Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-11-15
The Steam Pillow tn Egypt,

"a 49,
them are bottled up for three weeks, at a
temperature of ninety-nine degrees, and
gangs of dusky-hued and half-naked
Wretches passing water from 4 to the
other from the muddy Nile to the sugar
fields on the plains above.
Ten years ago this picture would have
been more or less true, but the war Of the
rebellion in this country bravely changed
affairs there as it did elsewhere.
The high price OF cotton, consequent
upou the cutting off Of the American sup
NV. caused attention to be given to the
inundated lands on the banks of the Nile,
and cotton culture was rapidly introduced
there. At first everything worked well,
but the introduction of an additional
supplv of working oxen from Europe,
was accompanied by the introduction Of
rinderpest. which carried off not only the
foreign importations, but the home sup
ply as well.
NJ. George Vile, who superintends the
Emperor's experimental farm at Vim
eennes, and who has ~pTopOunded new
theories of fertilization which have ex-
cited more wonder than confidence among
scientific agriculturists, thus describes
the result:
AZ first confined to a few provinces,
the pest gains ground and spreads like
4 vast confagration. Oxen and buffalo
die by hundreds, by thousands. The
evil progresses constantly in extent and
in S~intensity. The remains Of the ami
mails obstruct the canals and form float
ing islands in the Nile, And the price
Of cotton steadily advances.
They console themselves for the loss Of
the animals-the gold Of the cotton will
nav for all But the blowing, the
watering of the fields, the ginning Of the
cotton-without teams how can it all be
done? In a few weeks the disorder be-
came extreme. And then, that which
neither good advice nor good example
could have done, interest did.
The land in Egypt is limitless plain,
as uniform as the surface OF a lake. 1t
Is a country predestined for the steam
pillow. Without delay England offers her
machines she sends them by the cargo
and on credit.
They try, they hesitate. they feel their
way; but he soil Ids it-ait marcel
lousy 10 the application OF these i'm
Elements. They become bolder the
Gamilisrize themselves with the new ma
chinery they supplement 1t by the use
Of steam fire engines; and so well, that
last year ! saw, IN the valley Of the Nile.
machine shops fitted up as in Europe for
the repairing and keeping in order of the
most formidable apparatus chat agricul-
ture has ever employed. I saw blowing
done By steam engines Of dtteen-horse
power, accomplishing an average Of a
hectare 1.-TWO and a half acres) per hour.
The men who work by dayare at even
ing relieved by night-gangs, and the
pillow continues its work by the light Of
lamps with refectors.
The pillow is followed by rakes which
form three ridges, eighty c~entimetres
(about two feet wide, on the top of which
cotton is planted. Other machines are
at work close by converting the cotton
wood into faggots. Others dig canals
and all this machinery Is kept in motion
by steam, which is produced by coal
brought from Newcastle and Marseilles.
The machines were coarsely made and
were sold at an excessive price. But all
Of that was detail; the land was brought
into cultivation and the cotton repaid
everything with usury.
The Fellah made great eyes, struck
with wonder and uneasy, he asked him
self, not without apprehension, where all
this was to end. But the profit was
there real enough, represented by the
shining pieces Of gold; so, little by lit
tie, the light has entered his soul. His
hesitation has ceased he commences to
use steam fire engines in his villages, and
associations are being formed for the pur-
chase of steam ploEs.
This description refers to 1865. This
year the crop Of cotton in Egypt is so
large as to seriously affect the market.
At the last show Of the Royal Agri-
cultural Society of England. Messrs.
John Fowler & Sons, of Leeds, were
awarded the prize cup which had been
offered by the YieerOy of Egypt for a
ten-horse power steam pillow, especially
adapted for countries where repairs of
machinery are not easily made-costing
all complete, about goo.
1t is a startling thought, that under
the shadow Of the Pyramids, which car
" us back to the earliest barbarous civ
ilization, two hundred sets Of steam plow-
ing apparatuses are now IN usei in acountry
that is no better adapted for the i'm
proyement than orr Western p%rairies, and
among a people who arc ignorant of the
first principles Of modern mechanics, an
almost universal familiarity with which
constitutes U chief claim to material
supremacy.
A month ago there was an account
published Of the capture by brigands of
a young English farmer, while he was
working a steam blowing apparatus on
his fathers estate near smyrna. He was
rescued by the aid of the Ephesus rail
road and telegraph company. Does the
Star of Empire always " Westward wend
its way?"
Only l54 tons of coffee we're ex |
ported from Havana dsring 1857.