JEWISH COLONIZATION IN PALESTINE 429 



Mr. Aaron Aaronsohn, had already been engaged for many years in an 

 agricultural and botanical exploration of the country, some of the re- 

 sults of which have been published in Bulletin 180, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, IT. S. Department of Agriculture. One of the most inter- 

 esting discoveries was a wild species of wheat closely related to some of 

 the domesticated forms, and possibly representing the long-sought an- 

 cestral form of this whole group of cereals. An opportunity of ob- 

 serving the habits of this plant in the region of Mt. Hermon in the 

 summer of 1910 has left no doubt that the plant is a genuine wild 

 species, and not an escaped form of domesticated wheat. A subse- 

 quent experiment with the wild wheat in southern California shows 

 that it is worthy of further study from the standpoint of acclimatiza- 

 tion in the United States. 2 



But the wild wheat is only one of many subjects that are receiving 

 attention at the newly established experiment station. Many difficulties 

 are being encountered, as was fully expected beforehand, including the 

 necessity of grappling with the problem of malaria. As this disease has 

 been one of the most serious obstacles in the establishment of the colo- 

 nies, the power to control it has a direct relation to the agricultural 

 progress of the country. Some of the most fertile districts have re- 

 mained almost uninhabited on account of the prevalence of malaria, a 

 disease that modern sanitation can easily exterminate. The recent 

 organization of a health bureau for the scientific study of the indigenous 

 diseases and the improvement of hygienic conditions is the first out- 

 growth from the establishment of an agricultural experiment station. 



Thus the founding of this station has given a new aspect to the 

 whole colonization movement, in showing that the resources of modern 

 science are to be enlisted. It is becoming apparent that some of the 

 problems of Palestine will yield to scientific knowledge, although they 

 may have resisted the most devoted efforts and the most liberal expendi- 

 ture of money in unscientific ways. Motives of religion, charity and 

 patriotism have figured so largely that constructive applications of sci- 

 ence have received little consideration. If even a part of the colonists 

 brought with them to Palestine a knowledge of modern scientific agri- 

 culture the situation would be entirely changed. Such knowledge would 

 be far more precious than money, so much of which has been spent to 

 little purpose. 



The tendency has been to think of Palestine as a refuge from oppres- 

 sion rather than as an opportunity of developing a new agricultural 

 civilization. But if the colonization movement continues it must be 

 only a question of time when the traditional idealism of the people will 

 assert itself in agricultural lines, as it has in so many other forms 



2 Cook, O. F., "Wild Wheat in Palestine," Bulletin 274, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1913. 



