Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-17
Ccopyrish,. 1907. by Frank @ carpenter)

Special Correspondence of The star.
TANTA, 1907.
"OR the past month l have been
travelling through the farms of the
r. Nile valley. I have visited many
parts of the Delta and have taken
run through the narrow strip
which borders the river for several hun
dred miles above Cairo. l writ
ing these notes at Tanta, a city which
lies about half way between Cairo and
Alexandria and midway between the two
branches into which the Nile divides be-
low Cairo and flows from there down
into the Mediterranean sea. l am in
region where the tourist seldom stops,
and of which the guide books make little
account refer to the Delta, that great
fan of land, which begins at Cairo and in
a radius of about one hundred miles,
reaches the Mediterranean sea at Alexan-
dria and Port Said.
The Delta is the heart of Egypt. 1t
contains the bulk Of the population. 1t
has the most land, the richest soil and
the biggest crops. 1t is more thickly set
tied than any other part of the world,
and 1t yields more to the acre than any
other region on earth. Its farm lands
are worth more than those of any other
country, and they bring in a greater prod
uCt. The average yield for all Egypt nets
a profit of $50 per acre, and that Of lower
Egypt amounts to much more. Some
lands yield so much that they are renting
for $50 per acre, and there are instances
where slo0 an acre IS paid. Such lands
bring two or thtree crops a year, and
those who rent them know what they are
doing. The renting value OF the lands or
Egypt in 1899 was over a hundred and
ten million dollars, and the selling values
of the best lands now range all the way
frpr w I-fO thousand dollars
per acre.
1 see in today's newspapers an adver-
tisement of the Egyptian Lands Company,
announcing an issue of two and one-half
million dollars worth of stock. The syn
dictate says in it's prospectus that 1t eX-
poets to buy 5000 acres of land at the
low rate of of 5000 per acre" and that by
spending s1J0,000 Il can make that land
worth $500 per acre within three years.
Some of this land is now worth from S25O
to $500 per acre, and II is renting FOR S2o
per acre per annum. The tract lies fifty
miles north of Cairo and is planted in cot
ton, wheat and barley
Egypt Belongs to the Egyptians.
Such estates as the above do not often
come into the market. The most of Egypt
Is in small farms, and there are thousands
here of one acre or less. The cultivable
land, all told, covers, only little over six
million acres.
lHOeeU II Is not TlSnl 10 tillnh Oh Ely pit
as owned by foreigners. Six-sevenths of
all the farms belong TO the Egyp-
tians, and there are more than mil
lion native land owners. The most of the
holdings are small, and over one million
acres are in tracts of from five to twenty
acres each, Many are even less than an
acre in size. The number of proprietors
is increasing every year. and the fellahs
now seem crazy to possess land of their
own. 1t used to be that the khedive had
enormous estates, but when the British
government took possession some of the
khedivial lands came to them. They
have been divided and have been sold on
longtime and easy payments, the lands
going to the fellahs. Many who then
bought these lands have paid for them
out of their crops and all are rich. AS
1t is now there only 5000 foreigners
who own real estate in the valley of the
Nile.
l wish / could show you the farmers
of Egypt they live here in the Delta |
They have one of the garden spots of the
globe to cultivate. and the rich mud of
which their land is composed is from
thirty to sixty feet deep. 1t rests on the
bed rock of the desert. and has been
brought down, through the ages, from the
highlands of Abyssinia by the river Nile.
The Nile is bringing more every year,
and the land, if carefully handled needs
practically no fertilization. AS it is now
1t is yielding two or three crops every