The barley in general is not of good quality, but the
desert or "Mariut" barley, grown by the Bedouins in the coast region
west of Alexandria, is highly prized for the making of beer. Beans and
lentils are extensively sown, and form an important article of export.
The annual value of the crops is over L3,000,000. Rice is largely
grown in the northern part of the Delta, where the soil is very wet.
Two kinds are cultivated: _Sultani_, a summer crop, and _Sabaini_, a
flood crop. _Sabaini_ is a favourite food of the fellahin, while
_Sultani_ rice is largely exported. In the absence of grass, the chief
green food for cattle and horses is clover, grown largely in the basin
lands of Upper Egypt. To a less extent vetches are grown for the same
purpose.

_Vegetables and Fruit._--Vegetables grow readily, and their
cultivation is an important part of the work of the fellahin. The
onion is grown in great quantities along the Nile banks in Upper
Egypt, largely for export. Among other vegetables commonly raised are
tomatoes (the bulk of which are exported), potatoes (of poor quality),
leeks, marrows, cucumbers, cauliflowers, lettuce, asparagus and
spinach.

The common fruits are the date, orange, citron, fig, grape, apricot,
peach and banana. Olives, melons, mulberries and strawberries are also
grown, though not in very large numbers. The olive tree flourishes
only in the Fayum and the oases. The Fayum also possesses extensive
vineyards. The date is a valuable economic asset. There are some
6,000,000 date-palms in the country, 4,000,000 being in Upper Egypt.
The fruit is one of the chief foods of the people. The value of the
crop is about L1,500,000 a year.

_Roses and Dyes._--There are fields of roses in the Fayum, which
supply the market with rose-water. Of plants used for dyeing, the
principal are bastard saffron, madder, woad and the indigo plant. The
leaves of the henna plant are used to impart a bright red colour to
the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, and the nails of both
hands and feet, of women and children, the hair of old ladies and the
tails of horses. Indigo is very extensively employed to dye the
shirts of the natives of the poorer classes; and is, when very dark,
the colour of mourning; therefore, women at funerals, and generally
after a death, smear themselves with it.

_Domestic Animals._--The Egyptians are not particularly a pa