CONTINENT OP ASIA. 

 ASIA MINOR. 



REPORT BY CONSUL STEVENS. OF SMYRNA. 

 [Republished from Consular Reports No. 41J.] 



Aidin. The vilayet of Aidin contains about 35,500 square miles, and 

 has a population of nearly 1,000,000. It is the most productive and in 

 all respects the most important section of Asia Minor. It lies in lati- 

 tude north 38 28' 7", west 1 50' 44" longitude of Constantinople, com- 

 pared with the meridan of St. Sophia. Two considerable rivers flow 

 through it. The arable surface is made up of valley, table-land, and hill- 

 side. The soil, except in the more mountainous districts, is extremely 

 fertile and easily tilled. The climate is mild and admits of field labor 

 at all seasons of the year. 



Climatic effects. The cultivation of fruits, tigs, and raisin-grapes, es- 

 pecially, is extensively earned on. Smyrna figs have a world- wide rep- 

 utation for excellence. The raisins produced are also of superior qual- 

 tiy. The natural conditions are favorable, and to this fact more than to 

 the methods pursued in cultivation must be ascribed the success at- 

 tained. To reach the fullest development of which these fruits are capa- 

 ple a semi-tropical sun, unobscured by clouds during the summer months 

 and early autumn, is needful. A wet winter and early spring with a dry 

 summer and autumn are conditions most desired by the cultivators of 

 these fruits, and indeed for nearly all the other crops of this region. The 

 accompanying table, marked A, showing the amount of the rain-fall in 

 Smyrna for each month, beginning with the year 1864 and ending with 

 1882, will be found useful in this connection. To enable American fruit 

 growers to estimate the influence of climate upon the raisin product 

 here it should be stated that, even in mid-winter, frosts are very infre- 

 quent, and the freezing point is rarely reached. The spring is very short, 

 the transition from the cold rains of winter to the balmy breezes of sum- 

 mer often being almost immediate, but the hot season does not set in un- 

 til the middle of May. From that time until the middle of September 

 the thermometer ranges from 78 to 90 in the shade. For weeks suc- 

 cessively there is very little variance in the temperature. Both in winter 

 and summer the wind for long intervals blows from one quarter. On 

 the sea-board the heat of summer is tempered by a breeze from the sea, 

 called " iinbat, " which blows fresh and strong nearly every afternoon. 



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