12 AGRTCULTUKAL EXPLORATIONS IN ALGERIA. 



prevails. At the .same time a careful search was made in various 

 parts of Algeria for such other cultivated plants as might prove 

 useful for salt soils. Incidentall}^ the writers procured all possible 

 information as to the character of the saline soils of Algeria, the way 

 in which the}^ are handled, and such attempts as have been made to 

 reclaim them. 



The coast region of Algeria strikingl}' resembles the corresponding 

 part of California in climate, in ph3-siography, and in the crops grown. 

 The interior of California, and of the extreme southwestern United 

 States generally, corresponds in many ways to the steppe and the desert 

 regions of northern Africa. It is true that in some respects agricul- 

 ture has reached a more advanced stage of development in California 

 than in Algeria; yet there are prol)ably some matters in which the 

 French colony can give lessons to the American State. For this reason 

 itseems advisable to present a sketch of Algerian agriculture as a whole, 

 in addition to a more detailed account of the special subjects which the 

 writers were sent out to investigate. The writers' stay in Algeria was 

 limited to one month, from July 20 to August 20, 1902. It is fully 

 realized that this length of time was entirely inadequate for anything 

 like a thorough study of agriculture in the colony, especially as the 

 mild winter permits crops to be grown at all seasons of the year. The 

 date of the writers' visit to Algeria was determined partly by the 

 necessity of reaching Egypt in time to study cotton at the height of 

 its development, and partly ])y their desire to visit the oases of the 

 Sahara at the season when the seed crop of alfalfa is being made. 

 The information they could obtain by direct observation was neces- 

 sarily fragmentary in the extreme. To supplement this, recourse has 

 been had to the rather extensive literature of Algerian agriculture. 

 In the preparation of this report the excellent work of Battandier 

 andTrabut, entitled "L'Algerie'' (Paris, 1898), has been freely con- 

 sulted. Much information has also been drawn from papers upon 

 special subjects by Doctor Tral)ut and others, « from the important 

 "Manuel Pratique de I'Agriculteur Algerien " (Paris, 1900) of Riviere 

 and Lecq, and from various other sources. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



The French colony of Algeria is situated in northern Africa, between 

 Morocco on the west and Tunis on the east. In general outline it is 

 a rectangle, of which the greatest length— that from east to west— is 

 about 6.50 miles. The area of Algeria is about 230,000 square miles, of 

 which approximately 20,000,000 acres are under cultivation. The 

 Mediterranean forms the northern boundary, while on the south the 



o Published chief! v in the "Bulletin Agricole de I'Algerie et de la Tiuiiyie." 



