368 



[November, 1912. 



Once established, date-palms are subject to no disease, and can only 

 be destroyed by felling, a catastrophe which is not likely to occur while 

 England has any say in the affairs of Egypt. The same argument applies 

 to taxation. Outside of certain small school and road rates, the land tax 

 appears to be the only impost. This is re-assessed periodically. When 

 ground has been brought under cultivation it amounts to 10s. the feddan, 

 and rises to a moderate total of £1 17s. 6d. the feddan, imposed upon lands 

 in full bearing. 



The Method of Planting. 



The space that remains at my disposal allows of but a brief description 

 of the farming operations on the Pyramids Estates. The palm trees, of 

 which about 10,000 have now been set, are grown from three-year-old 

 suckers separated from existing trees of varieties remarkable for their 

 excellence, shows which originated in the oasis of Siwah being, I 

 believe, the best. To these suckers (which cost about£3 the [Pyrmids 

 Estates] thousand) a portion ot root must be attached, since otherwise 

 they will nob strike. On receipt they are planted in cuplike 

 depressions in the sandy soil at a distance of 22ft. apart. Most of 

 them root readily enough, though a certain proportion, say 4 per cent., 

 fail and must be replaced. The requisites for their successful growth are 

 protection from hot winds by means of the umbrella-like structures of 

 maize stalks to which I have alluded, and regular watering until the Nile 

 rises in September. After the first year only an occasional watering is 

 required, and after the second practically none, since by this time the 

 roots have penetrated iuto the damp soil beneath. 



On the Pyramid? Estates this watering is managed as follows :— The 

 tank attached to each well holds sufficient water for an ascertained number 

 ot trees. The watering begins at daylight and about 11 o'clock all tanks 

 are reported to be empty. The foreman then rides round and sees that 

 every tree has received its share. At noon the tanks are pumped full 

 again for the next day's use. When this task is finished the labourers do 

 no more work until the morrow. The pay of these men is from three and 

 a half to four piastres per diem, the foremen receiving four and a half 

 piastres, or about one shilling, which, it will be agreed, is not an extrava- 

 gant wage. Labour, however, is cheap and plentiful in Egypt. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN MADRAS. 



The acting Director of the Madras Presidency says in his report on the 

 operations of the Department of Agriculture for 1911-12 that it has been 

 found by experience that many students of the land-owning classes who 

 take kindly to the purely agricultural side of the present course are 

 repelled by the scientific side, especially by the work in pure science. 

 After a full discussion ot the matter with the college staff he recently 

 submitted proposals for revising the present diploma course by lengthen- 

 ing it to four years and by dividing it into a preliminary two years' agri- 

 cultural course, with lectures in popular sciences but no laboratory work, 

 and a further two years' scientific course. It would be possible to admit 

 40 students to the preliminary course as the numbers would not be restric- 

 ted, as now, by the laboratory accommodation available. From 

 these it should be possible to ireleco each year 20 who would be capable of 

 going through the further two years' scientific course successfully. It is 

 hoped that under such a scheme both the number and the quality of 

 qualified students would be improved and at the same time the demand 

 for a less scientific agricultural course would be met. 



