924 FRUIT CXJLTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



The average rain-fall for ten years (1870-'79) was 796.4™"'. The maxi - 

 mam (1872) was 1,383.9°"° ; the minimum, 452.9°"" (1875). The most 

 frequent rains come from the feast and the southwest, but the hardest 

 rains come from the northeast and the south. Scarcely any rain comes 

 from the north or northwest. 



SOIL AND AGRICULTtlBE. 



The country has generally a gravelly limestone soil. Agriculture is 

 difBcult and comparatively iusiguiflcaut. The farmer has a continuous 

 struggle with nature for a living: but then it is not what we have that 

 makes us happy, but what we need, and happily for him, his needs are 

 small. 



The ground is solid and difficult to dig. It lies usually or frequently 

 in narrow terraces on the mountain-side, each one supported by the 

 rough stones piled up perpendicularly and forming the lower side of the 

 terrace, giving to the whole affair the appearance of an extensive 

 stair-case, up which a giant might climb the mountain. The tread of 

 the steps is the space devoted to agriculture. True, they cultivate the 

 valley below, but it is also divided into small patches, surrounded by 

 high stone walls, with espaliers (trellises) covered with roses, geraniums, 

 etc., and sometimes peaches or grapes. In all this there is small chance 

 for a plow, first, from the small and irregular shapes, and second, from 

 the groves and trees of lemons, oranges, olives, and figs, which occupy 

 the ground, and spread their roots in every direction. The most of the 

 work of turning up the earth preparatory to planting must be done with 

 the spade. It is hard labor, and shows its effects in the dwarfed and 

 early-bowed forms and the brown and grizzled faces one sees in the 

 market places. 



On the mountains and high up their sides one can find numberless 

 opportunities for, and illustrations of, geology, mineralogy, and some- 

 times archaeology, but not of agriculture. Eocks and stones here 

 abound, but, except for the ass and goat, there is scarcely enough vege- 

 tation to support animal life. 



The culture of flowers is fast becoming the more serious and remu- 

 nerative occupation. They are used for the essences and pomades of 

 commerce. Extensive establishments for these purposes abound 

 throughout the neighborhood. 



The principal food of the peasant is the/'-'ue demarais, n sort of bean 

 (frequently made with other vegetables into soup), vegetables dressetl 

 inlo salad, and black bread made of flour enmponnded of wheat and 

 rye, or wheatand oats. Their drink is the conunou wine of the country, 



THE OLIVE AND ITS OIL. 



The olive tree is of the highest antiquity. It appears on the earliest 

 page of written history in the leaf which the dove brought to Noah iu 

 the ark as evidence of the recodine waters. 



