RAINFALL AND TREE-PLANTING IN EGYPT. REPORT BY CONSUL-GENERAL POMEROY, OF CAIRO. I have the honor to reply to your dispatch No. 56, dated April 19, ultimo, requesting that information be furnished to the interrogatories contained therein with reference to the rainfall and the tree-plantation in Egypt. I have to inform you that during my absence from Egypt Mr. Comanos, vice-consul-general, spared no pains in procuring authentic and accurate facts, upon which the inclosed report is based. I am obliged to say that in the absence of regular agricultural and statistical departments in this country correct information is very difficult to collect. G. P. POMEROY, Agent and Consul-General. AGENCY AND CONSULATE-GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, Cairo, Egypt, July 1, 1884. TREE-PLANTATION IN EGYPT. 1. In what epoch did tree-plantation commence in Egypt ? In Cairo, in the year 1870, with the exception of the trees (Ficus sycamorus) in the Shaubra avenue and in the Kaubé road (two of the principal avenues of this capital), which were planted in the first years of the nineteenth century. Properly speaking, no new plantations have taken place in Egypt. Those that existed have, however, increased since the time of Mohammed Oly, and received a still greater impulsion during the reign of Ismail Pasha, ex-Khedive of Egypt. 2. How many trees have there been planted up to this date? Since the year 1870, 6,409 trees have been planted in Cairo, including those of the Shaubra avenue and of the Kaubé road above mentioned. In the statistics of 1879, the number of female date-trees is only given, which amount to 4,479,701 for the whole of Egypt. As to the male date-trees and other kind of trees no mention is made. 3. What is the nature of these trees? Acacia lebacks, Ficus sycamorus, and Psinciana regia. The most important in number are the date-trees, after which come the Acacia nilotica, the tamaris, the orange-trees, &c. 4. In what parts of Egypt have these trees been planted and when? In Cairo, in the avenues and in the principal roads, and more specially in the lands where culture was extended, owing to the new canalizations. The palm-trees, however, exist everywhere. 5. What is the present condition of these trees? Excellent. The aforesaid trees, and principally the Acacias lebacks, are being developed very rapidly, and in the course of two or three years spread a very good shade. They are watered only during the first five years of their development. The palm-tree, native to this country, the Acacia nilotica, the sycamore, &c., are very prosperous. But the greatest part of fruit-trees introduced from Europe do not prove successful in vegetation. Their fruit is of an inferior quality. OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE QUANTITY OF RAINFALL IN CAIRO FROM THE 16T OF JANUARY, 1882, TO THE 31ST OF MAY, 1884. [Information furnished by the meteorological service of the Khedival laboratory.] Latitude north, 30° 14' 4"; longitude east of Greenwich, 2° 5′.6 24"; elevation of the instruments above the level of the sea, 27 meters. Quantity of rainfall in the year 1882, during the following months: The observations during the months of August, September, and October had been interrupted owing to the insurrectional events. N. B.-The slight showers designated under the name of drops, not having led to any indication whatever in the pluriometer, can be calculated at about 1 millimeter. February April May November December Estimate of drops... RECAPITULATION. Total quantity of rainfall..... Quantity of rainfall in the year 1883, during the following months: [In millimeters.] 8.40 20.40 0.70 3.60 4.50 1.00 38.60 January October.. November December.. RECAPITULATION. Total quantity of rainfall.. Quantity of rainfall in the year 1884, during the following monthst: 1.00 6.10 0.20 0.80 11.00 2.00 11. 10 32.20 In accordance with the instructions contained in the circular addressed by the Department to this agency, in date of December 4, 1883, requesting information on the fruit culture of this island, I have the honor to furnish the following particulars, derived partly from personal observation during my long residence in Greece, and partly from data kindly imparted to me by some of the best and most practical culti vators. CURRANT GRAPE VINEYARDS. Raisins, such as are generally known by this term, are not prepared here, though many varieties of the grape grow in profusion in this island. The currant-grape was originally imported here by refugees from Corinth in the year 1530, A. D. It is a small purple grape, free from seeds, and now forms the staple production of this island, the adjacent island of Cephalonia, the Morea (Peloponnesus), and is also cultivated to a certain extent near Missolonghi, Lepanto, and the islands of Ithaca and Santa Maura. The position of these vineyards is mostly on the plains bordering the sea-coast; the foot of a wooded hill, the deposits from which enrich the 82 A-AUG——4 soil below it, with a sunny aspect and good circulation of air, is considered the best position. Although many vineyards extend right down to the sea, the plants within 500 or 1,000 yards of it are liable to suffer. Sea fogs and mists are not considered injurious. The mildew (Oidium tuckeri) which first appeared amongst the vines in 1852, is most effica ciously combated by sprinkling finely-powdered sulphur (imported from Sicily) over the shoots and leaves, say, just before the flowering, and if required to be repeated, at intervals before the ripening of the fruit, it is either applied with a small perforated hand dredger or by means of a bellows with a recipient made of tin attached to it which contains the sulphur; the latter is more generally in use. The mode of pruning, in principle, is much the same everywhere, but the height of the stem, and other peculiarities in the form given to the plant, is somewhat different here to what it is in the Morea. The best results are mostly obtained on a rich, light soil, with an admixture of sand in it; but it is a singular fact with the currant grape that, however carefully it may be cultivated, it will not give the same results as to size of berry, color, saccharine substance, or aroma in all districts. For instance, the Zante currants (as indeed all the island currants) are much smaller in the berry than those produced on the mainland, but they have more aroma and sweetness than perhaps any other currants grown. Then, again, commencing from the top of the Gulf of Corinth, southward all along the sea-coast of the Morea, right down to Calamata, in Messenia, the quality gradually deteriorates; thus Corinth, Vostizza, and Patras, all within the gulf, producing the first quality, then Gastouni and Pirgos, in Elis; after this, Filiatra and Gargaliano, in Trifyllia, and finally the produce of Pylia and Messenia. To a connoisseur there is a marked difference in the average quality of these various grades; the market value confirms this. Whereas Gulf, Vostizza, or Patras may be worth 25s. per hundredweight, Calamata or Pylos would not fetch over 158. or 16s. per hundredweight, the redeeming point for the grower being that in the southern districts the vines are more prolific, frequently doubling the production of other vineyards. The best results, as mentioned above, are generally obtained at the foot of the hills; but this is not always the case. The great point is that no trees of any kind be planted in a vineyard; that it should get plenty of sun, and that the air should circulate freely in it. Sometimes during its infancy a vineyard is planted with tomatoes, melons, and such like; but this is strongly deprecated by all good cultivators as tending to weaken the soil, and if planted at all, it should be done sparsely. Planting and cultivation.-Cuttings which have been buried since January are planted out in March, if the soil is dry enough, at a distance of about 4 feet from each other, and should commence bearing in the third or fourth year, but the seventh or eighth is reached before full bearing. I have seen plants over 100 years old, but they naturally produce very little; if carefully attended to, a vineyard should continue to be fruitful up to the fiftieth year, though the system of “ring-cutting" or making an incision all round the stem or principal branches has tended to weaken the plants, and in poor soils they have to be renewed every thirty or forty years. The incision is made after the fruit has set, to keep the sap up and produce a larger berry, or what is known in commerce as "bold fruit," and as this is in vogue in most consuming markets, by far the greater portion of the crop is thus treated, the result being that the keeping properties of the fruit are sacrificed to the fashion of trade. Irrigation. There is no system of artificial irrigation, but if the winter has been a dry one every means are resorted to to try and irrigate as best one can. Yield. The yield, value, and cost of the crop per acre varies according to the soil, cultivation, and other circumstances. The wages of laborers are an important item; as a rule they are much lower in the islands than on the mainland; here 50 cents per diem is considered high, whereas in the Morea it sometimes exceeds 75 cents and even $1 per diem. A good average in this island is 260 pounds net fruit per "axinari," or 2,083 pounds per acre, since 8 "axinarias" form an acre; the average value of late years have been $62.40 per acre; the cost of the crop as far as cultivation goes, from beginning to end, including sulphuring (about 80 pounds per acre being under ordinary circumstances consumed), is $22 per acre. The cost of a good vineyard would be about $450 per acre. This island's annual yield of currants is now, on an average, nearly 7,000 tons, the acreage under cultivation being over 10,000 acres, but this is going on increasing, as many fine olive groves are being rooted up to make room for the currant plant. I hope I may prove a false prophet, but this tendency to trust all one's eggs in one basket, I fear, will in the end prove disastrous to the interests of this beautiful island, where the olive flourishes, and the produce can be collected without much expense, and showing a value, one year with another, of over $300,000, and this whilst large tracts of virgin soil in the Morea are annually being brought under cultivation, threatening before very long to bring the total production of currants in excess of the requirements of the world, especially if the condition of the vineyards in France improves, sinee, owing to the ravages of the phylloxera in that country, some 30,000 tons of dried currants have in recent years been annually imported direct, or via other countries, for wine-making purposes. The annual total production of currants of late has exceeded 120,000 tons-indeed, had not rain damaged a considerable portion of this last year's crop the yield would have been over 130,000 tons-and the production could be increased to an almost unlimited extent should an unforeseen demand require it. The old English firm of Barff & Co., established in this trade since the early part of this century, gives a table showing the production and distribution of the whole currant crop from 1820 to 1883, of which I inclose a copy. WINE GRAPES. Besides the "currant" grape, there are probably sixty or seventy varieties of the grape grown in this island, of which only some seven or eight are cultivated for making wine, the remainder being for eating purposes; amongst the latter, one occasionally meets with a very luscious black American grape (the Susquehanna, I believe), known here as the "Isabella," in flavor something between a strawberry and a raspberry; a peculiar feature about it is, that the "oidium" or mildew disease, has no effect upon it, and consequently sulphuring is dispensed with, although often grown in the midst of a vineyard of other grapes subject to the disease; the conclusion is, that its resistance is owing to its belonging to a much younger stock, and is consequently hardier. The vineyards producing the best wines are mostly on hillside, with sunny aspect, or on light shallow and rather stony soil. I have heard |