No. 129.] 511 



the country comprised between that city, Constantine and Philip- 

 ville ; the plains of Dgigelly and Bougie to a vast extent ; the 

 central and southern part of Mitidja; the plain of Cheliflf', those 

 of Mina, of Eghris, of Sig and of Habva, as well as the countries 

 which surround the Sebgha of Oran and Henicen, are deemed to 

 possess the ricliest soils. To sum up, we may pronounce Algeria, 

 as a whole, one of the fertile countries of the globe. 



The chief farming of the Arabs is wheat; they also raise corn, 

 sorgho, (a first rate feed for cattle and horses, a grass,) millet, 

 chick pea, lentils, beans, turnips and cabbages, but not in plenty, 

 tobacco, flax, &c.,&c. The Kabiles, the most steady of the peo- 

 ple, cultivate trees and vines in their mountains. 



Mr. Meigs said, there is much to admire in the fpllowing : 



'■'■Planting fruit trees for others.'''' — The Spaniards have a maxim 

 that a man is ungrateful to the past generation that planted the 

 trees from which he eats fruit, and deals unjustly towards the 

 next generation unless he plants the seed, that it may furnish 

 food for those who come after him. Thus, when a Spaniard eats 

 a peach or a pear, by the road-side, wherever he happens to be, 

 he digs a hole in the ground with his foot and covers the seeds. 

 Consequently, all over Spain, by the road-sides and elsewhere, 

 fruit in great abundance tempts the taste and is ever free. Let 

 this practice be imitated in our country and the weary wanderer 

 "will bless the hand that ministered to his comfort and joy. We 

 are bound to leave the world as good or even better than we found 

 it, and he is a poor scamp who basks under the shadow and eats 

 the fruit of trees which other hands planted, if he will not also 

 plant trees which shall yield fruit to coming generations. 



Annates de la Societe d'' Horticulture of Paris-) et centrale de France. 

 Dec. 1851. Extracts by H. Meigs. 



" Statistics of Agriculture by M. Moreau de Jonnes. — Land in 

 cultivation, nearly fifty-one millions of hectares, equal to 25,623 

 square leagues, or 230, 607 square miles. 



The total yield, vegetable and animal, is valued at 1,500 mil- 

 lions of dollars, of which the gardens yield nearly 31 \ millions." 



