Notes on Agriculture in Cyprus and Its Products Part 16

The Agricultural Department has for some five years carried out experimental growings in various districts, and samples of tobacco so grown have been submitted to the Imperial Inst.i.tute (see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSt.i.tUTE, vol. xiii. 1915, pp. 547-550). The two best samples reported on were grown in the Nicosia plain. They were said to conform with the Turkish tobacco as regards size of leaf, but contained too much moisture for the English market. The tobacco was found to smoke rather hot and was only mildly aromatic, but it was believed that these defects would probably disappear with more experience in the curing. The samples referred to were incompletely cured, having been submitted quickly in order to roughly ascertain their quality. The report on the whole was moderately encouraging, and it is hoped that later samples which have been better cured will be found superior.

The tobacco grown in Cyprus is mostly of the Samsoun, Trebizond, Kavalla and Ha.s.san Keff varieties.

The normal importation of tobacco into Cyprus is about 180,000 okes, which produces an import duty of 4,500 a year, at the rate of 4-1/2_cp._ per oke.

The average amount paid for banderolles on tobacco when issued from factories for consumption is about 30,000 a year, which at the rate of 3_s._ 6-1/2_cp._ per oke equals a banderolle duty on 161,000 okes; the difference of about 20,000 okes would be cigarettes exported on which no banderolle duty is paid.

If, then, no tobacco were grown and none imported the Government would lose 35,000 revenue annually. It would appear to be immaterial from a revenue point of view whether tobacco were imported or grown in the Island, since the imposts are the same, viz. on imports 4-1/2_cp._ per oke import duty and 3_s._ 6-1/2_cp._ per oke banderolle duty; on locally grown tobacco 4-1/2_cp._ per oke transport duty and 3_s._ 6-1/2_cp._ per oke banderolle duty. There is, however, this difference, that the money leaves the Island when the tobacco is imported and remains and fructifies when it is locally grown.

Tobacco cultivation is in many ways well suited to this Island, as a great part of its cultivation as well as the gathering may be done by women and children. It need not therefore make any serious demand upon man labour, which is already insufficient, and much of the work can be performed by those who are unfit for heavy field work. It is a summer crop, which is greatly in its favour, the quality when grown "dry" being much finer than when irrigated. Its introduction broadens the basis of cultivation, provides a revenue from land that would otherwise lie fallow and is a useful element in any system of rotation. As it calls for careful preparation and thorough cultivation of the soil it has a great educative influence on a people p.r.o.ne to slovenly, primitive husbandry, and corn crops following tobacco have frequently given a larger, more uniform yield.

At the same time it is an open question whether the crop can be grown and the leaf cured by the Cypriot farmer to produce a tobacco which, under normal conditions, will successfully compete in quality and price with the Macedonian tobacco.

TANNING MATERIALS AND DYE-STUFFS

Tanneries are fairly numerous and large quant.i.ties of skins are tanned and sold to native boot-makers. Before the war, goat- and sheep-skins and ox-hides were practically the only kinds handled, the two former being mainly used for the uppers of boots. The top-boots worn by villagers are nearly all made from goat-skin, locally called "totmaria."

Since the war pig-skins and dog-skins have been also used. Camel-skins are often employed for making soles.

Pine bark and sumach are the native tanning substances chiefly used in the local tanneries. The pine is one of the commonest forest trees of the Island. s.h.i.+nia leaves (_Pistacia Lentiscus_) are also used (see p.

51).

_Sumach_

The Sicilian, elm-leaved or tanner's sumach (_Rhus Coriaria_) is a shrub which grows wild throughout a large part of the Island, being princ.i.p.ally found among the vineyards on the slopes of the southern range of hills. The leaves are largely used in the leather tanning industry, and a considerable export might have been established to the United Kingdom had it not been for dissatisfaction caused by the excessive presence of impurities, such as lentisc leaves and dust, which were usually found in the consignments sent.

One sample was sent by the Agricultural Department to the Imperial Inst.i.tute in 1909. This was found to consist wholly of sumach and no lentisc or other leaves, and gave on examination the following results: Moisture, 10.1; ash, 9.8; tannin (by hide-power method), 26.9; extractive matter (non-tannin), 16.7 per cent. The report showed that the leaves produced a good leather, similar in texture and colour to that obtained with Sicilian sumach, and was considered likely to fetch about the same price as a medium quality of Sicilian sumach, which contains from 25 to 30 per cent. of tannin (see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSt.i.tUTE, vol. x. 1912, p. 45).

Two further samples were sent in 1916. The first sample "consisted of a finely-ground yellowish-green powder, containing a quant.i.ty of sand, small stones and iron dust." The second sample consisted of a "coa.r.s.ely-ground, yellowish-green powder, containing a quant.i.ty of pinkish unground twigs, sand and small stones, together with some iron dust."

The results of examination were as follows:

NO. 1. NO. 2.

_Per cent._ _Per cent._ Moisture 9.3 9.2 Insoluble matters 53.6 57.8 Extractive matters (non-tannin) 14.6 13.0 Tannin 22.5 20.0 Ash 8.5 12.3 --------------------------------------------------------- Tintometer readings--Red 0.7 1.2 Yellow 2.1 2.5

Both samples were low in tannin, compared with the Sicilian percentage of 25 to 30.

Sample No. 1 was valued at 13, and No. 2 at 12, per ton, with Sicilian sumach at 15 per ton; the lower value being due to the lower tannin contents, owing to the presence of sand, dirt, etc. It may be a.s.sumed that if more care in preparing clean samples were taken, Cyprus sumach would greatly improve its market value.

_Valonea_

There are a few well-grown specimens of valonea oak (_Quercus aegilops_) to be seen, but being a slow grower and as it takes many years to reach the stage when it yields a profit, it does not commend itself to the Cypriot tree planter. It prefers deep soil and requires artificial irrigation or a greater rainfall than we have in Cyprus.

It has been tried at Salamis and failed, and also at Machaera with the same result. It has been grown also on Troodos, but after six years'

growth attained a height of only 1 foot.

Only an insignificant quant.i.ty of Valonea cups are locally produced.

These come from the Paphos district and are said to be rather poor in tannin. The bulk comes from Anatolia. The pre-war price for the latter was 5_s._ per cantar of 44 okes, that for the locally grown was 20 paras per oke on the spot, transport charges bringing up the price to about 1 copper piastre per oke delivered.

_Acacia Barks_

_Acacia pycnantha_ has been grown in Cyprus, but does not acclimatise well, and neither the soil nor climate seems favourable. _A. mollissima_ also has not shown any very successful growth. _A. cyanophylla_ and _A.

longifolia_, on the other hand, thrive excellently. They are great drought-resisters and grow on almost any soil. They have been very extensively grown by the Forest Department in every district for fuel and along the coast upon sand dunes. They have not been utilised so far for the extraction of tanning, except experimentally. Samples of the barks of the two last-named species were found on examination at the Imperial Inst.i.tute to be too poor in tannin to be worth exporting, but they should be quite suitable for use in Cyprus (see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSt.i.tUTE, vol. xi. 1913, pp. 412-414).

_Madder_

In former years, and within the period of the British occupation, the cultivation of madder (_Rubia tinctorum_) was fairly flouris.h.i.+ng in Cyprus. The old madder grounds can still be distinguished, and are mostly to be seen near Morphou, Ayia Irini, Sotira, Ayios Serghios, Famagusta and Larnaca. These madder grounds were excavations made in order to expose the soil lying beneath 10 to 30 ft. of drift-sand; and they form, as it were, a series of tanks along the sh.o.r.e. The red dye obtained from the dried and ground madder roots const.i.tuted at one time one of the most valued of dye-stuffs, and was in special demand for military uniforms; but this has been entirely superseded by artificial coal-tar derivatives and, as Gennadius says: "The happy days of the cultivation of this plant are past, never to return."

It is propagated mostly by root cuttings. The leaf begins to dry at about the sixth month. There is no further growth above ground, but the roots continue to increase and shoot downwards till moisture affects them. "When they get too wet, they become black or rot. In Cyprus this rotting would often begin after about eighteen months, while in superior soils the roots would continue to improve during thirty-six months, and they would be known in the trade as eighteen months and thirty-six months roots. In Famagusta district they remain mostly eighteen months, while at Morphou they would continue fully thirty-six months, during the whole of which time the surface ground should be kept free of weeds."

After the root is lifted it is generally dried; if packed before quite dry, it ferments and deteriorates.

Two and a half tons of dried roots would be produced from an acre of good ground, and the madder grounds used to fetch a very high price.

DRUGS AND OTHER PRODUCTS

_Liquorice Root_

The liquorice plant (_Glycyrrhiza glabra_, Linn.) grows mainly in the Famagusta and Kyrenia districts, and the roots are collected and exported from time to time. Two samples were reported upon in 1917 by the Imperial Inst.i.tute (see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSt.i.tUTE, vol. xv.

1917, p. 312) and the following opinions of two London firms of brokers were elicited.

(_a_) One firm described the Lapithos (Kyrenia district) roots as medium to bold unpeeled roots of good flavour, fairly well cleaned and very well dried; and valued them at from 50_s._ to 55_s._ per cwt. ex wharf, London (February 1917). The firm described the Famagusta roots as thinner than the Lapithos sample and not so well freed from smooth valueless pieces, but mentioned that they had apparently been washed.

They valued these roots at 50_s._ per cwt. ex wharf, London (February 1917). The firm added that both samples were exceptionally dry, and that it seemed doubtful if the material in the bulk would be as dry.

(_b_) A second firm considered the roots to be rather mixed, inferior quality, and worth at that time about 45_s._ per cwt. in London (February 1917).

_Pyrethrum_

_Pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum) cinerariaefolium_ grows well from seed and is an attractive garden plant with pretty, marguerite-like flowers. These yield the pyrethrum of commerce so largely used as an insecticide, and which is said to form the chief ingredients in various flea powders.

These flowers, when dried and ground to dust, are employed for this purpose by the natives. The original pyrethrum powder came from plants growing in Dalmatia.

The plant was introduced into the Cyprus Government Gardens some twenty years ago and has since spread more or less throughout the Island. It is perennial and drought-resistant, and will also stand several degrees of frost and seems indifferent to soil, provided it is not too damp. The seed is sown in September and the seedlings are transplanted in April or May, but it multiplies itself readily by suckers. The flowers, which are about three times the size of the Chamomile (_Matricaria Chamomilla_), which they closely resemble, are gathered as soon as they are fully open, and are then dried in a well-ventilated room. They are usually sold in bales of 50 to 100 kilogrammes. One donum may produce about 100 okes of flowers annually.

_Squill_

Bulbs of the local squill were submitted in 1917 to Kew and provisionally identified as _Urginea Scilla._ Like the asphodel, this root is found everywhere. If sliced and placed about the house they are said to drive away mice. It was intended by the Agricultural Department to make an attempt to find a market for these roots, in the hope that if they could obtain a small payment for them farmers might be induced to collect them off their lands, but the project had to be abandoned for the time owing to the war. There is a small demand for these roots, if sliced and dried, in Europe for medicinal purposes.

Squill bulbs from Cyprus were examined at the Imperial Inst.i.tute in 1916 (see BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSt.i.tUTE, vol. xv. 1917, p. 311). The samples, which were submitted to a firm of drug manufacturers, were objected to on account of their dark colour, and were valued at about 6_d._ per lb. as against a pre-war value of 3_d._ per lb.

According to the report by the Imperial Inst.i.tute there are two varieties of _Urginea Scilla,_ white and red, the scales of the former being yellowish-white and those of the latter having a reddish tint, and there are also many intermediate forms. Though the red and the white varieties have been stated to possess equal medicinal value, the white variety is preferred in England.