45G Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 
and his ])arty. He might add that the rank of captain was allowed 
by the French Government to all the Arab chiefs. Besides the 
Europeans and Arabs, there was a very numerous population of Jews, 
who had long been settled in the country, having, as it appeared, 
migrated to it in great numbers after the fall of Jerusalem. The 
Jews were the bankers and merchants and money -making people of 
the countr}'. 
As regarded the cultivable land, there was a very gi-eat tract at 
a comparatively short distance from the seaboard. The climate 
was rather monotonous. During twelve years frost had only been 
found twice in Algiers. The mean temperature was 70° Fahrenheit. 
The heat increased from January till September ; the hottest months 
being July and August, when the mean temperature was 80°. A 
very hot wind sometimes set in from the interior, and swept over 
the whole country. Occasionally it came before the corn harvest, 
and in that case it proved very destructive. A hot sirocco, loaded 
with very fine particles of sand, raised the temperature perhaps to 
120°, and had almost the effect of an oven upon the ripening corn. 
It seldom continued for more than four or five days ; and if it did 
not come till after the corn harvest was reaped, did comparatively 
little injur}'. In winter the temperature ranged from 55° to 65°. 
It was during winter and spring that the coin harvest took place. 
Wheat, barley, and jiotatoes were all planted in October and 
November, and reaped in 3Iarch, April, and the beginning of May. 
There is a second crop sown immediately after the corn harvest is 
completed, which is reaped in September and October. This second 
harvest consisted principally of oilseeds of all descriptions and 
Indian-corn ; but, except wlaere there was an artificial supply of 
water from springs or wells, the summer cultivation is not suc- 
cessful. 
Besides the French colonists, Swiss and Germans are now begin- 
ning to spread over the fine corn-growing districts in Constantino. 
The land is offered to the people of other countries on the same 
terms as to the people of France, namely, 20,s. per acre for land 
suitable for corn-growing. Between Philipville and Constantino 
there are very fine tracts of land ; and that is a very healthy neigh- 
Ijourhood for Europeans. 
Altogether, the cultivable land in Algeria amotmts to about 
thirty-four millions of acres, which is more than the cultivable 
extent of England proper. Of these thirty-four millions, five mil- 
lions are cultivated — ten in pasture, twelve waste, and four forest. 
The extent of laud in corn, in 18G1, was 4,500,000 acres, 2,000,000 
of which were barley — an immense breadth, as is evident from the 
fact, that only about one million acres annually are under barley in 
this country. Vegetables of all kinds are here grown in great 
abundance, and a considerable trade has already siDiTtng up in the 
supply of A'egetables to the French and English markets. 
Since ]850 an enormous increase has taken jilace in the exports: 
that of hides is veiy considerable. Of wool, which was one of the 
great industries of the kingdom, the export last year amounted in 
