"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎١‎٣‎٠] (٧٣٨/٢٦٥)

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AGRICULTURE
The ancient wooden plough, drawn by oxen, and the
reaping hook and the threshing sledge are still in general use
in Syria. The peasants, who cultivate most of the land,
cannot afford to purchase and maintain modern European
implements. Besides, deep furrow ploughs are not suited
to the requirements of the summer crops. Iron ploughs,
reaping machines, harrows, and similar implements are being
introduced where the ground permits and where capital is
available (e. g. in the Jewish and German colonies). They
involve necessarily certain changes in agricultural methods
(e. g. more thorough clearing of the land from stones). In
recent years the Turkish Government has established depots
at Aleppo, Homs, Der‘a and elsewhere for the sale of agricul
tural implements. In 1914-15 seventy-nine European ploughs
are said to have been sold in Aleppo.
The most serious defect in Syrian agriculture is its failure
to supply the ground with sufficient manure. The difficulty
of keeping live stock, owing to lack of pasture, partly accounts
for this, but not wholly. Terraces are an important feature
in the cultivation of the land. They are needed to check
the rapid disappearance of the soil from the hills. A com
plete restoration of those which have deteriorated or disap
peared would greatly increase the productiveness of the
country. In most parts of Syria many summer crops, and
especially the vegetable gardens, need irrigation. In the
neighbourhood of Jaffa numerous petroleum pumps are used
for watering the orange plantations. Many districts that
are nearly waterless in summer would become highly pro
ductive if ancient systems of irrigation were restored or new
systems created.
In Palestine the general experience of the Jewish colonies
is that a district wholly dependent upon grain crops does not
prosper. Failures of the harvest are frequent owing to
irregular or insufficient rains. It is estimated that in the
district of Gaza three harvests out of ten are complete failures.
In the Jewish colonies in Galilee disastrous successions of bad
harvests have been experienced. Delay in the early (Novem