As a result of the war, and the cruelties of the Turks, the population of Jerusalem shrank from eighty thousand to sixty thousand, while Jaffa was almost depopulated. With British control, however, the people flocked back again, and a rapid increase is expected all through the Holy Land. The country itself suffered almost as much as the people from the outrages of both the Turks and the Germans. Crops were seized to feed the soldiers, while hundreds of thousands of olive and other trees were cut down to make fuel for locomotives. The Germans blasted out the trees with dynamite, destroying the roots so that no sprouts could spring up. Whole sections of Palestine were stripped bare, and at the same time cattle and sheep were taken away and killed. In some places the people burned nearly everything they had to keep the Turks from getting their possessions. The British are working on a vast scheme of reforestation in connection with their irrigation plans. They are encouraging a project for building a dam in the River Jordan, above Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, which will furnish power for irrigation pumps and light and energy for all Palestine. Great nurseries have been established at Gaza, where Samson threw down the temple of the Philistines. In one operation, more than one hundred thousand timber trees and ninety thousand fruit trees were set out. The new rulers of the Holy Land hope to restore agriculture, which fell into decay under the Turks, chiefly on account of the excessive taxes on the farmers. Local meetings of natives have been held throughout the country, to find out what the farmers needed most, and to put them in touch with sources of supply. There was found to be a great shortage of farm implements and machines, such as mowers, horse rakes, and other equipment. To encourage the natives, the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to be loaned by the Anglo-Egyptian Bank of Palestine for improvements on their lands. Within three years after the war Palestine agriculture produced more than two million bushels of wheat, one million bushels of barley, one and one quarter million bushels of millet, six thousand tons of grapes, and one hundred and fifty thousand gallons of olive oil. The number of sheep and goats was estimated at more than a quarter of a million of each. Figs are grown in upper Galilee, but not so many as will be the case when shipping facilities are provided. For the second year under British control, the import trade of Palestine amounted to not quite twenty million dollars, most of which was with Great Britain and Egypt. The people import foodstuffs such as rice and sugar, and buy a great quantity of cotton goods.