Vavilov’s general observations on agriculture in North Africa bring his journeys through the Maghreb, though not around the Mediterranean, to an end. Next stop, Abyssinia. Before we join him there, early in the new year, we have to chase a hare he set running with his description of “cous-cous”. That will appear next week.

August
1926

Generally North Africa is a kind of unit of its own. A phytogeographical analysis clearly reveals specific Mediterranean crops, a dominance of original, local large-grained hard wheat and six-rowed barley. The cultivation of large-seeded leguminous plants and large-seeded flax is concentrated in the coastal zone.

The mountain areas of the Atlas and the Kabyle mountains reflect a two-fold influence. On the one hand, one sees a distant influence from southwestern Asia, on the other from Mediterranean cultivated plants, not subject to the influence of environmental conditions, but here, in the mountains, developed into corresponding basic groups, somewhat different from those in the coastal zone. The comparative uniformity of the cultivated plants and the extensive type of agriculture, typical of a considerable area, indicate that agriculture did not originate here. In respect of the cereals, their source is no doubt found in the Near East. Here, under conditions of both natural and artificial selection, corresponding forms have developed owing to favourable conditions such as autumn sowing, a mild winter and a comparatively favourable distribution of precipitation.

August
1926

Just as in Algeria, the agriculture of Tunisia is rather primitive. The tools are the Arabian furrow-plow, a threshing board with pieces of flint driven into it and wooden spades for winnowing the chaff from the grain. The grain is scattered by hand. The sowing is done in the autumn. The usual three-crop rotation is wheat, barley and fallow. This is the entire agronomical basis of these ancient countries. The varietal composition is represented by first-class local varieties of hard wheat. Although it varies with respect to the colour of the spikes; it is, on the whole, rather consistent as a result of long-lasting natural selection.

August
1926

Boeuf had planned a most interesting itinerary throughout Tunisia, including all the main agricultural areas. He even showed an interest in accompanying me, the more so since this was the very best season: the harvest had only just begun in the mountain areas and the wheat had not yet been cut. It was evident that we could expect to make a very good and interesting collection.The equipment necessary for the expedition was assembled: an aneroid barometer, wrappings and bags, and early the following morning we departed for the interior of Tunisia and the spurs of the Atlas mountains.

Galleries of the El Djem amphitheatre

The city today, part of which is European, is not very large. The major portion is represented by an Arabian city with the usual buildings with flat roofs and by large grain markets, clearly reflecting the composition of the Mediterranean crops: there were large-grained wheat and barley and large-seeded linseed, beans, lentils and peas. Around the ruins of Carthago one can see the typical irrigation by means of waterwheels and special wells, from which water is drawn with receptacles made of skins (the waterskins are lowered into the wells and pulled up by horses ‘over the wheel’).

Extensive areas of the foothills of Tunisia and its highlands are devoted to hard wheat. So far almost exclusively local and ancient kinds are cultivated here. They represent a heterogeneous blend of many varieties, consisting of a mixture of white-spiked, red-spiked and black-spiked forms. Competition between hard and soft wheat has already taken effect here in full force. The city people and the French colonists prefer bread made of soft wheat. The Arabian population holds stubbornly on to the hard wheat. There are rather weighty reasons for this, of which I became convinced when travelling around in Tunisia. After threshing the wheat and setting aside a part of it for seeding, the rest is usually preserved in piles. Water is poured over the hard wheat and kept there for one-and-a-half to two days. The grains swell and a fermentation process takes place within the grains, a conversion of starch into sugar. Then the grain is spread out and dried and finally used for making a kind of gruel. Such fermented wheat is sold at every market in Tunisia and Algeria under the name of ‘cous-cous’. This is a very primitive use of grain, a relic of the past, which apparently has some connection to southeastern Asia, where the population mainly nourishes itself on boiled rice. Cous-cous is a kind of ‘wheaten rice.’

August
1926

The road to Tunisia runs through a steppe-like area of Algeria which is planted with hard wheat. I had previously called the attention of Professor Boeuf, director of the botanical garden, to my expedition and was graciously welcomed in Tunis as an old friend. During my expeditions I had repeatedly seen with my own eyes what internationalism means for the sciences. It is enough that colleagues abroad know about your work and somehow appreciate it, it is enough that you have corresponded, for them to make you a welcome guest and give you help such as they would give to a very close friend.

Professor Boeuf is a great investigator of the cultivated plants of Tunisia. As far as botanical gardens are concerned, this one in Tunis is, in essence, a major agronomical station, sharply different from the modest institutes in Algeria and Morocco. In the full meaning of the word, this is a real institute with a considerable staff, laboratories, beautiful meteorological equipment and a herbarium. In other words, this is a complete institute of applied botany. Boeuf does a lot of plant breeding work. In a short time it was possible for me to familiarize myself with his large collection of material from all over the country, as well as with the classification of the cereals. I obtained a large assortment of cultivated plants.