'Report on the Development of Mesopotamia with Special Reference to the Regeneration of the River Systems' [‎18] (24/50)

18
as the Arabs and assuming no outside colonization is to be allowed, this will be a very
slow process. The agricultural implements used in Mesopotamia and the methods
employed are probably identical with those of 5,000 years ago, and very great
patience will have to be observed in teaching new methods.
I had a certain amount of experience of the existing system of agriculture in
connection with the Michiriyah canal, which for military purposes I blocked with
a dam allowing water for irrigation to flow through by means of bye-passes. The
works caused consternation amongst the tribes, not only because the water sent
through the bye-passes was, according to their lights, insufficient, but because it
reached them deprived of its silt. The Arab attaches enormous importance to the-
water for irrigation purposes arriving on the land laden with silt, and the followins;
brief description of the Arab method of cultivation of the rice crop will explain the
reason.
(40) The crop usually consists of:—•
(i) " Harfi " ox early broadcast rice, sown on highest middle lands, below
wheat and barley. Sowings in May ripen at the end of August.
(it) " Affli ' or late broadcast rice, sown on lower middle lands next below
'' harfi." Sowings in June, ripen October loth. Requires watering
up to September at least, probably one week more.
(iii) " Shittal " or transplanted rice, sowings in May and transplanted in
August, ripen at the end of October.
INo. (n) usually consists of about two-thirds of the whole area.
The land is divided into " habbalsy" more or less rectangular strips 150 feet
wide, running from, and normal to, the main channel and down into the marsh,.
Each habbal has its own watercourse..
• During the high Tigris flood of the third week in March, water pours through
each watercourse into the marsh, rapidly raising its level till only narrow strips
along the margins of the main channel remain uncovered. The backing-up so
caused, makes the main channel spill over its banks and deposit a rich layer of silt
along its margins. As the flood subsides, seed, previously germinated by being
scaked several days in water, is sown on the soft silt,, forming the earliest or " harfi
rice.
. Subsequent floods in April give repeated, waterings to this crop, and, should the
nver remain high, it is harvested in August. If the river falls the plants are duo
out of the dried up soil and transplanted to lower ground, forming part of the
smttal crop.
With the fall of the Tigris and subsequent fall of the marshes in late April and:
Ti^'. ffl- WingS 0f " affli " Start on the laild laid bare by the receding 'waters.
! ( f®\ ^ a p itllerbe harvested in place or transplanted to lower ground to
iorm shittal according to the prevailing level of the river.*
ie shittal, accounted the best rice for eating, and comprising rather less;
tlle i whole, consists entirely of plants unmatured in the "harfi" or
a » transplanted with the falling of the marsh to lower levels which have been,
coverec with some depth of water for upwards of three months. The growth of
e plant is hindered by its transplantation when the ground is hard and dry, and
the crop does not mature until November. "
moderatp n ^ ^ " Cr0p 8 ete ' a § reat deal of siIt ' the " affli " a
m0UUt of Sllt alld Perhaps sk weeks soakage with water, and the « shittal"