The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-12-05
Our Olio.
FARMING IN PALESTINE.

Frank &. Carpenter in American Agrlculturlst
The land of milk and honey has sadly
deteriorated since the days when the
Israelites took possession of it. The cattle
upon a thousand hills have dwindled to
scanty herds. and the hills themselves,
which, once terraced like the choicest
lands of Italy, yielded skins of wine and
tons of fruit, have been denuded of their
earth by centuries of rain. Such milk as
is sold in Jerusalem and in the various
villages of the Holy Land is made up Of
mixture from camels, goats, and cows,
and there are probably more cattle on the
Western Reserve in Ohio than in all
Palestine.
Compared with the rich countries Of the
nineteenth century, Palestine was never a
very fertile land The Israelites, coming
out of the desert, exaggerated its virtues,
and descibed the beauties of the country
with all the exuberance of oriental ina
gerry. 1t seemed to them little world in
itself, and still Palestine is not much big
ger than some Texas counties The whole
land, including that possessed by the
Philistines and the Lsraelites, is not more
than fifty miles wide, and, standing on the
Mount of Olives, you can see the Mediter-
ranean on one side and the silvery Jordan
on the other A go0d, fast railroad train
could cross it in an hour, and if there
were railroad running from the north to
the south it would not take more than
three hours to traverse its entire length,
From Dan to Beersheba is no further
than from New York to Washington, and
the long journey which David made, from
Jerusalem to the banks of the Jordan, is
only fourteen miles. The Mount of Olives
is only 2700 feet high by actual measure
ment. You can walk up it in half an
hour, or donkey will carry you to its
top in twenty minutes. | crossed the
plains of Sharon in coming from Jaffa to
Jerusalem, and found these garden-spots
only twenty miles wide. | drove in a
carriage from Jerusalem over the fields
where the shepherds lay and watched the
star which marked the coming of Christ
to Bethlehem, and the distance was only
seven miles. l saw shepherds attending
their focks on the spot where little David
killed big Goliah with his sling, and as
! looked on my rocky surroundings. it
did not seem to me that the land was
worth the fight. Mizpah, the little town
upon the spot where the prophet anointed
the farmer-boy Saul king, when he was out
hunting his fathers asses, would not bring
hundred dollars at auction in America,
and all the donkeys and asses | saw in the
country were so shabby and shaggy that
it would take second miracle to give
them the strength to open their mouths
and speak, or even bray, at the turhaned
Ralaams who rode them The Palestine
of to-day, however, is nothing like that
of the past. For centuries the land has
been stripped of its best men to fill the
armies of the Sultan, and for ages its far
mers have been ground down to the earth
by tyranny, corruption, and taxation. The
farmer of Palestine pays taxes upon every
thing. If he plants a fruit tree, he is tax
ed from the day the sprout shoots through
the surface, and the taxes of vineyard
often amount to more than the crop
The rule is that one-tenth of the whole
crop has to be given to the Sultan; but
this tenth is estimated while the seed is
in the ground, and the collection of it is
farmed out to corrupt tax-gatherers, who
get from twenty to thirty per cent of the
crop instead of ten. The farmers of
Palestine live in villages, and the shiek or
ruler of the village often acts as judge and
tax -gatherer. He is responsible to the
Sultan for the well-doing and the revenues
of his subjects Just outside of many of
the villages there is threshiug floor,
where the grain is trodden out or failed
out as it was threshed in the days of the
Scriptures. The farmer dares not take
away his grain from the floor until the
tax -gatherer has come and picked out the
Sultan's tenth, and after him the banker
or the rich man who has loaned to the
farmer has the right to take the debt and
interest before the farmer can ges the re-
suits of his toll. The people of Palestine
are in many cases so poor that they have
to borrow money to put in their crops.
The rates charged are from ten to fifteen
per cent, and the usurers of to-day are
quite as bad as those Of Bible times. In
some cases the crops are put in upon shares,