The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1909-11-05
FIRST FARMERS THE WORST.
Methods Of 5000 Years Ago Are Still
in VOGUE in Egypt.

in Vogue in Egypt.
The valley of the Nile has been
cultivated for thousands Of years. ana
If time and experience were In them.
selves sufficient there should be bet.
ter results shown today than I'm any
other country. This however, is not
the case. On the contrary the farmers
of this country have little to learn
from Egypt so far as practical meth
DDS are concerned. The reasons for
this are not obscure. One is the lack
of inventive and mechanical skill on
the part of the farmer. Here in the
United States every agricultural i'm
plement used has been subject to-
constant change and improvement:
while the Egyptian still employs the
crooked stick for pillow and beats
out his corn as did his ancestors in
the time of the Pharaohs.
The farmer himself is picture not
to be forgotten. His long flowing
black or white gown, while not ap-
pearing to be designed for the con-
venience of the lahorer, lends attrac.
tiveness to the farming scenes.
The farmer plows with his wooden
pillow or stirs the ground with r.
wooden hoe. He cultivates the grow
ing crops with hoe, and harvests
them with a sickle or pulls the stalks
from the ground by hand. The grain
is either beaten out with fail or
trOdden and chopped out by means
of a wooden sledge furnished with
rollers carrying disks and drawn by
oxen. Egyptian methods would not
look so much out of place were it not
that at the present time considerable
areas are owned by foreigners who
have adopted the modern methods
more in keeping with those used ia
this country.
An improved threshing machine may
be at work in field adjoining a plat
where a native farmer is wearing out
the straw in threshing the grain in
a primitive method which antedates
Biblical times It is not uncommon to
see steam pillow and one pulled by
a camel and buffalo working in ad-
joining fields.
Wheat is the principal winter crop,
although clover, barley, beans and
olllcl plouutlo are J..
The ground is seldom plowed before
the wheat is planted The seed is
scattered over the still moist soil by
hand and it is either tramped into the
ground by the cattle or pressed In
with primitive wooden roller.
Sometimes the ground is beaten with
piece of wood and the grain actual
ly driven into it.
; The cost of raising different crops,
as well as the yield, varies greatly
In the better districts sugar cane is
the most valuable crop Preparing
the ground and sowing represents an
outlay of 81 an acre. Seed costs from
$40 to $12, irrigation another $40, cul
tivating and harvesting $14, making
> total cost of $40 to $45. If the land
requires fertilizer an additional sum OF
$3.50 should be added The yield ave
RACES thirty-two tons, worth S12s
! The net profit is therefore between
$50 and $S5 an acre. The cost OF
: raising cotton is about one-third that
!, of sugar cane, while the profit ranges
i around $50 an acre
The date is grown extensively anC
I a special tax is levied on the fruit
by the government. When a tree
. is cut down another must be placed
? in its place. The government revenu,
: from an acre of dates runs from 81
y to $45. The cost of cultivation reache.
$50, while the net profit is about $3.50
The cost of raising vegetables aver
! ages SIS an acre, while the net pro
) fits are about $50