A Letter from Palestine

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Abstract
This tells of agricultural progress in Palestine during the war years. Most of the farmers, both Jews and Arabs, have liquidated their debts. The citrus industry suffered from loss of markets during the war. Some groves were properly cared for with the aid of Government grants, but others deteriorated. More than 80 new Jewish settlements have been established. There has been further work on provision of irrigation water, and pioneer settlement in the Negeb has been extended. At Beit ha ''Arva in the Jordan Valley, near the Dead Sea, the experiment was tried of improving saline soil by leaching it for some months with large amounts of Jordan water. This removed the injurious salts from the topsoil or precipitated them into the lower marl layers, and made it possible to carry on agriculture. Success has been particularly marked with succulent vegetables. The results are very gratifying, though the initial cost was high. This suggests the possibility of reclaiming a large area in the Jordan Valley that has hitherto been classified as absolute waste.

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