The principal cause of the unhappy issue of this first agricultural attempt, however, must be ascribed to the insufficiency of the amount which the Appeal Fund Committee considered themselves justified in advancing to the Safed and Tiberias poor. The latter had neither houses, barns, stables, nor agricultural implements, nor had they any means of their own to live upon till the gathering in of the first produce of their fields.
We can now record most gratifying instances of the results of agriculture pursued by the poor in the Holy Land who had the good fortune to meet with friends in Paris and in other places, in Germany, Poland, and Russia; and the general opinion of those who know the Holy Land is that agriculture, when properly attended to, may be considered the best means of securing a useful and comfortable life to the poor who, from religious motives, may prefer that country to any other.
With reference to the Jaffa garden, which was then cultivated by two Jewish families, Classen and Litman, under the superintendence of the former tenant of the estate, Dr Hodgkin and Mr Galloway made a report, at the request of Sir Moses, in which they state as follows:—
"In the year 1856 they expended 28,700 Egyptian piastres, whilst their income only amounted to 27,544 piastres."
When Sir Moses bought this property for the Appeal Fund Committee, with a view of encouraging agriculture among the Jews, it contained no less than 1407 trees of every description. Knowing that similar gardens and fields in possession of the natives were very profitable, he was rather surprised at this result. Still he contented himself with the hope that the property would increase in value, if it were once decided to have a railroad to Jerusalem, in which case that place would be a great acquisition for the directors for the purposes of the Jaffa railway station; and, in the meanwhile, three poor families were deriving some advantage from its cultivation.
From that time up to the present the expenses have, on an average, not been less than £40 a year.
Offers were made by some persons to pay a high rent for the property, but they could only do that, they said, after having had possession of the land for at least ten years; and to this Sir Moses did not feel inclined to agree.
A few days later he inspected the preparations which were then being made for the erection of the windmill, and held special conferences in the garden with the elders of the several communities regarding the hospital he intended to build on a spot not far from the mill.
The spiritual heads of the German congregations, however, considered it advisable to have almshouses instead of a hospital, "as such an institution had been built within the last year by the Baroness Bettie de Rothschild in memory of the late Mayer de Rothschild, and although not large enough for the numerous poor in Jerusalem, still," they thought, "it might probably soon be enlarged by the same lady for the accommodation of a greater number." "Moreover, for the sake of preserving peaceful relations between all parties in Jerusalem," they added, "it would be desirable to be satisfied for the present with one hospital."
Sir Moses consented to their suggestion, notwithstanding the great trouble he had taken in the matter, and the heavy expenses he had incurred by having elaborate plans of the building made, and having gone to Constantinople to obtain the special permission of the Sultan for it.