110 EGYPTIAN AGRICULTURE. 



the introduction of any new implement and his proneiiess 

 to condemn untried any new machine. He has to be 

 gnu luall y educated up to the use of all mechanical appliances 

 which are profitably used in Europe and may also find a 

 place in the agriculture of this country. Secondly : owing 

 to the high price of labour, farmers in Europe and America 

 are dependent on labour- saving implements and machinery 

 it would in fact be absolutely impossible for them 

 to carry on their business without the aid of modern 

 machinery whereas the price of labour in this country is 

 much cheaper, and consequently from the point of view of 

 cost of labour, there is not the same need for labour-saving 

 machinery. From the point of view of efficiency, however, 

 there is considerable scope for the introduction of modern 

 implements. 



The stocking of an European farm with machinery is 

 an important item of the farmer's capital, and we may say 

 that for each feddan under cultivation a sum of from two 

 to three hundred piastres is required while in Egypt a 

 sum of thirty piastres suffices. 



Ploughs. The plough has ever occupied a prominent 

 position in agriculture. It is the most important implement 

 at the farmer's command. The plough as used in Egypt 

 is very primitive, and is more properly described as a one- 

 tined cultivator than as a plough. It costs about 60 P.T. 



It simply stirs the soil without inverting it as modern 

 European ploughs do. In countries where irrigation is 

 the sole means of supplying crops with the water they 

 require, it is necessary that in ploughing the land it should 



