Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/317

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TWO WORLDS
301

ization and Christian culture, often beginning with medical aid and the supplying of the districts with sufficient water, this magic element that brings life and strength to the dried but fertile soil of Maghreb, and ending by importing sewing-machines, ploughs and other products of Western factories, even though these may at times be only bright, naïve lithographs of Mecca or of the tomb of the Prophet.

Under the influence of irrigation, commercial fertilizers and modern machinery the previously arid stretches of the country are converted into a granary that yields its largess not only to France but to more distant countries of the world. In view of the oft-expressed concern of those who study the subject of the world's grain supply of the not-very-distant future Morocco is worthy of deep consideration and will probably soon come into her own as one of the large grain-producing countries of the globe. At present its natives and colonists exploit only a small portion of its soil, which so readily yields good crops of wheat, rye, oats, maize, millet, sorghum, beans, lentils, hemp, flax, cotton, vegetables and fodder for cattle. In fruit culture Spaniards, Italians and Greeks produce great varieties of grapes, almonds, plums, apricots, apples, oranges, lemons, dates, figs, persimmons and bananas.

Upland pastures and particularly the tracts covered with alfa-grass offer opportunity for modern cattle-production on an extensive scale. Cattle-breeding is now badly neglected by the natives, as is also the breeding of the fine strains of Berber, Arab and Syrian horses. The production of sheep and goats is better managed by them,