DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0438
422
The other vegetable productions of Egypt are chiefly flax, saffron,
selgam, (brassica arvensis,) lettuce, (lactuca sativa,) indigo, sugar, and
cotton.
Flax is only cultivated in the province of Siouth. One ardeb of seed
will produce on a feddan above five hundred pounds of flax fit for spinning,
and two or three ardebs of grain. The land requires no preparation for this
hranch of husbandry; but the seed is thrown in immediately after the water
has left it;—early in March it is pulled up by the roots and carried away in
sheaves. Small bundles of it are then struck against the outside of an
earthen jar placed horizontally, by which the grain is separated, and the stalks
being again bound up in sheaves are pressed together vertically in a quadran-
gular trough, twenty yards long and a yard and a half deep : this is then filled
with water, and the flax, which is prevented from rising by weights placed
upon it, is soked for twenty days, then taken out and dried in the sun. It is
then beaten by a mallet against some hard substance, combed, and exhibited
for sale.
The seed of the saffron (or carthamus tinctorius) is sown after the inun-
dation in the furrows formed by a light plough : the flowers are plucked by
women and children, during the whole of the month of April, every morn-
ing at sunrise; six weeks after a second gathering commences. 'These
Mowers ate bruised the same day in a wooden mortar, and formed into thin
cakes three or four inches in diameter, and when dried in the shade during
four <>r live days are sold on the spot to the Cairo merchants. The culture
of this plant is profitable but expensive, and therefore not much attended
to by the peasantry in general, though in the neighbourhood of Siouth
1 observed very large fields covered with it. The usual produce on a fed-
dan is two hundred and a half of saffron, besides two ardebs and a half
of seed : and when cultivated only for the latter, seven ardebs of seed are
obtained.
The selgam produces five and si\ ardebs of grain on one feddan in return
for two twenty-fourths of an ardeb of seed. It is gathered in three months
after seed-time.
The lettuce remains six months in the ground, though generally sown
together with the lentils. An oil is extracted from the seed, and applied
to
The other vegetable productions of Egypt are chiefly flax, saffron,
selgam, (brassica arvensis,) lettuce, (lactuca sativa,) indigo, sugar, and
cotton.
Flax is only cultivated in the province of Siouth. One ardeb of seed
will produce on a feddan above five hundred pounds of flax fit for spinning,
and two or three ardebs of grain. The land requires no preparation for this
hranch of husbandry; but the seed is thrown in immediately after the water
has left it;—early in March it is pulled up by the roots and carried away in
sheaves. Small bundles of it are then struck against the outside of an
earthen jar placed horizontally, by which the grain is separated, and the stalks
being again bound up in sheaves are pressed together vertically in a quadran-
gular trough, twenty yards long and a yard and a half deep : this is then filled
with water, and the flax, which is prevented from rising by weights placed
upon it, is soked for twenty days, then taken out and dried in the sun. It is
then beaten by a mallet against some hard substance, combed, and exhibited
for sale.
The seed of the saffron (or carthamus tinctorius) is sown after the inun-
dation in the furrows formed by a light plough : the flowers are plucked by
women and children, during the whole of the month of April, every morn-
ing at sunrise; six weeks after a second gathering commences. 'These
Mowers ate bruised the same day in a wooden mortar, and formed into thin
cakes three or four inches in diameter, and when dried in the shade during
four <>r live days are sold on the spot to the Cairo merchants. The culture
of this plant is profitable but expensive, and therefore not much attended
to by the peasantry in general, though in the neighbourhood of Siouth
1 observed very large fields covered with it. The usual produce on a fed-
dan is two hundred and a half of saffron, besides two ardebs and a half
of seed : and when cultivated only for the latter, seven ardebs of seed are
obtained.
The selgam produces five and si\ ardebs of grain on one feddan in return
for two twenty-fourths of an ardeb of seed. It is gathered in three months
after seed-time.
The lettuce remains six months in the ground, though generally sown
together with the lentils. An oil is extracted from the seed, and applied
to