"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [و‎‎٣‎١‎٩] (٧٣٨/٦٤٢)

INDUSTRIES AND TRADE
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ghors produce cereals of all kinds ; the Mezra‘, broader than
the rest, rivals Es-Safiyeh-for its grain. Work in the grain*
fields is largely carried out by imported labourers from
Hebron, Jerusalem, and Nablus. For good crops four
rains are regarded as needful : at the end of October and
beginning of November, in the middle of December, at the
end of January and beginning of February, and in late March
and early April. On the plateau barley ripens towards the
close of May and wheat in June ; the gh5r is always a few
weeks earlier. The reaped grain is carried to the threshing-
floor on camels and mules, the threshing being usually done
by a wooden board set on the under-side with rows of sharp
flints. Upon this board the thresher stands and is driven
round and round over the strewn crop by a pair of mules or
a single camel. The grain is chiefly winnowed by tossing
against the wind, but sieves are also used. After heavy
crops, land is allowed to lie fallow, sometimes as much as
three years.
As a rule, land is held communally, and re-divided every
year according to the requirements and claims of the several
households. Only in villages of which the people have
recently purchased land from the Bedouin is private property
in the soil general among fellahin ; among the half-fellahin
the same conditions prevail. Much of the best land still
belongs to the Bedouin, who lease it to peasants, receiving as
rent a fifth, or, if the land is very good, a quarter of the
produce.
Fruit trees, mainly olives and figs, are cultivated in the
western valleys or in the ghors, where the presence of springs
and brooks makes irrigation possible. Some vineyards are
still to be seen beside the orchards round the upland villages
of Kefrabbeh, Khanzlreh and ‘Araq, as well as near Kerak,
and viticulture might become once more an important industry
as it was in ancient times; the same statement applies to
tobacco, now sparsely planted in the Kefrabbeh region and
about Mekawar. Gardens growing onions, garlic and other
vegetables are found in the villages.