The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-06

whole pumping on the Nile valley might be done by the wind. The breezes from the desert are as strong as those from the sea, and they sweep across the Nile valley with such regularity that wind pumps could be relied upon to do efh- cient work.
 At present the most Of the water raised in Egypt is by man power or by anil mals Millions of gallons are lifted by the shadoof. This Is long pole balanced on support. From one end of the pole hangs a bucket, and from the other heavy weight of clay or stone, about equah to the weight of the bucket when it is full of water A man pulls the buck ct down into the water. and by the help of the weight on the other end raises it and empties it Into a canal higher up. He does this all day long for 10 or l5 cents and it is estimated that he can in ten days lift enough water to irrigate an acre of corn or cotton At this rate it costs from St to s1.50 to give one acre good watering and there is no doubt it could be done much cheaper by pumps.
 The Saklyeh.
 Another rude irrigation machine found throughout the Nile valley from Alexan dria to Khartoum is the sakiyeh. which is moved by bllndfolded bulloells, buffa- loes, donSeys and camels. It consists of a vertical wheel with a string of buckets attached to it's rim. As the wheel turns round in the water the buckets dip and fill and as it comes mp they discharge their contents into a canal This vertical wheel Is moved by one set horizontal, the two running in cogs, the latter being turned by some beast of burden. There is usually a boy, girl or old man, who sits on the shaft and drives the beast round
 These sakvehs sereech terribly, and their noise almost breaks the ear drums of the tourists who come near them. remember a remark that Justice Brown of our supreme court made while we were stopping together at the hotel 8 Assouan, which Is just opposite the Elephant ls- land. with one of these sakiyehs in plain sight and hearing. It w7s that he should like to give an appropriation 10 G1gypt, and that large enough 10 enable the peo- pie 10 oil every sasiYeh np and down the Nile valley. doubt. however. whether the felahs would use the oil f they had it, for they say that the hllndfolded cat tie will not tutrn the wheel when the noise stops.
 American Farming Machinery.
 There should be an opening here for American farming machinery. Egypt Is
 
 same crops that we produce in large quantities, and our machinery ought to sell well It Is not pushed, however. and almost all the farm tools come from Eu- rope. Great Britain supplies the most of them Switzerland and Germany have small share of the trade, and after that comes the United States usual. far in the rear We should sell these people blows and threshing machines, and i.gnt. well made hoes and mattocks should be i in demand. Just now most of the valley is dug over by hand. and wheat, barley and corn are threshed with haiis. The demand for farm machinery Is in- creasing. There was almost twice as mueh sold during the first six months of last year as during a similar period of 1905 and the general prosperity leads to the belief that this increase will go on. There is now a croze among the peas. ants of Egypt to own watches They want cheap article and in many eases ] buy fresh watch every day, As a. re- suit the Swiss and Germans have been | flooding the country with poor move ments. put up in fancy German silver, nickel and gun metal cases. and are sell
 ing them at $2 and upwards apiece. They 1 are not equal to our timepieces which sell at s1 Some of these watches are nd- vertised as of American make. and they sell the quicker on that account. 1 doubt not that a good American watch would l sell well and displace the poor stuff now sent in by the Swiss.
 i Big Trade in Textiles. Our American cotton factors ought to study this market. The 12,000 coo inhahi- tants of the Nile valley dress almost en- ' tirely in cotton and we are making goods