THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11282, 9 January 1915, Page 5

THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY

(New York " Run.") An ««iivzing agricultural revival is going m ail over Palestine. due largely to the efforts of the Zionist movement. Often it has !>oen said that tho Jews never could be an agricultural people, but bore in their own land the love of the soil .seems t» return to them, and tboy are making tho <3<\sert flourish. Figs, dates, almonds, olives and » good quality of wine are being produced by Jewish farmers. Pnlestino is said to have been the birthplace of wheat, and wild wheat yet abounds there. Wheat, beans, oat* and barley are among tlio loading crops. A hindrance to wheat production is the tares, which if not pulled up impart a bitter flavour to the flour. All over Palestine, therefore, forces of working jeople, isually young girls, engage in the task of separating tho tares from the wheat. Most, of the farms in Palestine are small and enclosed by stone waJJs, but in the plains of the Philistine* they are much larger and are not fenced in. The plains of CJarmel, Sharon, Samaria owl Esdraelon are rich and productive. The leant fertile section is Jodea, but even here in the rocky lands great agricultural improvements are taking place. At, modern Jericho fine banana,* are produced, and the largest oranges I ever saw. An Englishman, Sir John Gray-Hill, has just established a large farm on the stony ridge of which the Mount of Olives forms a part. Figs, vines, olives and other trees are boing grown successfully. No honey is so delicious as that produced in Palestine, owing to the rare flavour of the innumerable varieties of flowers. Tho milk too from camels, goats and sheep .is remarkably rioh. So this is in truth a " land of milk and honey." The dairy and honey industries are undergoing a re--markahle revival of recent years. Close to Jerusalem *i family that recently came from Switzerland is producing honey on an extensive scale.

Tn Beersheba the milk supply is obtained almost, wholly from camels, and if; is excellent. Modern Sidon depends on its orchards and orango gardens for subsistence. The perfume from the orange flowers is perceptible from tho decks of passing steamers.