AGRICULTURE IN AFGHANISTAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 303, 31 December 1878, Page 4

AGRICULTURE IN AFGHANISTAN.

Id view of (be recent proceedings in Afghanistan, it will be of interest to know what Bort of a country, in en agricultural senee at least, that far away and virtually unknown land ie. . r The agricultural product of Afghanistan is very various. Wheat, maize, barley, : ~ and millet form the principal food of the population, Rice requiring much water, is only planted in the valley of the tributaries of . the Indue. Every variety of fruit known in Europe grows well, the rhubarb especially fine. Indeed, fruit ie one of the great staples of food in the country, and a principal Brtiole of exportation. The Kabul Valley gardens are famous for peaches, apricots/ cherries, apples, pears,, pomegranate %' fi»s, and ' quinces ; .the Jellalabad Valley has also lemons and dates. The white mulberry tree is everywhere; the other species with red fruit is also there. The mulberries are dried, ground into flour,! and made into cakes, either with or without corn-' flour. Pistachio nuts are grown in such quantities in the neighbourhood .. of Maimene that they are. exported by caravans to Persia and Bagdad. It is a peculiarity* of the climate that all these excellent comestibles get ripe at a considerable altitude. Pomegranates, flourish at 4500 feet above the sea, while apricots ascend 8000 feet, and mulberries to 9000 feet. Grapes are plentiful and the making of wine is a chief branch of industry, especially in Eaffristas. Considerable quantities of grapes are dried and eaten as raisins.

Some sores are gathered before they are ripe, and exported to Bombay,. ftc. Cattle-breeding Ss another principal occupation. As in the steppes and hills of Russian Asia, climate and soil necessitate a fWqnent change of pasture. Excepting in Kabul Velley, eattlp-breediDg is carried ou in all parts of Afghanistan by a nomad population, living aide by eida with (he sedentary and ngricultural inhabitants. The I nomads rarely apply themselves to agricultural pursuits, Of the domestic i animals, camels, dromedaries, and a cross beetween the two, are used for riding and draught, as well as for the milk and butter they yield ; their flesh is only eaten by the very poorest,: Kabul has few camels, and only a curt- ' horae Bort of horses. The i.specieiTof horse called yabu is employed for draught io-the hills. V^slr sheep and goats are very numerous, aD( j con .j aidered the most useful animals in the' country ; but in Sistan, wbere tbeyj canoo.t be reared on account of the! insects abounding there, the inhabitants turn their attention to the.breeding of cattfe. There is a good deal of wool collected, manufactured, and exported. r