ALGERIA.

That portion of Algeria which lies along the Mediterranean and for a distance of from 50 to 60 kilometers inland is very well adapted for the culture of vegetables of all sorts, as well as for that of the orange and other fruits.

The market gardens of this region are happily situated for the disposal of their products, as these ripen from one to two months earlier than similar products in Europe, and, since Algiers is but 40 hours away from Paris, the country is able to supply all the markets of Northern France with fresh vegetables and fruits from December to May.

The show of these products in the Algerian pavilion on the Esplanade des Invalides was a fair one and included vegetables of many sorts, as peas and beans of several different kinds, potatoes, beets (both for forage and for sugar-making), asparagus, artichokes, egg-plants, sweet potatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, etc., generally of excellent quality. The fruits shown were principally dried figs, besides which there were dried prunes and raisins, almonds, peanuts, and the dried fruit of the carob tree. In the booths about the pavilion fresh specimens of several of the native fruits were constantly for sale, though not strictly exhibited, among which were to be seen watermelons, which certainly looked small and poor when compared with those exhibited by some of the French cultivators upon the Trocadéro.

Beyond the drying of fruits there seems to be no attempt made to preserve vegetables in Algeria, or at least nothing of the sort was exhibited from this country.

Beans (fèves) are one of the principal vegetables grown in Algeria, as they are excellent for rotation; they are sown at the same time with the wheat, in December, grow vigorously, and find a ready market.

Haricots (white beans) and Pois chiches also grow well there in dry soils, and should be sown in March and April, but their culture is not extensive.

Algeria has, from the time of the Romans, been noted as a wonderfully fertile agricultural country, especially in the production of cereals, and the cereal exhibit was an exceptionally fine one, and some of the best wheat in the whole Exposition was to be found there.

The extraordinarily fertile district in the center of Algeria known as the Tell is particularly favored by nature for the production of cereals. It is situated at from 50 to 60 kilometers inland, extending thence for a width of 100 to 150 kilometers south to the foot of the Atlas range of mountains, and is over 1,200 kilometers long from east to west. It contains about 14,000,000 hectares of land, the soil of which is of extreme fertility, its climate is much like that of the south of France, and it could easily nourish ten times the present

population of Algeria, which is about 3,800,000. Before the French conquest (1830) the culture of cereals dominated all other cultures in Algeria and still does so, though viticulture is increasing rapidly at present and promises to soon take the first place.

Hard wheat (Triticum durum) was the only kind known to the Arabs, and it is still the most cultivated, though since the French occupation tender wheat is cultivated to some extent. The term hard wheat is somewhat vague and probably means Polish wheat or various sorts of wheat, bearded, with hard polished grain, such as is grown in warm countries like Algeria. There are two principal. varieties of hard wheat to be found there; one of these is rather long in the ear and has a light reddish beard and horny, transparent grain, and is mostly grown in the southern part of the Tell; the other is more hardy and less affected by frosts, etc., and has a square head and a long black beard, its grain being duller; it is found in the north of the Tell. No names are given for these. Among the tender wheats (Triticum sativum) a fine variety called the Mahon is frequently sown of late years. The Mitadin wheat also succeeds well, has a thick stalk, and is not, therefore, easily thrown down by

storms.

In spite of careless methods much less grain to the hectare is necessary in sowing in Algeria than in France; thus, in October and November barely 80 kilos to the hectare are used; in France broadcast sowing takes from 160 to 240 kilos. Even less than these figures might be needed if mechanical sowers were employed. The general yield is not great, the Arabs get from six to eight quintaux métriques only, while the Europeans, with superior methods of culture, get 9 or 10 quintaux, but not more. Algerian wheat is particularly sought for making sémoules and other alimentary preparations, and is even preferred to Sicilian or Odessa wheat. The average yield from Algerian and Tunisian wheat is, according to official documents, 81 per cent flour and 19 per cent chaff. According to Pliny the elder, African wheat gave 80 per cent flour and 20 per cent chaff, so that there has been but little change since his time. The following comparative table of the weight of a hectoliter of wheat in various countries may be interesting:

The best Algerian wheat is grown in the arrondissement of SidiBel-Abbès, in the department of Oran.

Barley is produced in large quantities in the Tell, especially by the Arabs, who feed their horses upon it, being of the opinion that the

climate is too hot for giving them oats. They also consume it themselves when wheat is lacking. In newly broken lands it gives a better yield than wheat does, is less affected by drought, and ripens more quickly. Algerian barley is much esteemed abroad for milling purposes, and large quantities of it are sent to England and Belgium. Near Constantine the Arabs cultivate a black barley, which sometimes does better than the ordinary sort. This may possibly be identical with a precocious black barley found in Germany.

Oats are only extensively cultivated among the Europeans in Algeria, who use them freely for their horses. They thrive well and their culture is increasing.

Rye also grows, but it is only cultivated for its straw. The show of maize at the Algerian pavilion was a fair one, the principal varieties being the caragua and dent-de-cheval; good yellow, and red maize were also shown. Maïs rosas is a small, triangular-grained, white variety. All kinds of maize may be successfully grown in Algeria, but the actual cultivation is relatively small. The Europeans produce more of it than the Arabs, probably on account of their having swine to feed it to. Maize exhausts the soil, which will probably prevent its extensive culture.

Sorghum is shown in both the white and black varieties. The Bechena (Sorghum vulgare) is only cultivated by the Arabs, especially among the mountains of Kabylie; they eat it and give the straw to their animals.

Attempts at cultivating Sorghum saccharinum have not met with success. Another native grain, called by the Arabs Ilni (Panicetum tryphoideum) is grown by them in the summer.

Colza was cultivated at one time, but in 1867 the crop was destroyed by locusts and its culture has never been resumed. This crop is also seriously affected by the sirocoo.

Lucern gives generally from three to four crops a year in Algeria; with perfect irrigation it has been known to give six or even eight crops in one year. A native variety is cultivated by the Arabs in the oases. The improved cultivation of lucern would be of advantage to the country.

Sainfoin has been tried by some cultivators, but as yet with no success; probably the soil is not calcareous enough for it.

Flax, both of the Riga and Italian varieties, has been tried in Algeria; the former gave good yields, but its culture was abandoned for commercial reasons, and Italian flax was alone cultivated for seed; this, too, failed commercially and, being an exhaustive crop, was never resumed.

Hemp seems only to be cultivated in small quantity around Bône by the natives for producing hasheesh. It grows well.

Ramie has been experimented upon for a long time, but without good results. It also grows well, and with careful culture might

give as many as five crops a year, but its method of working is at fault.

Algerian cotton was famous as far back as the eleventh century, and was much sought for by the Venetians in the sixteenth. Its culture was attempted by the French in 1830. During our civil war in 1861 the production of cotton in Algeria suddenly rose from 141,000 kilos to 493,000 kilos in 1864; to 615,000 in 1865; to 744,000 in 1866, and as suddenly fell to 381,000 in 1867, then slowly declining to only 36,000 kilos in 1874, since when there has been no serious cultivation of it. The competition of America and Asia, and perhaps of central Africa later on, will prevent cotton culture on a large scale upon the Mediterranean, notwithstanding the facility with which it grows there.

The soil and climate of Algeria are particularly favorable to the growth of many fruits. The olive is very general throughout the Tell, and its culture there seems to have been of very ancient origin. Figs are grown, especially in Kabylie, and considerable business is done in their exportation; those shown at the Exposition were of fair quality only. The orange, lemon, carob, almond, and pistache all do well in the Tell, and the agave and cactus are acclimated there. The culture of the principal cereals in 1888 was as follows:

The following figures of exportation of cereals, etc., are officially given:

In

Cereal culture is diminishing in Algeria from several causes. the first place, Europeans there are giving more and more attention to viticulture every year, whereas the Arabs, keeping to their old traditions, confine themselves to cereals, principally wheat and

barley, and supply the markets the year around. The grain supplied by them is never of first quality because of their custom of stowing it in silos instead of in granaries. These silos are simply pits or trenches, 1 to 1.50 meters deep, dug in the earth and lined with straw. The grain is placed directly on the straw, covered with more straw, and finally covered with earth, to be taken out as wanted. This treatment is not calculated to improve the quality of the grain. In the arrondissement of Guelma wheat and barley (for oats are almost unknown there) are sown in October, November, and December upon fields which for the previous two or three years have been left as pastures. After the harvest these fields are again left as pastures for two or three years more, and this style of rotation is continued. Agricultural machines are here only used for the vines. From 2 to 2.20 hectoliters of grain per hectare are used in sowing, and the yield is hardly ever above 10 to 12 hectoliters among the Arabs or 14 to 16 among the Europeans. In the arrondissement of Constantine matters are even worse. No serious rotation of crops

is practiced at all, but wheat is sown after wheat and barley after barley, while fertilizers are but very little in use among the Europeans and are entirely unknown to the Arabs. This state of things has been going on for over 20 years.

Other parts of the country are hardly better in agricultural matters. Naturally the result is that the vigor of the soil and the yield of grain are growing less and less each year, and yet cultivators do not seem to think of making any improvement. The great agricul tural needs of Algeria are, then, a better plan of rotation, the more general use of fertilizers, and the introduction of good machinery. The Oued Rir' (subterranean river, Arabic) is a district of oases in the desert of Sahara, to the south of Constantine. It was first occupied by the French in 1854, and was found by them in a state of decadence, though it had been cultivated since the commencement of the fifteenth century by the Arabs, who had utilized its subterranean waters by means of rude wells. In 1856 the French drove their first iron tube into its soil and established a permanent artesian well, since which time the district has prospered, the land has quintupled in value, and the population has more than doubled.

In 1885 the population was about 13,000 and there were 43 oases containing 114 French and 492 native spouting wells, which gave a total of over 250,000 liters of water per minute, or over 4 cubic meters per second; wells driven 30 years ago have not since ceased to flow and the supply of water is never failing. (Fig. 21.)

The Société Agricole et Industrielle de Batna et du Sud Algérien was founded in 1881 for the further development of this district, and at the Exposition made a fine display of its work in the Algerian pavilion, exhibiting in no less than twelve different classes. The principal thing of interest, and the most important in these exhibits, is the show of dates, which was a fine one.