The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-05-09
FARMING IN EGYPT
IT'S BACKWARD STATE IN THE
LAND OF THE PHAROAHs.
Primitive Farming Implements in
Use Two Kinds of Soil
No Fences, Wagons,
Barns or Horses.

those lsed in the days Of the Pharoahs
Ut On down into the tomb of Ii, undo
the u--St above Cairo, and near the sit
1t Memphis. I'll was a grea
nupoo ABOUT four thousand years ago
He built himself a number of subter
ranean chambers of granite, and adorned
their walls with paintings illustrative o
the customs of the age. Here l saw
pictures of the shadoof as used to-day
and beside these are pictures of men
blowing, showing that the Egyptian
pillow OF 1890 is precisely the same as
it was when Moses was a baby. 1t con-
sists of pole or tongue about six feet
long fastened to a piece of wood bent IN
ward and shod with a three-pronged piece
of iron. Affixed to the pole is the handle
which is held by the farmer He holds
it with one hand, and he has a stick In
the osher. The buffaloes or bullocks are
fastened to the plows by yokes, and l
saw no blowing in harness. These ploWs
merely scratch the ground. But they
seem to serve the purpose The winter
crop of Egypt, which is sown Immediately
after the inundation, is spread over the
ground without blowing. The seed is
tramped into the moist earth by oxen,
or rolled into it by a wooden roller, and
it is wonderful how it grows.
Egypt has two kinds of lands. One is
made up of those soils which need moth
ing more than the yearly inundation to
make them fertile, and the other is COM
posed of the lands which are artiicially
irrigated, and are given water through
out the different seasons. The first are
called Rel lands, and these form as the
water subsidies. The difference in the
climate in the various parts of Egypt
makes a great difference in the seed
time. In Upper Egypt, this begins in
October; in Central Egypt, and about
Cairo, It comes at the beginning Of No
vember, and in the lower Delta the soil
is not ready before December. Inabout
four months, the crops are ready for
harvest, and the winter harvest is the
chief one Of the year. The winter crops
consist chiefly of wheat, barley, beans
and clover, and almost as soon as these
are harvested, the land is prepared for
the summer crop. This crop IS raised
chiefly on the lands artificially irrigated,
and it consists Of tobacco, rice, vegeta-
hles and cotton from the pruned plants Of
old stalks. The crop IS usually har-
vested IN August, and after it comes the
autumn season, which IS the least i'm
portant of the Egyptian farming seasons,
and lasts only seventy days. Still, in
this season the greatest part Of the In
dian corn Of Egypt Is raised, and maize
ranks next to wheat among the Egyptian
grain crops. At the beginning of 0cto-
Der the delta OF Egypt looks like the
great cornfelds Of Kansas and Nebraska,
and the whole country takes on new
beauty.
I can hard adescribe the beauty Of an
Egyptian ld4scape. There are no
fences, and the farms and fields are
separated only by the character of the
crops and the canals. There are no
barns nor houses in the fields, which are
so small and so rich in their crops, that
they make the whole country look like
vast garden. Everything grows ike
the famous gourd of Jonah. The
patches Of clover bend their heads over
with the weight Of sweetness, the cotton
in the next patch bursts forth in its pods
of whiteness, and beds Of heavy green
point out the rich coming harvests Of
beans. There are few trees TO be seen,
only here and there a cluster of tall
palms marks the site of mud farming
village, and a grove Of date trees reminds
you that you are in the tropics
The fields are free to all. You may
ride anywhere on your donkey, being
careful to 90 along the edges Of the
crops, and You viii find few wide roads,
and, away from the cities, no carriages or
wagons. venture to say that there are
not one thousand wagons In the whole
land Of Egypt. Camels and donkeys are
the beasts of burden, and bullocks and
bufIaloes are the chief farm animals.
Even carts are a rarity. Camels carry
the heavy loads, and you see everywhere
their great outlines in the blue sky,
against the background OF the desert.
They viii carry as much as horse can
haul, and when loaded with grass or hay,
the bundles are so great that only their
legs peep out below, and it looks as
though the burdens were walking of
bodily. It IS the same with the little
donkeys, mary Of whom are not larger
than a good-sized Newfoundland dog.
They are loaded so that only
their legs show and are driven in single
file across the country, carrying the crops
to market. They have no harness, no
halters, or psck-saddles, and the farmers
who drive them are bare-foOted men in a
single gown Of blue cotton. An ordi-
nary donkey can be bought for from ten
dollars upward. Camels arc more c.
pensive, and range in value from thirty
dollars up to one hundred. The last,
however, Is the price for a riding camel,
and It may be interesting to state that
camels have their gaits Just as do horses,
and there IS quite as great a difference in
their endurance and speed.
Most Of the riding in Egypt IS done
upon donkeys. The Egyptian rides him
A1laAAN 9AAAAlAA q 1AsAAAIs anu EAAlIo lAllA
with a stick, instead Of a bride. In the
cities the merchants, and in the country
the rich farmers, have men or boys TO
follow behind and whip up their donkeys,
and these, in order to tighten their Ia
bors not infrequently knock of a piece Of
bare skin, the size Of a silver dollar, and
use this as a spot into which to poke their
goads in order 10 make the donkey go.
There are no horses to speak Of in Egypt,
but the mules and breeding asses, many
of which are brought from Arabia, are
very fine, some bringing prices as high
as i've hundred dollars apiece.
The farming population of Egypt, not
withstanding they have the richest soil
on the face Of the globe, are among the
poorest Of their class. Their holdings
are small, and they are taxed to death.
They are happy if they eau get the bare
necessaries Of living, and their homes in
ninety-nlne cases out Of a hundred are
huts, made OF dried sun-baked bricks
and huddled together along the unpayed
streets of village. These huts are
square or rectangular in shape. They are
seldom more than seven feet in height,
and their roofs are fat. The livestock
Of the family often takes up part of the
room, and goats, and COWS, and donkeys,
J