ABSTRACT
THE total area of Palestine is rather more than 10,000 square miles, of which 261 are water, 5 I square miles are built-on areas, and 27 are forests. Of the remaining 9,740 square miles, about one-third (one-sixth in the Beersheba sub-district) are cultivable according to government estimates. The Beersheba sub-district has not been surveyed, and figures for it are estimates, but it is roughly known what water is available. Of the total cultivable area of about 2,140,000 acres 460,000 (about one-fifth) are said to be irrigable, but only about 74,000 acres are at present irrigated, though the rest is under cultivation in some form or other.
