Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-07-16
aliseellaneous geadina.
HARVEST IN EGYPT.
Modern Machinery Slowly supplantins
Primitive Methods.

modefn machinery SIoWiy SSPPe"s"'S
Primitive Methods.
Visitors to Egypt who have the cour-
age to linger a few months after the
regular tourist season has passed will
be rewarded by many interesting sights
which are utterly foreign to those who
fly at the first breath Of tropic heat no
matter how familiar they may be with
other phases Of life along the Nile. 1t
is in the early summer months, when
the sun begins to warm up and to
send the thermometer higher and high
er that the Egyptian farmer brings out
his ancient reaping implements, which
have the appearance Of having done
service in the time of Rameses, bitches
up the family dairy and with his flock
Of little brown babies and possibly a
wife or two, hies to the fields. June
and July are two Of the busiest OF
harvest months.
Egypt Is essentially an agricultural
country and its prosperity is largely
dependent on the success Of the farm
ers, who form over so per cent of the
population. The prosperity Of the far
mer Is almost entirely dependent on
the water supply; so In endeavoring
to regulate the rise Of the Nile to
make it uniform each year and to pro-
vide for the proper distribution Of the
working along scientific lines to in
sure the growth of the crops and to
bring back to Egypt something Of its
former affluence.
The wealthier landowners whose
sons have attended the Tewfikieh col
lege Of agriculture have equipped their
farms with the latest machinery pro-
durable, but the majority Of the fella-
heen cling to methods pursued by their
fathers and with which they are able
to cope in any emergency. The native
farmer may approve Of the modern
tools, but he is slow to adopt them not
only because of their almost prohfbi-
tive cost but also because when they
are once acquired they are too difficult
to keep in order. When part OF a
native plow or thresher breaks or
wears out he knows exactly how to go
about to repair 1t, but when a part or
even a small bolt in a steam plow or
thresher breaks or is missing he is ut
terly at a loss. There are weeks and
weeks of delay while the necessary
articles are being brought up the river
from Cairo and with them comes at
great expense an expert workman who
knows how to adjust them, for the
native farmer Is nothing Of a mechan-
ic. In the meantime, the grain waits
unless perchance the farmer owns
some OF the. primitive machinery One
hof the curious sights In the Egyptian
harvest season is a modern threshtng
machine noisily working in a field ad-
joining that in which native thresher
Is treading out the grain.
The brown skinned tiller Of the soil
clad in his flowing robes Of white or
the favorite dull blue and yellow COM
bination sitting on the high seat Of the
crude thresher, which Is dragged over
the fields by q yoke OF patient camels
or perhaps a camel and donkey or
a couple of buffalo cows, appears to
the stranger who sees this for the first
time like the principal actor in a
scene worked out by an ingenious mind
for stage effect. The native plow OF
Egypt is simply the forked portion Of
a tree or two pieces Joined together and
smoothed off-a primitive contrivance
which may still be seen in use by Gu
ban farmers. The thresher is sledge-
like affair fitted with round crushers Of
wood or iron and weighted down from
the top. The grain is crushed into the
ground, and when gathered up 1t Is
mixed with Jumps Of mud, but 1t Is
said that never a kernel Of 1t Is lost
or wasted-Lesslie's Weekly.