269 
Foreign gardetiitig, 
on 
snt- 
I'Olllizo tiu! 
oC tilio 8ou- 
?Ood (ICill bc- 
GARDENING IN the SOUDAN 
An inkoresllnf-- IcU.or .•«liii,in.r ^ n,. 
ject, from which wo solcot, the f„ii, 
tracts, lias boon sent by Lim.t Vr"^' 
tholimidsot the 1x,„.to„ G,,r,l,.„ ta ,'r 
cation. It is written from Abu Futni a 
the Upper ¥iic: 
Ap^on wish to i.avo some account of u.v 
Soudan gardemug, I wiii do uiy best to ^ 
isfyyou. You must first of all 
fact tliat the cuitivated portion 
dan, at ali events up to aiui a 
yond Dongola, oousists of a mere strip of 
country bordering on tiio Nile. This varies 
in-width from nearly a mile to almost noth 
iug. Where 1 am it is only about 40 yards 
wide. Ihe width does not de])end on the 
naturai fertiiity of tlie soil, tor wherever Llie 
rich mud of the Nile can be poured over the 
desert sand, in a very short time tlie ground 
is so enriched that wonderful crops nourish. 
Wiat the cultivation depends on is tlie 
slope of the ground inland. If in .addition 
to the Nile bank, which is generally a i)retty 
definite one, tliere are inland from it second 
and thu-d banks, tlie cultit-ation becomes 
very troublesome, for the water has to be 
lifted over the second and tliird banks by 
native pumps as well as over tlie first. In 
some places the natives manage tliis, but in 
others, either from laziness or because in 
the immediate neighborhood the same re¬ 
sult can be attained with less trouble, they 
do not attempt to pass the second banlt, ami 
restrict their cultivation to the ground be¬ 
tween the Nile bank and the second bank. 
That is the case where I am. 
The little g.arclen, wliich is about 1600 
square yards m extent, runs, therefore, close 
along the shore of the Nile jnst above iiigli- 
water mark. It is watered by a single na¬ 
tive pump, commonly known as a sakyeb, 
wliich draws up water from the Nile, bj’^ 
means of a vertical wheel and rope, on wliicli 
buckets are placed, which dip into *'he Nile, 
and as the wheel is made to rotate by the 
working of a pah' of bullocks, discliarge 
their contents into a trougli, from wliicli the 
water is led, by a series of channels, around 
the different little patches into which 
hatlves divide the ground by 
Small banks. 
When the water reaches any iiatch whicli 
is to be irrigated, the workman hieaKs a 
small hole in the little bank and lets on tlie 
Water, which is allowed to cover tlie w lo e 
the patch lor an inch or two deep, anc ' 
sink well in before the surface water i 
drawn off. As soon as one patcli has la 
®ttough, the water is let off from it on uie 
hext patch, and the same process is ‘®P°' 
■The cultivation depends on the pa c i • - 
just a little lower one than the othci, 
®ud a very slight rise in the wrong c i _ 
throws it completely out. Such is 
®‘‘al system. ... 
There is a peculiarity about the . 
^•hich affects all gardening 
tire enormous expanse of ^ 
des and the narrow strip of 
the air is not merely negatively di.i i j, 
it what I may caU a positive dryin» 1 
tlie 
.series of 
m 
■•'^I'idevaporatioi,;"'''^-"' 
as to couii- 
iiitense cold. 
ever flu. i ’ "* eoiisciiuencc wlieii- 
J:,u 7‘“'’'"’'•so powerful 
■laimafv'' i^®®o'"',er, 
ospceliill’y in''th7’ 
tense tlni . ^ 'uoi'niiig, is so in- 
in Cm ' ’ ''ot^ 
bel^ zl ;!-!‘';V'‘‘‘‘'”--t-was20o 
nilr.,1 , ' ''® "CVCI- 111 my life 
as 1 1 , ’"dy such quantities of clothing 
have done herein the tropical .Soudan, 
m-cs. ®'’"'l’'etely failed with all 
1 H,( autions to koop out the cold. 'I'he ten- 
md'isf to lo-oduce 
moisture, and il.c momci.l, any covcriiw be- 
camo even slightly moist with iiivisibkri 
spiratioii, tlie 
per- 
air acted on it mueb in tlie 
"ay in wliicli moist llamiel wrapped around 
a bottle and Imng bi a breeze will almost 
irecze water. 
Now it will not be difficult to understand 
liow iiiucli tills efiect of the air would tell 
upon vegetation wlien tlie whole system of 
cultivation depends on artificial irrigation 
covering the wliole surface, and when, dur¬ 
ing tlie winter moiitli.s, a cold noitlierly 
breeze prevails, especially at night and in 
tlie early moriiiiig. It was quite curious to 
notice tlie efiect of tills in checking the 
growth of young seedlings. I have no doubt 
myself tliat it was greatly aggravated by tlie 
ignorance and blundering of my gardener; 
but 1 am strongly of tlie opinion that tlie 
natives generally, wlio tliemselves grow only 
Corn and the coarser kinds of Beans of va¬ 
rious types, and follow a lazy, mecliauical 
routine, do not know in tlie least liow to 
deal best with tlie conditions of the climate. 
I feel sure tliat a soieutifle and experienced 
gardener, wlio came here and carefully 
studied the conditions of soil and climate 
for a year or two, would introduce improve¬ 
ments in culture that would be startling in 
their results. I do not tliiulc that any place 
can exist wliere really scientific treatment 
would be so well rewarded. 
One peculiarity, which was quite unex¬ 
pected in tlie cultivation here, is the almost 
entire absence of weeds. Grass of a pecu¬ 
liar kind grows very freely under all crops 
of Corn, and springs up in many places, but 
of other weeds disturbing the crops there 
•ire hardly any. This must be due to the 
fact that the soil is almost re-made each 
year by the mud deposit from the Nile- 
"'Se water iu the middle of the Nile itself 
is now so clear, that one almost wonders 
wliere all the fertilizing mud comes from 
the phants, hut the toot 
time the Nile is rich m 
to the pit 0 ,- 
itli mud, wdiioh 
to 
during the 
mud, tlie ohimuel in¬ 
well by the side of the river 
froni wiiich the buckets 
, I ..ovnlves <>-ets olioked w 
wJieel le ^,e.ujed out. Heavy 
''Ifalls of muddy spray descend from the 
If! into the pit below .as they are emp- 
buckets 1 it 1 
tied into the t ^ 
liigh bank continually wet, covered 
,frass,aiid dripping into the 
witIigio"i“» ° buckets come up, 
pit below, so is clear, they bring 
f 
MARKET GARDENING IN JAPAN. 
Market gardening is one of the most prof¬ 
itable branches of farming in Japan, writes 
.S. Sato, a student at Houghton Farm, to 
the American Agriculturist. The farmers 
wlio arc situated in the vicinity of cities and 
towns devote tlieir special attention and en- 
ergy to tlie raising of varioiLs roots and leaf 
crops for the consumption of their custom¬ 
ers, and tlieir lalior is so well recompensed 
as to eiiahle them to live comfortably. ITie 
market gardeners generally standhigh among 
the f.-iriiiing coiniiiiiiiity, and they are more 
intelligent and enterprising than the farm¬ 
ers arc in tiie interior of the _eounti-y. TTie 
latter are characterized by honesty and slm- 
plicity, and tlic former by business shrewd- 
iiess ajitl sjigucity. 
Japan has not yet come to a] general use 
of teams and iiiacliines in the cultivation of 
the soil, hut rigidly adheres to modes of great 
antiquity. 'J’lie soil is cultivated mostly by 
the diligent eflorts and untiring labor of the 
liusbaiidman with implements which are of 
the simplest pos.sible mechanical construc¬ 
tion and unimproved for centuries. 
Ihe facilities with which a farmer can 
avail himself of implements of culture in 
any place and in any age, is one of the ele¬ 
ments by wliich the size of a farm must be 
decided, 'i'his is exaetl}'' the case with the 
•Japanese farmer. With no labor-saving ma¬ 
chines of modern invention, he was content 
with cultivating a farm of small size. It 
has been especially so with market garden¬ 
ers. Farms of from two to five acres are most 
common, but there are a number of market 
gardeners who cultivate even so small a farm 
as one acre. But the income of the farm is 
comparatively large; from §150 to §200 per 
acre is estimated to be a fair retm-n. As 
such an income cun be reasonably obtained, 
there is always a great demand for land in 
the vicinity of cities, and an otter of §600 or 
§S00 per acre is not uncommon, while the 
capital thus invested brings a sure retm-n. 
Besides assisting in gardening, the wives 
of the gardeners often devote a portion of 
their time to silk culture, which, after a few 
months, brings a remmierative income, and 
thus the whoie famil}' enjoy happiness and 
pleasure in the quiet subm-bs of cities, from 
the blessings of labor concentrated upon a 
small scale of farming. 
EPPING FOREST. 
Within a few miles of the great throbbing 
heart of London there still remains a por¬ 
tion of the royal forest of Waltham, which 
in ancient times covered a great tract of 
coimtry, and extended to the very walls of 
the cit}'. Its vast area included the forests 
of Hainault and Eppiug, of which some six 
thousand acres of picturesque woodland 
have, after much opposition and many dilfi- 
eulties, been secured for public health and 
recreation. 
By the newly established charter of forest 
rights, not only wide stretches of land, after 
years of cultivation,' have been redeemed 
from enclosure, and restored to the for¬ 
est limits, but nearly 13 miles of almost 
unbroken woodland scenery, forming, per- 
liaps, the most extensive pleasurfr-ground 
in Europe, have been formally dedicated by 
the Queen to the use and enjoyment of her 
people for all time.—C/ia«i6crs’ Journal. 
