Palestine]
200,000 tons. The bulk is used for bread by the poorer classes, small quantities only being exported.
Maize is grown in the plains of Damascus, the Hauran, &c., but is of minor importance, as are oats and rye, which are only raised in small quantities by the foreign colonists.
Sesame, from which oil is produced, is one of the most valuable crops, fetching as much as £16 a ton, but it needs much labour and is very uncertain; consequently it is not much in favour except as a preparatory for wheat. It is grown chiefly on the coastal plain and in the Homs-Hama district, the annual yield being about 30,000 tons, of which a third or so is exported.
Rice, which requires a swampy soil, is grown in small quantities in the north of the Aleppo vilayet and in the upper Jordan valley (Jaulan district). Its cultivation is subject to Government restriction.
Leguminous plants, including chickpeas, lentils, beans, vetches, and lupins, are largely cultivated. Chickpeas are sown in February, the others earlier, and harvest time extends from April to July. The total crop may be estimated at about 500,000 tons, and chickpeas and lupins are exported in appreciable quantities. The latter are sometimes grown merely as a manure. Lucern and clover are grown for fodder, especially in the vilayets of Damascus and Aleppo.
Vegetables, which are for the most part consumed locally, include potatoes, turnips, onions, melons, marrows, aubergines (egg plants), tomatoes, carrots, garlic, cabbages, cauliflowers, artichokes, and asparagus. Potatoes, which fetch £4 5s. the ton, are not much grown except in the Damascus and Aleppo districts: an obstacle to their wider cultivation is the fact that they ripen early and do not keep through the hot weather till the next sowing time, so that seedpotatoes must be imported afresh every year. The combined yield of potatoes and turnips amounts to about 200,000 tons. Melons grow best on the coastal plain
