced 

 slopes of the hills and mountains. These Arab farmers or felas are 

 wondeifully utililarian, and no esthetic notions enter into their horti- 

 cultural operations. They work without system, it is true, but judg- 

 H— 12 



