1 9 io.] 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



409 



mechanical device for the automatic distribution of the seed. At present 

 one man is required to drive the bullocks and another to put in the 

 grain. For the subsequent cultivation a light, cheap, and efficient form 

 of drill harrow is necessary. Some of the American types at present 

 used do well in the light soils, but they are too complex. 



The time is ripe for engineering - firms to tackle the question seriously 

 and on the spot by men who make it their business to understand the 

 requirements and resources of the cultivators. It is hopeless to attempt 

 to graft advanced methods on a primitive people. Progress at first will 

 undoubtedly be slow, but if proper methods are adopted, success is 

 sure to follow. 



Probable Demand for Agricultural Machinery in Asia Minor. — Mr. 

 Consul-General Lorimer's Report on the Trade of Baghdad for 1909 

 (F.O. Reports, Annual Series, No. 4482) states that the Turkish 

 Government have appointed a director of agriculture for Baghdad. 

 It is understood that he has advised the establishment of an agricul- 

 tural bank and an agricultural school, and that he is urging the larger 

 owners of land to adopt modern ploughs and mechanical reapers and 

 threshing machines. Simultaneously Sir William Willcocks' irrigation 

 schemes are in course of execution. These factors are likely to conduce, 

 sooner or later, to a demand for agricultural machinery of all descrip- 

 tions. The importance of the market, which may thus come into 

 existence, can be judged from the extent of the lands — some millions 

 of acres — which may eventually become available for cultivation. It 

 will also be determined, however, in some degree by the form of land 

 tenure that may come into vogue and the proportion of large to small 

 landowners. 



Ploughs and agricultural machinery should be of light make, and 

 they must be cheap in order to tempt the native experimenters. The 

 soil is clay and sand, not heavy, and the draught animals being 

 small, light ploughs are essential. There are no made roads, and 

 machines would have to cross unbridged ditches and water channels 

 in doing their work, hence they should be light in weight and strong 

 and simple in construction in order to suit the conditions of the country. 



The only available kinds of fuel are kerosene, wood and brush- 

 wood. No coal or electrical power is procurable. These facts should 

 be borne in mind in constructing engines to produce motive power for 

 driving or drawing machines. 



An enterprising French firm has already supplied its agent at 

 Baghdad with two sample ploughs, but these are said to be unsuitable 

 and too heavy for the local requirements. 



German firms established in Anatolia and Syria are said to supply 

 ploughs and machinery to landowners and farmers there on the hire 

 or the payment on instalment system. Some similar system would 

 need to be adopted here to make the use of agricultural machinery 

 popular. 



Importation of Machinery into France. — Mr. Consul Payton, in his 

 report to the Foreign Office on the trade of Calais in 1909 (Annual 

 Series, No. 4491) remarks that his attention has been drawn to the 



