Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-07-04
HARVEST TIME IN EGYPT.
Interesting Sights After the Tourist
Season.
From Leslie's Weekly.

From Leslie's Weekly.
Visitors to Egypt who have the courage
to linger a few months after the regular
tourist season has passed will be reward
ed by many interesting sights which are
utterly foreign to those who fly at the
first breath Of tropic heat, no matter how
famil ar they may be with other phases
Of life along the Nile. 1t is In the early
ummer months, when the sun begins to
warm up and to send the thermometer
higher and higher, that the Egyptian
.armer brings out his ancient reap.ng i'm
plements, which have the appearance of
having done service in the time of Ram
eses. bitches up the family dairy, and,
with his flock of little brown bah es and
possibly a wife or two, HES to the fields.
June and July are two of the busiest of
harvest months.
Egypt is essentially an agricultural
country and it's pro perity is largely de-
pendent on the success of the ia. mer
who forms over TO per cent of the pOpu-
.atlon. The prosperity OF the farmer is
almost entirely dependent on the water
the rise of the Nile to make it uniform
each year, and to provide for the proper
distribution of the water, the Egyptian
government is work ng along scientific
and to bring back to Egypt something
Il ITS former aff1uence.
The weather. land owners whose son.
have atten1ed the Tewfikieh College Oh
Agriculture have equipped Their 1arms
with the latest machine. y procurable, blu
he majority of the fellaheen cling to
methods pursued by their fathers, and
W tn which they are abe to cope in any
emergency. The NATIVE farmer may ap.
prove of the modern tools, but he is sloa
n them Of hnir
almost prob. bitive cost, but also be :ause
when they are once acquired hey are
too difficult to keep in order. When a
part of native pillow or a 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 cam
plow or thresher breaks or is miss.n
he is utterly at 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 mechanic In the
meantime the grain waits, unless, per-
chance. the farmer owns some of the
primitive machinery. One of the curious
sights in the Egyptian harvest season is
a modern threshlng machine noisly work
ing In field adjoining that in Whtcn a
native threSher Is treading out the gan.
The brown-skinned tiller Of the soil, clad
In hi: flowing robes OF white or the favor
lite dull blue and yellow combination, sit
ting on the h gh seat Of the crude
thresher. which is dragged over the field
by q yoke Of patti mt camels or perhaps a
camel and donkey or a couple or buff
falo cows. appears to the stranger VINO
sees this for the first time like the prin-
opal ac.or In scene worked out by an
ing 4nious mind for stage effect. TIE
native p!ow of Egypt Is simply the forkeI
port on o, tree, or two eces Jomea
t1gether and smoothed off-a primitive
contrivance which may still be seen in
sledgelike affair fitted with round CRUST
err of wood or iron and we z ted do an
from the top. The grain is crushed into
the ground, and when gathered up t is
mixed WITH Jumps or mud. but 1t is said
that never a kei mel Of Il IS lesi or wasted.