Agriculture -- Egypt; Egypt -- Description and travel
Another very familiar crop is seen largely in Egypt--the leek. This is
a profitable vegetable, which grows to a good size, is easily
cultivated, and realises a total per acre of about fifteen pounds. The
carrot, too, is largely grown--in two varieties, the native and the
Greek. The native kind is sown in September, and is ready for lifting
in January; while the Greek variety, sown in the same month, is also
used for the production of a summer crop in February. A deep soil is
necessary, while its sandy nature in Egypt is most suitable for this
root, and when carefully cultivated a fair return may be expected.
One of the most extensively grown vegetables, a very general favourite
almost everywhere except in England, is the garlic. It does well in
Egypt, often in plots of as much as two acres, and has the advantages of
not requiring great care in cultivation, nor much water; while an
average crop will yield of the silvery bulbs enough to be valued at
about fifteen pounds per acre.
The onion, again, proves itself to be a most thriving inhabitant of this
Eastern country, growing hard, firm, clean-skinned, and healthy. In
this sunny clime it is extensively grown, and not merely for home use.
The kind most popular is the red Spanish onion, and it is cultivated
both in Upper Egypt and Lower, there being this peculiarity of
difference, namely, that the Spanish onion grows to a larger size in the
south, while the flavour of those grown in the Delta is superior.
A few words will not be out of place respecting the cultivation of this
vegetable in Upper Egypt, where it is grown most extensively as a farm
crop for export. The seed is sown in the month of October,
transplantation takes place in March, and, all going well, the crop is
ready for lifting in June or July. After the transplanting no
irrigation is required. The yield is approximately four to five tons
per acre, and the market price two pounds per ton.
The next vegetable on our list when grown in quantity looks wonderfully
familiar and home-like. It is the artichoke--not that of tuberous and
sunflower-like growth, but the deeply cut, acanthus-like leaved
ornamental plant of English gardens, with its majestic thistle-like
purple head.
This is one of the best-paying garden crops, these heads being greatly
in demand by Europeans, though not much sought after by the natives. In
the culture it will be found that the growth is excellent for four
years, when transplanting becomes necessary and should be resorted to.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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