OTHER PRODUCTS
Apart from the breeding of sheep on the Hauts Plateaux and in the
Sahara, we also find cattle-raising in the Tell and in the coast
hills of the department of Oran, while horse-breeding is carried
on all along the southern slopes of the Atlas. The cattle are not
very big, and would compare sadly with any European breed, but they
bring in a comfortable little revenue to the breeder and suffice
for the needs of the country.
Horses are more in the hands of the Europeans, who have created
some quite good centers for improving the strain, but generally
speaking, the fiery steed associated with pictures of Arab life
is conspicuous by its absence, and, though one can get an average
mount for the asking, a really fine horse is hard to buy.
The breeding of camels, mules and donkeys is entirely in the hands
of the Arabs and is of little interest financially.
Algeria is, however, essentially an agricultural country and has been
so ever since the days of the Romans. Unfortunately the richness
of its soil and the abundance of sunshine is handicapped by the
lack of regular rain, and the farmers live always in fear of drought.
Dams have been made across some of the big river-beds which are
full of water in winter, but they are not so complete as in the
days of the Romans. Two thousand years ago Algeria was the granary
of a great empire; now in good years it exports a vast proportion
of its cereals, but in a bad year it has to import. Wheat, barley,
oats are grown all over the department of Oran, and in the center and
the south of Constantine. There is also some grain in the department
of Algiers, and little by little the sowing is extending. This is
due a great deal to the energy of the manager of an American firm,
the International Harvester Company, which has proved to the Algerian
farmer the amount that can be done to improve production by using
modern methods and perfected machinery.
The vine, though it does not cover nearly so large an area as the
cereals, is considered as of almost greater importance.
It is some fifty years since the first Frenchman came to Algeria in
search of soil not infested by phylloxera and attempted planting
vineyards. The results were so amazing that more and more people
hurried over the Mediterranean, and in twenty years the land was
producing ten times the amount of wine as at the start. This,
however, nearly led to disaster, as there was suddenly a glut of
wine on the market and the prices dropped to nothing. However, the
system was soon reorganized, and Algiers now exports a seventh of
its production to the mother country. This wine, being stronger
in alcohol and in color than French wine, is used for blending
purposes. Many of the Burgundies and Bordeaux which do not come
from some specific vineyard are half Algerian, and practically
three parts of the _vins ordinaires_ served in French cafés come
from over the Mediterranean.
In Algiers itself there are certain well-known _crus_, such as La
Trappe de Staoueli, a plain wine, Medea, and Miliana from the hills.
In Oranie, too, there are one or two small wine-producing districts,
such as Mascara; but practically all the vineyards are in the
department of Algiers, and center round the plain of the Mitidja
and the adjacent hills. All modern improvements for pressing and
fermenting have been brought in, for as the picking takes place in
the heat of summer, the fermenting is a very delicate operation.
Phylloxera has been practically stamped out and though drought is
feared, it has not the same disastrous effects as on the cereals,
owing to a certain amount of irrigation.
The great danger is a sirocco just before the _vendange_. It seems
unbelievable, but I have seen entire vineyards withered up in six
hours under the blast of this terrible hot wind from the south.
One can actually see the leaves turning brown and the bunches of
grapes shriveling, just as if a fire had been lighted beneath the
vines. Luckily this only happens once in a while, and the average
years are good.
The wine is strong and rather heady, coarse in comparison to the
French wines, but very well suited to the rather special food of
the country.
In the same district as the vine we find the mandarin, orange,
and lemon plantations. Protected by cypress-trees, the golden
fruit is grown in large quantities, and exported daily during the
winter months.
A curious herb known as geranium is also grown on this fertile
plain. It is made into perfume, and supplies the base for cheap
scent. A great deal of it goes to England, and, curiously enough, the
only other country where it is cultivated in quantity is Mauritius.
All along the coast east and west of Algiers we find the
market-gardens for early vegetables. The expert labor is chiefly
supplied by Majorcans and Sicilians, and during a good year it is
a most profitable occupation, as the markets of Paris and other
big centers are supplied from these tiny seacoast gardens.
Next in importance comes the tobacco industry. The best plantations
are along the coast east of Algiers, in the lower levels of the
Kabyle country, and, again, in that wonderfully fertile plain of
the Mitidja. Provided one can obtain the suitable soil, it is one of
the most profitable products to exploit—little cost, and none of
the worry or expense incurred by the Regie, as in France. Moreover,
it is quite a high-class tobacco, and some of the cigars are really
quite good smoking, while the pipe tobacco and the cigarettes can
be offered to the most _difficile_. It is much healthier smoking as
there are no foreign matters or mixtures, but just the pure leaf,
which differs according to district.
Figs are grown in great quantity in the Kabyle Mountains, and are
exported. In the prolongation of the same mountains and all along
the coast to Tunisia the cork forests abound. This industry is much
developed, and English and American firms vie with the Algerians
to obtain concessions and export the cork to their own countries.
The olive-tree is indigenous to Algeria, and grows wild on all the
mountains. In certain centers the trees are grafted, and the olives
are plucked and oil extracted from them.
Apart from the fruit-bearing trees, however, the forests of Algeria
are few and far between. Here and there one comes upon magnificent
cedars and pines, but it is not a wooded country, and a great deal
of the timber is imported.
There are people who maintain that Algeria was once covered with
forests, and that the same state of things could be reproduced. I am
not of this opinion; in the first place, because of the absence of
practically any coal, and second, by the fact that the country is,
and always has been, essentially agricultural.
There are minerals of many kinds in Algeria, but never in great
quantity. Iron, zinc, lead and copper have been found, but they
are not worked, merely taken out of the ground and sent to Europe.
A little oil has been tapped in Oranie, but up to the present not
in sufficient quantity to make its development interesting from
a commercial point of view. The same can be said of the small
coal-field discovered near Colomb Bechar, in the south of the
same department.
The most interesting product of the soil is phosphates, which are
found in great quantity in the department of Constantine, whence
they are exported daily from the ports of Bougie and Bône.
Hot springs abound in Algeria, and, with the exception of Hammam
Rhira and Hammam Meskoutine, are not developed. It is a pity, as they
have excellent healing qualities, and those people with rheumatism
who have frequented the baths at Hammam Rhira are delighted with
the results.
Before leaving this subject we must once more turn our eyes to
the Southern Territories, in order not to forget two of the most
important industries of the country: the date-palms and the alfa
grass.
Unexpectedly the date worthy of exportation thrives only in certain
restricted areas where the temperature and rainfall are exactly
suited. However, when this occurs the owner of a palmery can count
on a very substantial income.
The alfa grass, which grows wild all over the Sersou and Hauts
Plateaux, is divided up into concessions, owned chiefly by British
firms, and it is exported to be made into paper.
This is already a very dull chapter, and I will not weary the
reader with any further dissertation on commerce, but I hope that,
after reading this _résumé_ of the products of Algeria, he will
realize what a rich country it is, and what a future of prosperity
lies before it. The Phœnicians guessed its value; the Romans
realized it; the Arabs forgot it all; and the French are beginning
to complete what the Romans began. Well may they prosper!