PROBLEMS AND RESULTS IN ISRAEL 393 
As a result of these surveys we possess today, inter alia, a sound 
geological knowledge, a detailed phytogeographical, ainuogne ite 
logical, and pedaloctcal map of the Negev, transforming an area, 
which twenty years ago was largely terra incognita to science, 
into a scientifically better known area than even certain parts of 
Europe. 
One may be astonished to find archaeology in the above-men- 
tioned list of necessary surveys. As will be shown later, the 
archaeological survey has made a most valuable contribution to 
the solution of practical agricultural problems. The study of 
archaeology should, therefore, never be neglected in regions where 
previous civilizations existed in desert areas. 
The practical importance of these integrated surveys as the 
first essential in desert agriculture cannot be overemphasized. 
Whenever we tried to jump ahead and to find empirical solutions 
without possessing the necessary data, we were faced with costly 
failures that could have been avoided had necessary scientific 
information been collected and analyzed before taking the first 
practical step. 
The second essential, we learned, was that any team working on 
a project of desert agriculture has to be extremely versatile and 
elastic. Some of the main practical problems could not be foreseen 
when the working plan was made. They emerged, sometimes in 
the most unexpected way, only during the course of the practical 
work. The research team, therefore, has to be ready and scien- 
tifically capable of dealing with all kinds of unexpected problems 
by either tackling them themselves or by enlarging the circle of 
cooperating agencies. Since most of the problems which have to 
be solved are scientifically fascinating as, for instance, the problem 
of germination, it is sometimes difficult to remember that practi- 
cal results are the goal and that we cannot allow ourselves to get 
lost in most interesting, purely scientific research. 
In the following pages we shall deal with some of the main 
problems of desert agriculture. Emphasis will always be laid, in 
accordance with the main theme of this conference, on the lesson 
to be learned from it for future work and not so much on the 
results achieved. 
