"All the year, from January to January again?" said Fred.
"Yes," was the reply, "though some attention must be paid to the change of seasons in order to get the best crops. From two to five crops, according to the article planted, can be raised in the course of the year, provided always that there is a constant supply of water for irrigating the fields. When a crop is ready for gathering it is harvested, and the ground is immediately ploughed and planted again."
AN EGYPTIAN THRASHING-MACHINE.
As if to emphasize what the Doctor was saying, the train carried them past a thrashing-floor where the scriptural process of "treading out the corn" was going on. There was a floor of earth, which had been packed very hard and made smooth as possible, and on this floor the pair of oxen were walking in a circle and dragging a sort of sled, with rollers between the runners, on which a man was perched in a high chair. The straw which had been deprived of its grain was heaped in the centre of the circle, ready for removal; the Doctor explained that the grain was separated from the chaff by throwing it in the air when the wind was blowing, and such a thing as a winnowing-machine was practically unknown in Egypt.
ANCIENT PROCESS OF TREADING OUT THE CORN.
Attempts have been made to introduce modern implements and machinery for agricultural purposes, but they have generally failed. The Khedive expended a large amount of money for the latest improvements in farming; he had a large farm near Cairo, on which the purchases were placed, but it was soon found that the implements were unpopular with the natives, and they were abandoned. They lay for some years in one of the sheds of the establishment, and were finally sold as old iron.