152 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



bo 



FARMING IN PALESTINE. 



S. W. JoxKs, Esq., of Fittsfieid, Mass., who is la- 

 iriusr iu Palestine to ameliorate the condition of the 



Jeu-!5."has written home to Dr. REEn's Cutturisl and 

 Gazette aii interesting letter, descriptive of the ge- 

 olofn^ and agriculture of that part of the ca^^toru coast 

 of the Mediterranean. He says that its surface rocks 

 belong to the chalk formation; and that the soil is 

 naturally fertile, but v^TCtchedly cultivated. The 

 Plains of Sharon appear to be elevated table land, 

 liaving an abundance of lime iu the form, primarily, 

 of minute shells (chai-acteristic of chalk), and valuable 

 for raising grain. 



Mr. JoxEs' letter beai-s date Jauuaiy 21, 1854, iu 

 which he gives the following iuteresting iuformation : 

 " The plains are chiefly used to raise grain upon, 

 and to pasture flocks and herds upon. The appear- 

 ance now is much as our river lands and plains are 

 about the fore part of Juue. The wheat is from six 

 to twelve inches high; barley is sown before and after 

 wheat, and is of ditiereat ages. Dhura and sem sem 

 is not yet sown. Sem sem bears a seed of a nature 

 somewhat like a flax seed, and looks a good deal like 

 a red pepper seed, only larger, and is used to make 

 lamp-oil. There is nothing like a fence or hedge 

 around the grain fields, and all the land not occupied 

 for tillage is one common pasture; but, as in the days 

 of old, no creature of any kind is allowed to run at 

 large — all are under the care of shepherds, and at 

 night they are driven home into the fold. The fii-st 

 persons that we see stirring in the morning are the 

 cattle tenders, ' going forth with their flocks,' and all 

 day long they can be seen scattered in eveiy direction 

 over the plains ' tending their flocks,' precisely as we 

 read of in the days of the Patriarchs. The vtheat is 

 ripe in May, and before this time the rains are over, 

 and there is no need of barns; so the grain is cut and 

 piled up till they tala a notion to thresh it, when a 

 place is smoothed off on the ground, and the grain 

 thrown on and oxen driven over it till it is pounded 

 up fine, and then is thrown against the wind, put into 

 sacks and earned to market, full of every thing that 

 can make it foul ; and then people whose business it 

 is, take it and sift it on the ground in the street, when 

 it is ready for grinding. If this land was not as rich 

 as the Garden of Eden, they would not, in the way 

 they cultivate it, get their seed. Their plows do not 

 make a larger furrow than our cultivator; and what 

 is more, they only ' cut and cover ;' they go round a 

 land, or back and forth on the same, just as it hap- 

 pens — as their plow turns a furrow both ways, it 

 makes no difference. Their yokes are simply a straight 

 stick, with two pins for a bow, with a string tied 

 across the ends under the neck; and it looks, at a lit^ 

 tie distance, just like a long, low saw-horse, or a saw- 

 bench. They use the same yoke for an ox, mule or 

 donkey ; and they are not at all jiarticular about 

 working two animals of the same kind together — an 

 ox and an ass, or an ox, a mule or a cow is just as 

 well as any way — the same gear fits all. 



"In the neighborhood of Jaffa are some of the 

 best gardens for oranges, lemons, pomegi'anates, mel- 

 ons, dates, bannanas, &c., that can be found in the 

 countr}- — perhaps in any country. These gardens 

 have to be watered diaring the dry season, and all the 



water is raised from the wells. The well is dug on 

 the highest place in the garden, and the water raised 

 into a pool by a crazy apparatus, turned by a mule 

 hitched to a sweep, where it stands till it becomes 

 warm enough to use, when it is let on to the garden 

 by channels made for the purpose. By watering in 

 the dry season, vegetables can be grown all the year 

 round, and two, three or fom- crops can be produced 

 on the same ground in a year. All things grow very 

 quick. Early Indian corn has been raised fit for 

 eating in seven weeks from planting, and wheat has 

 ripened in 60 days from sowing. The orange trees, 

 and also the lemons and pomegranates, require to be 

 watered through the summer month,*, in order to have 

 them produce any good fruit. Figs, gi-apes and olives 

 are not much raised in these gardens — they do best 

 on the mountains and rocky places — precisely the 

 opposite of what the products of. these gardens 

 want. A dry, stony soil, without water during 

 the summer, is the place for them. They say here 

 that if grapes have much water they mildew. May 

 ive not have given our grapes and gooseberries too 

 much water or too wet a place ? The oranges here 

 are something that we, iu Massachusetts, have never 

 seen. I wish I could send you a tree, M'ith its load 

 hanging to it. They are so f\ill that they are literally 

 bottom upwards, resting on the props. They grow 

 here sometimes that will weigh one and a half pounds. 

 I have seen pound ones, and I should think that I 

 had seen them that were still larger; but it is not the 

 largest that are the best or the most beautiful. Their 

 greatest lieauty is in their color and number con- 

 trasted with the deep green of the leaves. In many 

 places on the trees they are so thick as to make one 

 solid raa.=s, with only room for the leaves to stick out 

 between them. It is in time of gathering during the 

 months of November, December, Januaiy and Feb- 

 ruary, and soon the trees are in blossom again." 



Where Mr. J. is made to say that they have a kind 

 of wheat that matures in 60 days from the time the 

 seed is sown, we suspect that there is a typographical 

 error. If there is such a variety or species of wheat 

 in Palestine, it is a fact of some importance. Will 

 Dr. Reed examine the manuscript again, to see that 

 the figures are set up rightly ? 



Sore Backs. — A correspondent at a distance writes 

 as follows, which may prove serviceable to some of 

 our readers : " If your horse is troubled with a sore 

 or galled back, rub white lead, softened to a paste 

 with linseed oil, on the injured part, tiU the sere is 

 completely covered. Some recommend for this pur- 

 pose a solution of vitriol in water ; but the former 

 remedy is far preferable, and, on the whole, more cer- 

 tain to effect a cure. I have known bad galls entirel\ 

 healed and cured by it iu a few days. Wound.- 

 any part of the animal, if not deep and of a seri 

 character, are gi-eatly eased, and disjjo.sed to 1 

 rapidly, by this application. Try it." — Gcrmantij 

 Telegraph. 



Farmers should examine their implements, and put 

 all in good repair needing it. 



Cotton was first raised in the United States in 1702. 



