'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎173r] (350/738)

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Agriculture and Industries
Agriculture
J. Ansarlyeh has been described as a barren region but it is, in
fact, an extremely agreeable and fertile tract. Being lower and
less rocky, it is naturally much more fertile than the Lebanon.
The whole of the coastal plain is exceedingly fertile and is
well watered at its northern and southern extremities. In
the lower mountains and also in the higher altitudes, there
are fertile areas; one of the most fertile plains in the whole
mountains is El-Buqei‘ah watered by the N. el-Kebir. Except
in the case of olives, cocoons, tobacco, and liquorice root,
products are limited to local needs, the natives prefering
this to the burden of taxation which follows upon surplus
production. A great proportion of the ground is therefore
uncultivated and the primitive farming methods produce
only a necessary minimum from the areas under cultivation.
Grain and Bean Crops, <bc.—Wheat, barley, dhura, sesame,
lentils, chickpeas, beans, vegetables and fruit of all kinds
are raised in small quantities chiefly on the coastal plain.
The wheat of Ladiqlyeh does not keep well, being liable to
attack by weevil. The land is prepared for wheat and barley
in October and November and harvest is about the end of
May. The ground then lies fallow till the next winter, when
it is ploughed and prepared for summer crops which are sown
in spring and reaped in autumn; these consist of dhura,
cotton, sesame, lentils, chickpeas, and castor oil. Tracts
of moist ground are chosen for melons, cucumbers, tomatoes,
egg-plant, &c.
Sericulture .—Mulberry trees are extensively cultivated in
the Antioch valley. The silk industry of the Antioch district
increased by about 50 per cent, between 1900 and 1910. The
eggs are chiefly imported from France and 377,000 kg. were
bought for Antioch in 1908-9, to which must be added 306,000
kg. locally produced (Weakley). The greater part of these is
used for the extensive areas outside the Ansariyeh region,
in the neighbourhood of Suweidiyeh and elsewhere in the
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