Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-30
A WORLDS GRANARY
The Tell, Once Bread Basket
of Roman Empire.
NOW HELPS FEED FRANCE.
Farmers Queer Methods of Cultivat-
ing the Soil.
THE WINTER GARDEN OF PARIS
Algeria q Land of Vineyards and Or
chards-Field-H Hand Wages,
Twenty Cents Day.
THE WINTER GARDEN OF PARIS
Copyright. 1907. by Frank C. cnrpenter1

Copyright. 1907. by Frank G. Carpenter1
PERREGACX.
The French are colonizIng Algeria and
are rapidly increasing it's value as a good
farming country 1t is already the granary
and winter fruit garden of the republic
and is fast becoming the wine cellar as
well The government has a Colonizat ton
department which is now laying out new
towns and farm sites. Some of the lands
are given away and others sold at auction
on long time. There are agricultural banks
for the benefit of the farmers. and spe-
cial inducements for settlers in low rates
OF steamships and railroad transportation.
Immigrants are brought here from Mar
seile a distance of about five hundred
miles. at s. steerage rate and the fares
for third and fourth class are not much
higher.
European Farmers in Africa.
There already six hundred thousand
Europeans settled in Algeria. More than
half OF these are French; but there are
also many Spaniards. Italians and people
from Malta, Sicily. and other islands of
the Mediterranean sea. Already about one
eighth Of the whole population is of Euro
pean origin and the best lands of the coun-
try are being rapidly bought of the Mo-
Hdttlintudns DS tneSS invading CHRISTIANS.
The European population has doubled with
in the past thirty years.
The cities are growing. There are French
towns all over the country and the Chris
ttan element Is everywhere In control.
PerregauX. where | am writing. for In
stance. contains five thousand European
Inhabitants and il has all the surroundings
OF rural city of France. Its streets are
wide and Well shaded and 1t has a large
public garden in which the band plays
several times week. Its stores are like
those of France and IL has no end of cafes
and restaurants. There are scores OF other
cities just like II throughout the Tell. and
many such. as Bldah, Tiemcen. Orleans
Vile and others. which are more popuLous
ana more prosperous.
The Tell.
Have you ever heard of the Tell?
II has been noted for many generations
as one of the granaries Of the world 1t fed
Carthage from the time when il was
founded by Queen Dido. along about eight
or nine hundred years before Christ. 1t
was the bread basket of Rome in the days
Of her glory and The Arabs and Moors grew
fat upon ii for centuries before the French
came IL comprises the rich valleys be-
tween the mountains running along the
coast and the high plateaus of the Atlas
which fall away into the Sahara and also
OF a rich coastal strip here and there 1t
runs clear across Algeria and Tunisia. and
In round numbers is seven or eight hun
dred miles long from west to east and from
thirty 10 one hundred miles wide. 1t con-
tains altogether an area almost as large as
New England and fully as large as the
state OF Illinois. 1t has somewhere between
thirty-hve and fifty million acres of excel
lent lands. but this is In patches some
large and some small | have gone through
regions. such as Oran. where the soil Is as
-fE 81
others where the vineyards grow out OF
fat. red loan. like that of the best coffee
plantations Of Sac Paulo Brazil
Much Of the Tel is ike California or
Colorado and not little of il is irrigated
There is an enormous dam near this town
of Perregaux which holds back "a lake, con-
tanning fourteen million cubic meters of
water. and another not far away near ST
Denis -du-Sig. which contains SIX millio $
more. Wherever the water can be stored IL
IS conducted over the lands, and a great
deal OF irrigation is also done by means OF
wells. the motive power being a blind
Folded donkey, mule or OK. and sometimes
camel.
Nation of Farmers.
These Algerians are a nation of farmers.
More than one-half OF the Europeans and
thro"-fourths of the natives are engaged in
agriculture. and there are in addition an
enormous number of native stock farmers
The Arabs own a great deal OF land I'm the
plains. and such of the mountains as are
fertile are covered with littla Kabyle farms.
some OF which are not much bigger than
the ordinary city back yard. The French
are settled pretty generally in the valleys
OF the Tell They have bought their lands
from the Arabs and Kabyles and have also
acquired the most of the state reservations
FOR colonization.
wish you could take trip with me
through some Of these rich lands of the
rem and see the queer ways OF farming
IA li"s part or North Africa. We should
nave high mountains in sight all the yyav
ana they would be rocky and barren There
t moulu be no fences anywhere and very few
from the white limestone road we sno,IS
see the home of French settler n nIain
ouIoihs covered with stucco standing al
MUST alone In the fields. There are no out