Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker.

Date:
1885-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egypt : handbook for travellers / edited by K. Baedeker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    for sowing by the use of the plough. The seed is scattered over the still soft and moist soil, and is then either pressed into it by means of a wooden roller, beaten into it with pieces of wood, or trodden in by oxent. Throughout the whole country a period of four months elapses between seed-time and the completion of the har- vest. The winter harvest is, therefore, over in Upper Egypt about the middle of February, in Central Egypt about the middle of March, and in the Delta towards the end of April. In Upper and Central Egypt this is the most important harvest of the whole year. The principal crop everywhere is wheat (occupying 50% of the fields in Upper Egypt and 30% in the Delta), next to which are barley (in the proportion of 10% and 14% in these regions respectively), clover (10% and 24% respectively), and broad beans (20% and 12% respectively). (2) The Summer Crops ('‘Es-Seft or ‘El-KeAi) are much more varied than those of winter, but they are comparatively unimportant in Upper and Central Egypt, as the cultivable land in these regions is very narrow, and belongs chiefly to the ‘Rai’ category, two-thirds of it being under water during summer. In the Delta, on the other hand, summer is the farmer’s most important season. The vege- tation with which its whole surface is densely clothed in June and July is marvellously rich and beautiful, thousands of magnificent trees clustered in groups afford delightful shelter from the fierce rays of the sun, and the eye ranges over an immense expanse teem- ing with luxuriant crops. Another charm of the country in summer consists in its abundantly stocked gardens and orchards : but of all these attractions the traveller who, like a bird of passage, merely seeks refuge in Egypt from th.e cold and rains of a northern winter cannot possibly form any adequate idea. At this season every dis- f The Agricultural Implements of the Egyptians are exceedingly primitive and defective. The chief of these is the plough (mihrdt), the form of which is precisely the same as it was 5000 years ago; and the traveller will recognise it on many of the monuments and in the system of hieroglyphics. It consists of a pole about 6ft. long, drawn by an ox, buffalo, or other beast of burden, attached to it by means of a yoke, while to the other end is fastened a piece of wood bent inwards at an acute angle, and shod with a three-pronged piece of iron (lisdn). Con- nected with the pole is the handle which is held by the fellah. These rude and light ploughs penetrate but slightly into the ground. (On the estates of the Khedive, Fowler’s steam-plough is now frequently employed.) The harrow is replaced in Egypt by a roller provided with iron spikes (kumfud, literally ‘•hedgehog’)- The only tool used by the natives on their fields, or in making embankments of earth, is a kind of hoe or shovel (migntfeh). The process of reaiung consists of cutting the grain with a sickle, or simply uprooting it by hand. The ndrag, or ‘threshing-sledge’, consists of a kind of sledge resting on a roller provided with sharp semi- circular pieces of iron, and drawn by oxen or buffaloes. This primitive machine, being driven over the wheat, peas, or lentils to be threshed, crushes the stalks and ears and sets free the grain or seeds. The corn is separated from the fragments of straw by the careful removal of the latter, and by tossing it to and fro in a draughty place. The grain is afterwards passed through a sieve.