Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 364

which interest the Jewish settler, a choice must be made of those which do not come within the range of vegetables in the extensive farms. The vegetables grown by Arabs are : summer tomatoes, cucumbers, water melons, cabbages and cauliflowers. Some of these vegetables grow on non-irrigated soil, and can therefore be cultivated only during a limited period of the year. In the months July to September the price of tomatoes is so low that it is hardly worth while picking them, but during the remaining months of the year the price is high, and in the winter it is higher than in England. The Arabs increase the area of vegetable growing with the assistance of the Government Department for Agriculture, but the Jewish settlements need fear no competition if they will be able to grow suitable vegetables and if they will improve the packing .and transport for marketing purposes. (a) Carrots. Carrots can be grown throughout the year, although the best season is at the end of the summer. Species have been found which produce 1,800 kilograms per dunam in May, 2,000 kilograms in June, and 4,000 in July. (b) Cucumbers. Of the nine kinds experimented on in the Extension Service fields, two were found to be most suitable, the yield per dunam being 2 tons. The yield with the Damascus cucumber is the same, but it rots easily and cannot be well preserved. A special kind of cucumber for preserving purposes was selected, as there is a good market for this product in the country. (c) Beans. Beans find a ready market during the summer months, and kinds have been selected of which the yield is 1,500 kilograms per dunam. (d) Tomatoes. It was necessary to find a species which was more productive than the one grown .by the Arabs, and a French species was chosen, which is likely to yield 5 tons per dunam in the Valley of Esdraelon, and an even larger yield in the Jordan valley. (<?) Water Melons. Efforts were made to find a species which is tastyand which would be suitable for transport. In Tel Joseph fifteen species of melons were experimented on, and only two proved successful, which produce a yield of 2 tons per dunam. It is presumed that the income per dunam from water melons is about £P. 20. (/) Aubergines. Experiments were made with several kinds and so far a yield of 3 tons per dunam has been obtained. New kinds of lettuce, beetroot and pumpkins have been tried, as well as early onions. (g) Potatoes. A beginning with the growing of potatoes by irrigation was made by the Extension Service on the basis of a preliminary investigation in Cyprus made by the former director of the Extension Service, Mr. S. Zemach. This branch has gradually grown to large proportions in Jewish agriculture and the potato areas are still increasing. The experiments of growing 364