AGRICULTURE. 437 



it is gathered into the granaries it becomes a prey to weevil. The linseed also 

 contains foreign grains in the proportion of one-fifth ; the indigo is parched and 

 earthy ; the opium adulterated with lettuce- juice ; the cotton fibre mixed with all 

 kinds of impurities. 



The fields cultivated by the peasantry grow scarcely any large plants except 

 palms, while the products of the European fruit-trees are usually of very indifferent 

 quality. The tree valued beyond all others is still the date-palm, each plant of which 

 yields an average yearly revenue of about sixteen shillings.* 



The domestic animals are badly cared for, nor have the Egyptian stock-breeders 

 any right to boast of their really splendid breeds of asses, especially the large white 

 variety, which appear to have come originally from Yemen. 



Wheat, barley, durrah, lentils, peas, haricots, lupins, saffron, clover, hemp, the 

 poppy, melons, and divers kinds of vegetables, are cultivated in all the small 

 holdings of the fellahin, while other plants unknown to the ancient Egyptians 

 have also been introduced into the annual rotations of crops. Such are indigo, 

 tobacco, maize, rice, the sugar-cane, mulberry, and cotton plant. Progress has 

 shown itself especially by the great change that has taken place in the method of 

 cultivation. To the plants grown in past times there have been added many others; 

 artificial irrigation also now supplements that of the periodical inundations, while 

 steam ploughs have in many districts replaced the primitive implements, such as 

 we see figured on the bas-reliefs of the ancient tombs. The pointed sticks by 

 which the surface is scratched rather than ploughed in Dar-For, have also every- 

 where disappeared in Egypt, except in the neighbourhood of Kom-Ombo. 



In good years the cereal crops amount altogether to from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 

 quarters, of which about 2,000,000 are wheat, 1,250,000 barley, 1,750,000 maize. 

 Rice and lentils are also exported in considerable quantities. The sugar-cane is 

 cultivated especially in Tipper Egypt and in the Fayum, on the large estates of 

 the State and industrial companies. The great capital required for the establish- 

 ment of factories and " smoking obelisks" necessarily prevent small holders from 

 engaging in this industry. f 



Cotton, however, has been introduced on the farms of the peasantry, thanks to 

 the Greek agents, who buy up the raw material and prepare it for the market in 

 their small j inning mills. But no foreign hands are ever found working jointly 

 with the natives. The low price of manual labour must always prevent European 

 agricultural settlements from being established in Egypt. Immigrants from the 

 West can find a footing only in the large towns. Introduced into Egypt during 

 the government of Mohammed Ali, largely through the efforts of the Frenchman 

 Jumel, the cotton plant has gradually acquired, under the name of mako, a certain 

 importance in the export trade of Egypt. When the usual supplies of raw cotton 

 were suddenly arrested by the outbreak of the war of Secession in the United States, 

 all the efforts of the Egyptian cultivators were directed towards the production of this 

 valuable commodity, vast quantities of which were then exported from Alexandria. 



* Date-trees of Egypt in 1875, 5,000,000 ; annual yield, 100,000 to 120,000 tons of fruit, 

 t Sugar plantations in 1880, 38,000 acres ; yield, 46,750 tons ; value of the crop, £935,000. 



