The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-12-06 00:00:00

AGRICULTURE IN ASIA MINOR.

We give the following extract from a letter of the Corre-
spondent of The Times, in which, it will be seen, he gives
a very favourable account of the fertility of the soil in
Armenia :
One of the first things to attract the attention of an
agriculturist on coming into Asia Minor is the natural
fertility of the soil ln great numbers of cases
the soil is evidently produced by the decomposition of
limestone and other rocks under the influence of heat
and cold, of snow and rain, the pulverised particles
being carried into the valleys and spread over the
surface of the earth. As this process goes on from
year to year, and from generation to generation, it
accounts in a great measure for the unexhausted
fertility of the valleys and the plains that are
located at the bases of mountains in Asia Minor.
That fertility is abundantly proved by the fact that
whenever those plains and valleys are cultivated, even
after the rude and imperfect style of Eastern agricul-
ture, if the season is favourable in respect to the fall
of rain, the crops are most abundant. As fertilizers are
scarcely ever used, and the practice of laying down
fields to grass, so common in Europe and America, is
unknown in Turkey, there must be some kind of a
recuperative power in the soil, otherwise it would have
been exhausted centuries ago. So far from being ex-
hausted, the soil even in an uncultivated state pre-
sents that rich and elastic appearance which gives
to the practical farmer a firm assurance of a large
return for his labour. This fertility appears also
in the great plains of Mesopotama, that stretch for
hundred of miles along the great rivers and in those
that surround some of the larger inland towns and
cities, such as Csasarea, Adana, Dlarbekir, Aleppo,
and Kharpoot. The appearance of the soil of these
plains is often not unlike that of the prairies in the
Slates of Illinois, lowa, and Wisconsin in America;
the colour is dark, and the soil itself may be described
as a loam, in many oases reaching to the depth of
several feet, The constant impression of any one in-
terested in agriculture as he rides over the plains of
Asiatic Turkey is that the land with the proper cul-
tivation if capable of producing most abundant crops.
Another vivid impression made upon the mind of
any one who is seeking for the natural resources of
the ccuntry relatee to the great extent, in fact the
almost illimitable amount, of unoccupied land, such
land I mean as may with little labour be brought to
a high state of cultivation. In looking back to the
journeys which I have myself made across the
great plains in Armenia and Mesopotamia, in the
vicinity of Eizeroum, Kharpoet, Moosh, Adana,
Aleppo, and other places, nothing comes back to
my mind so vividly as the surprise which I felt at
the great size of those plains and the regret that
so much good land should remain uncultivated. It
is no exaggeration to say that millions of acres of
as good land as can be found in the world are
lying idle and uncultivated to-day in the Asiatic
provinces of the Turkish Empire. Moreover, the
climate is admirably adapted to the production of
cereals. True, rain does not fall throughout the
year as in England, but the fall is generally to
abundant during the winter months that the cessa-
tion of rain in April and on through the summer is
not attended with such serious results as might be
anticipated. During the winter and early spring the
soil seems to become saturated to a great depth, so
that long after the rains have ceased you find the
crops of grain growing with great luxuriance. I
have ridden through fields of wheat on the plains of
Adana, Kharpoot, and Ada Bazar and other places,
where there seemed no boundary to these fields in
any direction and where the grain stood about level
with the backs of the horses on which we rode; in
other places, as intimated above, you pass over miles
upon miles of territory where the soil is equally good,
but where no villages appear in sight, and where the
surface of the earth has not been stirred by the plough
of the farmer for perhaps a hundred years. Another
fact which arrests attention is the limited variety of
agricultural products. Wheat and barley are raised
everywhere—the one for the service of man, the other
as food for horses, mules, donkeys, and to some ex-
tent of cattle; thcse are the principal, in many places
the only, agricultural products of the interior of Asia
Minor, certainly the only products that are raised for
sale and export. The main exceptions to this remark
are cotton and Indian corn, but these are confined
to special localities, and the entice product is
small compared with the amount of wheat and barley
raised. Potatoes, carrots, beets, in fact all root vege-
tables are almost unknown, or if known, they are
cultivated to a very limited degree. In some
countries, as in France, as is well known, such vege-
tables, besides contributing greatly to the comfort and
happiness of the people, are sources of immense
wealth there is no reason why with proper care and
attention to the climatic laws of the country such
vegetables should not be raised in vast q uantities in
Asiatic Turkey. Much the same may be said in regard
to the cultivation of grasses. In all my travels in
Turkey I have never seen a field of clover or of timothy
or of any other- kind of grass raised by cultivation,
That such grasses may be cultivated is shown by the
simple fact that millions of sheep, goats, oxen,
cows, mules, and horses are fed on the wild
grasses that grow without cultivation on the plains,
hills, and mountains in all parts of Asia Minor. The
advance of civilization will introduce a great variety
of seeds into the country, and thus a new impulse will
naturally be given to all agricultural interests. That
this is not mere theory is shewn by many pertinent
illustrations. I will mention but one. About twenty
years ago there happened to be residing in the village
of Bitias, near Antioch, an English Consul. This
gentleman, partly for the use of his own household,
but mainly for the benefit of the poor people of the
region, devoted considerable attention to the cultivation
of the potato. His efforts were entirely successful.
The people knew nothing whatever of this plant,
and at first were very slow either to engage in
its production or to use it in their families; but at
length they became very fond of it, and gave almost
enthusiastic attention to its cultivation, The Consul
died many years since and the place was abandoned as
the consular residence; but the raising of potatoes has
gone on with increasing interest from year to year,
until now hundreds of poor families are largely sup-
ported by this particular branch of agriculture. lam
assured by a native of Bitias who has just visited me
that potatoes from that village are now sent to such
distant places as Alexandretta, Marash, Aintab, and
Aleppo; the people of the place have become
skilful in raising them, and find their cultivation a
profitable source of revenue. In regard to agricul-
tural implements, it is well known that the in-
habitants of Asia Minor adhere closely to "the
customs of the fathers." That the common plough
of to-day is of the same pattern as that used before
the days of Moses is proved by the pictures on the
most ancient monuments of Egypt and Nineveh. It
is one of the marvels of history that such an in-
strument of agriculture should hold its place so
long. Were an English or an American farmer
compelled to use such an implement he would
abandon his calling at once as utterly hopeless; the
snout of a wild boar goes deeper and makes more
thorough work than does the iron point which is
fastened rudely to the stick which the Asiatic agri-
culturist calls his plough. Grain is thrashed by
throwing it on the ground and dragging a heavy
sledge over it; the winnowing is performed, as in
the days of the Ninevites, by tossing the chaff and
the grain together into the air and allowing the
wind to separate them. The flouring mills are of
the most primitive character; but I will not
attempt to describe them—they must be seen in
order to be appreciated. A vivid illustration of the
contrast between the present and the past might
be obtained by placing a Turkish flour mill by the
side, for example, of one of the great flour mills of
Minnesota. Toe Turkish miller would think he WAS
Incurring a heavy responsibility did be make a con-
tract to turn out twenty barrels of flour In a day;
while the proprietor of the Minnetota mill would
not hesitate to become responsible for the delivery of
1,200 barrels in a day. I mention these things, not
to complain of the backwardness of Turkey, but
simply to show that modern methods for developing
the resources of nature have not yet been
applied in this country. A few days ago the first
American plough that had ever been seen in Aintab
arrived here. It excited nearly as much interest
as would the appearance of a Zulu savage in the
streets of London. Every man who came to see it
went away muttering to himself that " the English
have a great deal of brains." That the people will
avail themselves of good agricultural implements when
once introduced there can be little doubt. A few
years ago an American missionary at Kharpoot
brought out an ordinary fanning mill for winnowing
grain. So admirably did it work that the people
wanted more, until now there are 150 such mills in use
on the plain of Kharpoot alone. . . .