The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-10

Appearance indicates health and
strength. A great part of his career
has been spent in the saddle. He has
not only Travelled over the most or
Egypt ano the Sudan, but has gone on
diplomatic missions to Abyssinia. n
now holds close personal relations
with King Menelik and his leading
officials. The sirdar spends a part or
every yea travelling by boat or on
camels through the several Of his far
away provinces, and he has just re-
Gently returned from a long trip in
kordofan. He talks freely about his
country and he knows it SO we'll that
what he says is interesting.
An Undeveloped Empire.
During my conversation with his eX-
Cellencv I asked him something as to
the Possibilities of the Sudan, saying
that most people locke upon it as
nothing else than q vast desert. He
replied:
That idea comes largely from the
bleak and barren sands through which
the railroad takes travellers on their
way to Khartum. They have ais
read Of the immense swamps of the
upper Nile, and putting the two to-
getner. they look upon h country as
only swamp and desert. The truth IS
the Sudan is an undeveloped empire
as t. It's material 1t is a
'-4 Oh IlId1lN CllIIldtCS III VI CO. - ~
Of soils. The desert stops not Tar
tr"m khartum, and beyond hat IS a
region where the rainfall is sufficient
lnr regular crops. Still further south
the ~aountry has more rain than is
Aeo"a8. and in the west are great
areas fitted for stock rearing.
Take, for instance the country
a.|tg the Abyssinian border n that
". b lies between the White and
Blu. Niles. Those regions have been
built IN in the same manner IS Egypt;
ami they contain all the rich fertillzlng
materials which have made the lower
\i- alley one of the ~granaries of the
|"r.t The only difference is that
me "-ypian soil, by the cultivation
and altering of thousands of years,
As- "een Ieached of its best fertlllzlns
ei.s .gts. while the soil of the Gezlreh
as .o region l have referred to is
.5. has hardly been touched. IN
1'.. the plain between the White
a.. l.Ge NiIessis so rich that, if water
Is .-. upon it. it will produce four
or .e crops every year, n that Tor
many years in succession. we nave
H+...ua If acres of such soil; n they
lHE wait the hand of man to bring
W." lnlo the worlds cts as 1--we
GU. .1arcial factors"
Torn and Wheat Belt of the sudan.
rat kind of crops can be raised
NpuilLiN, Sou1
most anything that is now pro
0 IN Egypt was the reply. me
. is already growing a great deaI
II. a millet whose seed forms
rIcf food of the natives. 1t pro-
an excellent hard wheat ano
"a1ize. As it is now, that pam
l.| thief ranary of this part of the
It raises so much tina Wher
., .eon is good, the crops are mort
tae people consume, n at suci
the grain is stored away in grea'
" have seen durra pits 1ortS
' hep and about fifty feet IN oil
e.'[r They are to be found apou'
very village: and at ORDINARY
-l.' are kept FULL of grain for tea
mine. While the mahd
ts.-# his soldiers robbed the durra
e't .ad the result was that whole
n.Hh#"1ities were wiped out by star
N'" Railroads and Irrigation.
l'.t if the bad years eat up tht
s. mes, where is the Sudan 70 se
.Iain for export?" asked
-aat viii come by irrigation ane