'Mesopotamia' [‎46r] (91/152)

Mesopotamia.! PRODUCTS
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The best cotton is grown in the Khanikin. districts;
it is also grown on a small scale at Shakhlawa, near
Eania, and in the irrigated plain near Feish
Khabur; the total area under cultivation for cotton
is probably not much more than 1,000 acres. The-
product is used for stuffing pillows and coarse
clothing; none is exported. The possibilities of cotton-
growing in Mesopotamia are discussed on p. 129.
Tobacco is grown round Kerbela and Nejef, in the
Diala valley, and in the north-east of Mosul vilayet,
where the chief collecting centres are Golan, Keui San-
jak, and Taktak; the two latter stand on the Lesser
Zab, and send tobacco down that river and the Tigris
to Baghdad. The Public Debt Administration has a
monopoly of the manufacture and sale of tobacco, which
business it manages through the Tobacco Monopoly, or
Regie, whose officials supervise the cultivation and col
lect the taxes. Of the crop the State gets approxi
mately 1 /6th, the proprietor 4/6ths, and the cultivator
] /6th, The total output is probably about 1,550,000
kg. per annum. Phis output could be increased with
expert instruction and more intensive cultivation.
Baghdad, Mosul, and Suleimanie are the distri
buting centres.
Other important crops are opium and hemp, both
successfully grown in the Belikh Delta, north of Rakka,
luhiyeh, a kidney pea cultivated in Irak on river banks
and land liable to floods, and mash, a sort of vetch or
pea (sometimes described as a lentil), which grows in
damp, sandy plains, and requires little water.
Fruits and Vegetables. —The variations of climate
between Diarbekr in the north and Basra in the south
are well illustrated by the wide range of fruits pro
duced. Grapes, olives, figs, melons, pomegranates,
apricots, and apples are common to all parts of the
country; the rest are confined to one or more tracts.
It is noteworthy that at Mosul, w T here the climate is
milder than in the foothills of the Taurus, the orange
appears for the first time; other fruits belong essenti
ally to the South European type, e.g., pears, pistachio
[285—66] &