'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎299v] (601/862)

462 IRRIGATION, AGRICULTURE, AND MINOR INDUSTRY
barley, sown from mid-October to mid-November. It can be grown
by irrigation or by rainfall either for fibre or for linseed; the yield of
straw is good, though the quality of the fibre is indifferent, and there
is lack of experience in the processing or ‘retting’ of the straw in
water. Hence cultivation for linseed predominates, the seed yielding
an oil content of about 40 per cent. Fluctuation of world prices dis
couraged cultivation between 1925 and 1930, but it is a promising
crop for Iraq. The Department of Agriculture has assisted cultivators
by the selection of varieties and experiments in processing. The
principal areas are in the provinces of Baghdad, Kut, Dulaim, Hilla,
and Diwaniya in southern Iraq, and of Kirkuk in the north.
Sesame, another oil seed, is a long-established summer crop, grown
by irrigation in many districts of southern Iraq, particularly along
the Shatt al Arab. Part of the crop is processed within the country
and used as cooking fat or eaten as a sweetmeat (halawa), and between
3,000 and 7,000 tons are exported. Hemp, a fibre plant, is of little
economic importance; the Deccan sorts flourish, but the native kind
has a poor cellulose content. Sugar-beet has been introduced, but as
a farm crop it is experimental, particularly on irrigated lands, where
its shape is bad and its sugar content low.
Sericulture. The ancient silk industry of Abbasid Baghdad was
first revived by the Turkish Government before 1914, disappeared
during the War of 1914-1918, and was re-established between 1920
and 1922 when the Department of Agriculture set up a section for the
import and breeding of sound strains of eggs and also the supply of
mulberry seedlings, of which the ‘Baghdad white’ strain proved
superior to local kinds. Sericulture is a small-scale industry carried
out in scattered localities, and often in enclosed gardens. Baghdad
and Baquba are the principal centres. Sufficient silk is produced for
the satisfaction of Iraqi silk industries, but the export of silk has not
been very successful, partly because silk has suffered generally from
the competition of artificial silk, partly because Iraqi production was
not large enough to justify the establishment of a modern commercial
filature.
Fruit and Vegetables
The growing of fruit (other than dates) and vegetables is more
extensive in the northern (Rainfall) Zone than in southern Iraq.
Particularly in Kurdistan the heavy rainfall and the limited size of
the holdings encourage these crops, which are also grown in the
plains around towns and villages near rivers from which local irriga