Syria: An Economic Survey 



being washed away. Thus arable tracts of land are created. 

 This terracing was much more resorted to in olden times. The 

 fellaheen do not usually trouble to clear the land of stones. Much 

 attention has been given to this phase of land improvement in the 

 Jewish colonies, where the stones are used to build walls around 

 the fields. 



Drainage by means of pipes has been attempted only in one 

 place, namely, along the banks of the Aujah (north of Jaffa). The 

 Jewish colonists of Hudeirah partially drained their marshes by 

 planting eucalyptus forests. The large swamps along the coastal 

 plain could only be drained by means of canalization, those on the 

 banks of Lake Huleh by regulating the course of the Jordan. 



Afforestation has not been undertaken anywhere except in the 

 vicinity of cities and in the Palestinian colonies. 



Fertilizing is unknown to the fellaheen. They do not keep 

 cattle to any extent, and what little dung they have is dried and 

 used as fuel, or else is heaped up on the ground and remains un- 

 used. The Palestinian colonists used to buy these manure heaps 

 from the Arabs, who are now, however, beginning to awaken to a 

 realization of their value. 



5. Irrigation. 



During the dry season irrigation is indispensable for oranges, 

 lemons, etc. It is accomplished either by water from the streams 

 or by pumps. Along the coastal plain from Gaza to Haifa, there 

 are wells where water is found at sea-level. Lately the natives 

 have followed the example of the Palestinian colonies and have used 

 suction pumps and kerosene or coal-gas motors. The Jews were 

 also the first to introduce the so-called "dry wells," which have 

 been widely copied. 



In Petach Tikvah a large pumping station was constructed 

 some years ago by the Palaestina, an irrigation company of Char- 

 lottenburg. In 1916 the works supplied 1,500 dunam of orange 

 plantations with water, charging from 15 to 35 francs per dunam 

 according to the distance from the pumping station. The works 

 are capable of irrigating 3,000 dunam. From 1911 to 1915 numer- 

 ous attempts were made to introduce new systems of irrigation. 

 The maximum depth of the wells along the coastal plain was 

 55 yards. Several Jews sank two wells 100 yards deep on the 

 slopes of Mount Carmel. In the colony Huldah (Judaea) a well of 

 200 yards was sunk by means of an American drilling machine. 

 Among the many irrigation projects of recent years special mention 



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