Agriculture -- Egypt; Egypt -- Description and travel
The turnip, so popular in England, finds little favour, though it is
easily raised as a medium-paying crop, and, odd as it may sound, it is
principally used pickled.
Colocass is generally grown upon the farm. The tubers are large, about
the size of an English turnip. This is a splendid paying crop, which is
largely consumed as a vegetable and forms one of the staple foods of the
fellaheen.
The sweet potato is also a common vegetable here, but the name sounds
foreign to an English cultivator. It is a plant with tuberous roots of
a white colour, mostly eaten roasted, and, like the colocass, it is a
favourite food of the farm labourer. The value of the produce of an
acre may be estimated at ten pounds, and the duration of the crop is
about four months.
The cucumber thrives very well in Egypt, and, of course, there is no
necessity for the protection of glass. It is as popular as in England,
but perhaps more utilised, lasting well through summer into autumn, and
proves to be a very paying crop, provided it has a plentiful supply of
water. This may also be said of the two varieties of vegetable marrow,
the green and white, which are largely raised. The fruits are most
popular when very young, and are much relished when treated as the
cucumber is in England--that is to say, served as a salad, though it is
cooked as well. This, like the cucumber, is a medium-paying crop. As
for the latter, it has been a favourite object of culture, dating right
back to the days of the Israelites. The allusion to the cucumber will
be recalled, and all species of this family are cultivated with
assiduity. Not that there is anything wonderful in this, for in a hot
country fruits and vegetables of rapid growth, and which cause little
trouble, are sure to be affected. We say rapid growth advisedly, for in
favourable seasons the shoot of a cucumber may be almost seen to grow,
achieving as it does, at times, a length of twenty-four inches in a day
and night.
The ordinary salads and herbs of the English garden are easily raised,
and form profitable crops, available summer and winter, and are highly
esteemed. Among other plants we have poppies, madder, indigo, flax and
hemp; while in the province of Fayoum one very charming form of
gardening is practised, namely the growth of the rose tree, from which
is prepared the rose water so popular all through the East.
As for flowers of all descriptions, where they are scarce it is the
fault of the people, for many of our most brilliant kinds, especially
the more tender, which are raised in our islands only with care,
brighten the land and flourish everywhere like weeds.
Our ornamental hothouse growth, the eggplant, here forms a most
important vegetable, which is extensively cultivated. It is similar to
the aubergine, which is used in France and seen occasionally in Covent
Garden Market; but the years glide by, and its bids for popular favour
have met with but little success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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