CROPS OK THE COLONY. 77 



In oood vears IS to 26 bushels of j>Tain are obtained from an acre. 

 During the ten years ended in 185)3 the average area in sorghuni was 

 75,000 acres. 



Indian corn.—\x\ the irrigated soils of the large valleys Indian corn 

 is the most profitable summer cereal, but without a good water supply 

 it is rarely a paying crop. For this reason, and because of the scarcity 

 of manure, comparatively little is grown. The average area grown by 

 natives during the ten years ended in 1S1>8 was 20,000 acres. The 

 varietv known as '" Quarantaiir' is esteemed for its earliness; " Cara- 

 gua'' for its large yields. Yields of 22 to 30 bushels per acre are 

 obtained under irrigation, and the grain sells for about $1 per bushel. 

 Algeria exports an insignificant quantity of this grain. Among the 

 natives, especially in the Kabyle mountain districts, the roasted ears 

 of maize are much esteemed as food, l)ut with European colonists it is 

 not in favor as a table vegetable. 



FORAGE CROPS. 



WILD FORAGE. 



Two sorts of wild forage are to l)e distinguished -that of fallow 

 fields and that of natural meadows. 



F(d1ou--Jand forage.— MteA- the removal of the winter crop of cereals 

 wild plants of various sorts, including a great variety of Leguminostv, 

 spring up amid the stubble, especially when the autumn rains begin. 

 This wild forage is generally most luxuriant during the first winter 

 following the crop of grain. If the land is then left fallow for several 

 years in succession a gradual deterioration of the wild forage, l)oth in 

 quality and in quantity, is ot)servable. This can be prevented in large 

 measure by occasional plowing. An application of farm man n re at the 

 rate of about 10 tons per acre will cause large yields of natural forage 

 to be produced for two or three years, besides putting the land into 

 excellent shai)e for two successive crops of cereals at the end of that 

 period. Forage of this kind is generally pastured. If made into hay, 

 it is usually fed on the farm, not being of a sort that is well adapted 

 for baling and shipment. 



In the oases of the Sahara, Bermuda grass, which the natives esteem 

 as a forage plant, abounds. Almost every roadside and ditch bank is 

 occupied by this grass. It is either grazed or is cut and fed green. 



Forage of mdural meadoirs and prairie.^.— The slopes of the hills 

 and mountains of the coast region and the steppes of the high plateau, 

 like the great plains of the Western States, are still covered in great 

 part with a growth of grasses and other native plants, the value of 

 which is enhanced by the presence of numerous species of vetch, 

 clover, ])ur clover, and other Leguminoste. In the high plateau region 

 large flocks of sheep and goats are pastured upon the natural herbage 

 of the range, generally obtaining no other food. 



