The farmer and mechanic., 1907-08-20

branch of the Nile is Mansura- anoth-
er cotton market, with a rich farming
district about 1t.
Damietta and Rosetta. at the two
mouths of the Nile, are also big places
and Dau.anhur. which lies west OF the
Rosetta branch Of the Nile. not far
from Lake Edku, is also large. There
are a number of towns ranging In size
from five to ten thousand. and the
whole country IS peppered with mud
villages. The people do not live on
their farms. but in towns. They go
out to work in the morning and come
back horne at night They usually
bring their cattle in with them. and
never allow them to Craze at Will IN
the field.
How an Egyptian Farm Looks.
Indeed, these farms are nothing
like those of the United States. We
should have to change the fact Of our
landscape to initiate them There
are no fences, no barns and no hay
stacks The country is bare Of
such things as an undeveloped praf-
rie. The only boundaries Of the es-
tates are little mud walls, and the
fields are divided into patches, some
of which are no bigger than bed
qnilt. Each patch has it's wall and
the burrows within are so made that
the water from the canals can irri
gate every inch.
The whole country is cut up by va
nals. There are large waterways
running along the branches Of the
Nile, and smaller ones connecting
with them. to such an extent that
the whole country is bound as 1t
were, in a 1acework Of little streams
from which the Water-can be let in
and out. The draining of the land Is
quite as important as the watering.
and the system of irrigation Is per-
to every part Of the country.
The methods of raising the water
from one level to another are diff
ferent from ours. In some places
there are steam pumps which DO the
work, in others gravity is employed
naked men labor for months at a
time scooping water IN In baskets
and pouring It out on the fields
above. There are also great clacking
cog-wheels, which work in such
way that water is caught in clay pots
attached to their rims, and thus rails
ed and poured into the little canals
through which 1t flows to the fields.
These wheels are moved by blindfold-
ed bufaIoes, bullocks or camels
There are thousands OF them in the
valley of the Nile.
Queer Farming Methods.
The American farmer would sneer
at the oldfashioned way in which
these Egyptian feliahs cultivate the
soil. He would tell them that they
were 2,080 years behind. and still,
II he were allowed TO take their plac-
es, he would probably ruin the coun-
try and himself. Most OF the Egyp-
tian farming methods are the result
OF long experience Tn plowing the
land is only scratched, and the farm
er is careful not to turn up the earth
a foot or SO below the surface. This
Nile mud is full Of salts and the silt
from Abyssinia Is Of such q nature
that the people have to be careful in
order that the salts may not be rails
ed from below and ruin the crop In
many cases there is no pIowing at all
The seed is sown on the soft mud
after the water Is taken off, and
pressed into it by wooden roller or
trodden in by oxen or buffaloes-
Odd Farm Tools
Where pfows are used they are just
the same as those of 5000 years ago
I have seen carvings on the tonbs Of
the ancient Egyptians representing
the farm tools used then, and they
are ~bout the same as those I see In
use today The average, plow consists
role-ahcut Stx feet long fasten.