NOTES ON EGYPTIAN VEGETATION. 
235 
NOTES ON EGYPTIAN VEGETATION. 
By Mr. Haery J. Veitch, F.E.H.S. 
{The folloioing Notes luere read at a meeting of the Horticultural Club. They 
ivere not prepared with any intention of being published, but at the 7-equest of the 
Secretary of ilieR.H.S. they have been transmitted to him for insertion in the Society'' s 
Journal. Tlie ivriter did not visit Egypt luith the idea of reporting on the vegetation 
of the country, and in these Notes are recorded only the results of his observations and 
enguiries extending over a period of about tioo months, nearly one-half of ivhich was 
spent on the Nile.) 
Approaching Egypt, as we did, in the daytime, our first view of any 
vegetation was, as we were nearing Port Said, when we could perceive 
the heads of the Date Pahii, the tree of the country, standing, as it were, 
out of the water. The land being so flat we could see these Palm tree 
heads long before we could see anything else, the next objects to catch the 
eye being the lighthouses. 
Arriving in the afternoon, we remained until the next morning at 
Port Said, a very dirty place, but as my object is to tell you what I can 
about the vegetation of Egypt I will not stay to describe this and other 
places we saw. 
Leaving by the morning train we arrived at Cairo after a journey of 
about eight hours, passing, during the latter part of the time, through a 
portion of what is known in biblical history as the land of Goshen. 
The land is still evidently very fertile and also very carefully culti- 
vated. To give one example of the immense improvement which has 
taken place in recent years in this part of the country, as indeed seems to 
have been the case in almost all the other parts we saw, I may say that 
an area which, early in the century, barely supported 4,000 Arabs, now 
supports upwards of 12,000 prosperous farmers and peasants — thanks, 
in a great measure, to the Fresh Water Canal, which came into existence in 
1858-9. This was formed by M. de Lesseps to supply the towns on the 
Suez Canal with drinking water, and also to irrigate the country through 
which it passes. The water is taken from the Nile near Cairo. 
Perhaps I may as well give here a few brief particulars as to the 
agricultural produce of the country before touching on the horticultural 
aspect. 
The seasons are three. 
1. The winter crops, of which the seeds are sown immediately after 
the subsidence of the Nile inundation. In the Upper Nile district this 
commences as early as the middle of October. In Central Egypt 
(Assiut to Cairo) early in November, and in the Delta, about the end of 
November. 
The ground is seldom prepared in any way for sowing, the annual 
inundation providing a fresh supply of manure. Four months is the 
usual period from seed- sowing to harvest for these crops. 
We saw land near the Pyramids which, we were told, had been free 
