Syria: An Economic Survey 



The soil in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea in the Jordan 

 Valley is salty and unfit for cultivation. 



In some parts of the mountain districts the trees seem to 

 grow directly on the rocks. This is because what seems to be a 

 rock is nothing but a thin crust (nari) which is formed over loose 

 earth, through the crevices of which the roots are able to penetrate. 

 Another phenomenon is the luxuriant tree-plantations in the 

 sands of the Plain of Sharon. Here the stratum of sand is only 

 50-80 centimeters deep, and the roots penetrate to the fertile soil 

 beneath. 



C. Dangers and Obstacles to Husbandry. 

 1. Natural Dangers. 



Drought. The success of the crops depends upon the abun- 

 dance and duration of the rain during the rainy season. The 

 latter rains are indispensable for wheat, although a delay in the 

 former rains is also detrimental; this frequently occurs in the 

 neighborhood of Gaza and Beersheba. 



Frost, hail, and locusts. These also constitute a menace to the 

 crops. Frost injures trees rich in sap and evergreen trees, which 

 can therefore be planted only in the Jordan valley and the coastal 

 plain. Heavy frosts occur only in Northern Syria, and there at 

 rare intervals. Hail, which falls very seldom, is injurious particu- 

 larly to grapes and oranges. Locusts, which constitute the gravest 

 menace to Syrian husbandry, are of two varieties, the Italian and 

 the Soudan wandering locust. The former kind appeared in the 

 Vilayet of Aleppo about ten years ago and, having domesticated, 

 caused a deal of damage. The government has been partially 

 successful in exterminating it. The latter kind, far more harmful, 

 devastated the country in 1866 and again in 1915, when the dam- 

 age caused was estimated at 100,000,000 francs, the Jewish colonies 

 in Palestine alone suffering a loss of two or three million francs. 

 Since this last onslaught the government has taken precautions, 

 and the small hordes which appeared in 1916 were immediately 

 exterminated. 



2. Legal Obstacles to Husbandry. 



The townships are divided into several sections, in each of 

 which the property owners are compelled to plant only one sort of 

 cereal each year. In some villages the land is in the permanent 

 ownership of individuals, but in others the old system of communal 

 ownership still persists, whereby the land is apportioned anew 



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