The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-18

on long time and easy payments. the
lands going to the fellalls. Many who
then bought these inds have paid for
them out of their crops and all are
rich. AS 1t is now there are only 5000
foreigners who own real estate in the
Valley OF the Nile.
Among the Fnrmers.s
/ wish could show you the farmers
of Egypt as they live here in the Delta,
They have one of the garden spots Of
tile globe to cultivate, and the rich mud
of which their land is composed is from
thirty IN sixty feet deep. II rests
on the bedrock 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 yea:, and the land, II carefully
handled needs practically no fertiliza-
ton. As ilt.s now 1t is yielding two
or three crops every twelve months
and is seldom idle. Under the old
sys tenn of basin irrigation the farms
lay fallow during the hot months of
the summer, hut the canals and dams
which have of late been constructed
enable much of the country to have
water all the year round, and as soon
as one crop is harvested another is
planted.
The Cities of the Delta.
The whole of the Delta is one big
farm dotted with farm villages and
little farm cities. There are mud towns
everywhere, and there are half dozen
agricultural centres of considerable
size outside the big cities of Alexandria
and Cairo. Take for instance, Tanta,
where I am at this writing. It has
$1,000 people and Is supported by the
farmers. 1t is cotton market and
.. rpfr n 4 1,att ~
which the people come from all over
Egypt to buy and sell. "A little to
the east of it is Zagazig. which has
more than 10000 people, and further
north, upon the east branch of the
Nile. Is Mansura. another cotton mar
ket, with rich farming district about
it.
Damietta and Rosetta, at the two
mouths of the Nile, are also big places,
and Damanhur, which lies west of the
Rosetta branch of the Nile, not far
from Lake Edlsu. 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
tlleir farms, but in towns. They so out
to work In the morning and come back
home at night. They usually bring
their cattle in with them, and never
allow them to Craze at will in the
field.
How I'M Egyptian Farm Looks.
Indeed, these farms are nothing like
those the United States. We should
have to change tho face of our land;
scape to initiate them. There are no
fences, no barns and no haystacks. The
country is as barefoot such things as
an undeVeloped prairie. The only
boundaries of the estates are little
mud walls; and the fields are divided
into patches, some of which are no
bigger than a bed quilt. Each patch
has it's wall, and the burrows within.
are SO made that the water from the
canals can irriEate every inch. t
IF Irrigation. s
Y The whole country is cut up by
canals. There are largo Waterways
running along the branches Of the Nile,
and smaller ones connecting with them,
to such an extent that the whole coun-
try Is bound, as 1T We're, in a. laceworlS
OF little streams from which the water
can be let in and out, The draining
OF the land Is quite as Important as
watering. and the system Of irrigation
is perfect, insomuch that At brings the
Nile to every part of the country.
$l'he methods of raising the water
FROM one ;leve l to sanother ara Inherent
from oYrs.S In some places there are
sN ~ -