Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1852-04-01
Agricultural.
From the %Plnughman.
Agriculture in Y


Grand Cairo, Egypt, Dec. 80.
Mn. EDITOR Among the many things
to interest the visitor in this oriental coun.
try, not the least is the ice from old Essex
County. Wenham Lake ice were almost
the first familiar words | heard here in
Egypt. A few days since the Pasha receiv.
ed a large cargo of this luxury, which was
readily sold to the wealthy inhabitants AT
our hotels, we have luxuriated in it tor sew
etal days past, and many a time has the
description of Wenham Lake. Among the
travellers stopping here at present. are ma.
ny from India, who tell me that the ice from
this far. famed Lake, has become SO neces-
essary to their comfort in that hot climate,
that the want Of it during a short time the
past year, was considered as a public ca,
Iamity. When | described to them the re-
ally beautiful Lake, and added that on its
banks was my home, | found myself regard
ed as much more of a /" lion" among my
John Bull friends than | could have expect
ed or hoped for. | even attempted des-
criPtion ofsome of our ice drinks in Amer.
lea, and of our inimitable ice creams. They
were however somewhat incredulous when
informed that on the very lake from which,
in winter, this ice is taken, may be felt in
summer, heat almost as intense as that Of
India.
The wafer of the Nile is used here for
drink, and there is none other Sc good and
wholesome. Alter having been filtered,
and cooled with ice, it is fully equal to the
best spring water | have ever tasted. One
would suppose ice could not be needed,
midwinter as it is, but there is nothing here
tn indicate cold weather. Fl, Ids of beans.
clover, rice, and various other productions,
are now in blossom, and difuse their fra
grant odoIs through the balmy air. FIocks
Of waterfowl and the feathered tribe gen.
orally, are seen. having come hither from
the cold cIlmes of the aorth, and instead of
the cold winds of winter, the baImy breezes
remind us Of one of our finest days in June
in America.
Cannot too strongly express my admir-
alton of the climate here, and of the natu
raj fertility Of the soil for four or five miles
on each side OF the Nile. Agriculture is
in the rndeSt state OF barbarism. The
ploughs are of wood in fact. nothing more
than the crotch of a tree, sharpened so as
% root up the earth a little /; just sufficient
t. allow the seed to take root. Sometimes
two buffaloes constitute the team then
again, a buffalo AID camel are harnessed
together. and | have seen a buffalo, a cam
el, and a Ilckass all harnessed in one ;oke!
This yoke is a most curious continuance
1t consists simply of a pole some eight or
ten feet long, Y which the beasts are tied
with ropes. As a matter of course, the end
Of the pole to which the donkey is attached
pitches down almost to the ground, while
the camel's end points upwards, the whole
effect OF which causes no little merriment
to those unaccustomed to such sights. This
much for the teams-but now comes the
master or ploughman. When clothed at
all, he sports, or rather The wind sports, a
loose cotton gown OIL robe. Bare.headed,
bare footed and %sore-eyed, (nearly all the
natives are either blind or have some more
slight disease of the eye he plods on, earns
his ten cents a day, aud keeps himself.
The land all belongs to the Pasha. His
grandfather. Mehemet Ali, when he gained
possession here, by n summary act ap.
propriated all the land to himself, and actu-
ally let it out to its former owners. ON such
exorbltant terms, that after paying their rent
the poor creatures had little or nothing left
to live upon. The result Of this cypress on
is that the population OF Egypt has decreas-
e. rapidly within the last fifty years.
Everything is performed here by the
most severe manual labor. Within a few
years carts have been introduced with which
to transport building materials, &c, but
they are of the rudest and most uncoulh
description. A piece of iron, it may be
round or it may be square, it matters not
which, is attached to the boz, and this suE-
fees for the ~axIetree. The wheels are put
on without any pins to keep them in place
and the cart is ready for use. No grease is
ever used, and the creaking is perfectly
horrid to the ear.
No manure is needed for the land, as the
deposites of the Nile, at its animal overflow,
have always been found sufficient to pro-
duce the most luxuriant crops and these,
numbering not one or two a year, but often
three or four.
Such is rude man and bountiful nature
in Egypt. ] could not but think what Il
perfect garden our New England farmers
would make of it by beStowing upon it one
fourth of the labor necessary on their own
naturally barren soil. But the happiness
that exists in our own beloved land is Sc
much greater, and the ordinary comforts o.
life are 50 obviously superior, that | could
but say nnhesitatingIy, give me sterile New
England, rather than fifty Egypts, teeming
with the richest productions of nature.
|. B. W*#*#***