Notes on Agriculture in Cyprus and Its Products Part 2

_Karetta_ or _Cart_.--This has almost entirely superseded the old Cypriot type of cart, but the latter may yet be seen very occasionally in the Karpas and possibly in the Paphos district. It is still in use in some parts of Anatolia. In its construction no iron nails are needed.

_Doukani._--The common thres.h.i.+ng-board (see under "Cereals," p. 29).

This is the primitive implement handed down from cla.s.sic times and generally seen throughout the East (see Plate V, fig. 2).

_Thernatchin._--A wooden shovel used for winnowing grain. It is deeply serrated, or divided, into 5 or 6 triangular-shaped teeth.

_Arvalin._--A corn sieve. A goat's or sheep's skin, perforated with holes, is stretched across a round wooden frame, 12 in. to 18 in. in diameter. Instead of a skin, leather thongs or gut are stretched, crosswise on the frame. Perforated tin is now sometimes employed. These sieves are used for cleaning grain after winnowing.

_Arkon._--Another kind of sieve, similar to the above, but with smaller holes for sifting fine seeds, dust, etc. Mostly made of skin, but now tin is being used.

_Patourin._--A similar sieve, used for still finer work.

_Skala._--An iron dibber, fitted with two wooden handles, used for planting vine cuttings.

Some advance has been made of late in cleaning the land, but foul land is pretty general. Squills, thistles, th.o.r.n.y bushes, and so forth abound; these are mostly deeply rooted, drought-resistant plants, and the labour required for uprooting them is not forthcoming.

There are a fair number of reaping machines now in use, but little care is bestowed on them, and when slightly out of order they are often put aside as useless. More enlightened ideas are now prevailing, and the abundant crops of the last few years have created a strong desire for more reapers and also for thres.h.i.+ng machines, of which there are at present barely half a dozen in the Island.

_The Agricultural Department_

The Agricultural Department was established on a small scale in 1896, under the direction of Mr. P. Gennadius. It continued much on its original lines until 1912, when its establishment was enlarged, and the Government Farm and the Veterinary Branch were attached to the Department, and again in 1914 it underwent a further slight extension which was necessarily checked by the war. There is now a staff of inspectors, district overseers and agricultural demonstrators who are occupied in continually travelling in the country, advising and giving practical a.s.sistance to cultivators, lecturing on village wine-making, poultry-keeping, bee-keeping, on the action to be taken against various pests and so forth.

There are some eight Government Nursery Gardens in the districts from which large numbers of trees, plants and seeds are issued. A system of Model Orchards and Vineyards, newly started, is giving satisfactory results. These are intended to a.s.sist those engaged in the production of fruit and vegetables, for which an unlimited market is close at hand in Egypt.

Seventy School Gardens are in existence throughout the Island under the guidance and control of the Department. By their means many young fruit trees and other plants and seeds are annually distributed at low rates, better methods of cultivation and new kinds of vegetable and fodder plants are being made known, and the village boys are being taught something about the work on which they will later depend for their livelihood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE II.

_Agricultural Implements._

1, Arvalin for barley and oats. 2, Arvalin for wheat and vetches. 3, Shovel for winnowing. 4, Thernatchin. 5, Arkon. 6, Patourin. 7, Tsappa, narrow, for field use. 8, Tsappa, wide, for garden use. 9, Xinari. 10, Kouspos. 11, Skalistiri.]

An Agricultural School for the sons of farmers was opened at Nicosia in 1913 under the direction of the Agricultural Department. Some twenty to twenty-five lads between sixteen and twenty years of age, both Greeks and Moslems, receive a two-year course of instruction with a view to fitting them to cultivate their own properties later. A few of the more promising students have been retained as student-labourers in the Department, after the termination of their school course, and of these again a few have been given minor appointments in the Department.

A scheme for training young Cypriots abroad, which was in abeyance during the war, makes it possible to give the more capable of these some further training in Europe in the higher branches of agriculture. It is hoped, by this means, to form a group of native experts from among whom the technical staff of the Department can be recruited.

The Government Farm, Athala.s.sa, though somewhat ill-placed for purposes of education and demonstration, has done good work in improving the live stock of the country, as evidenced at the Animal Shows held every year.

Periodical auction sales of Athala.s.sa stock take place in the different districts.

During the three years 1915-18, there were reared at the Farm and distributed 41 cattle, 264 sheep, 8 donkeys, 332 pigs and 2 mules, besides a considerable head of poultry.

The total value of the live and dead stock was estimated on March 31, 1918, at 3,128.

For breeding purposes there were 6 stallion horses, 8 jack donkeys, 8 bulls and 7 boars in 1917-18 stationed either at Athala.s.sa or at the stud stables which have been established in the districts. Some 30 cast army mares have been obtained free of cost from the Remount Department, Egypt, and have been lent out on contract to farmers for mule breeding.

During 1917-18 the Farm produced 169 cheeses and 1,036-1/2 lb. of b.u.t.ter. In the winter of 1917-18 some 314 donums of land were under cultivation, the chief crops being barley, oats, wheat and gavetta (_Lathyrus sativus_).

The Veterinary Establishment provides for 1 Veterinary Surgeon, 2 Stock Inspectors and 1 Veterinary Compounder. There is a good deal of endemic contagious disease among the flocks and herds of the Island, mainly anthrax and goat- and sheep-pox, and the Veterinary staff is kept busy.

Cattle plague is unknown in the Island.

Cattle breeding should become a paying industry when once the lesson of proper feeding and management has been learnt (hitherto sadly neglected by the Cypriot farmer), since Egypt provides a ready and remunerative market.

Perhaps no work is of more importance than that of combating the numerous insect and other pests which every year cause heavy loss to the agricultural community. The addition of an Entomological Laboratory and the appointment of an Entomologist have enabled the Department to afford relief to many cultivators, and a small but active entomological staff are constantly engaged on various pest campaigns.

The Department possesses a small but well-equipped Chemical Laboratory under the charge of an Agricultural Chemist. In the absence of any law, the Department has, in the interests of importers and agriculturists alike, offered its services for a.n.a.lysing and reporting upon samples, sealing bags and giving advice as to the use of the different types, and this action has been readily availed of. This in itself, however, is not enough to check malpractices or safeguard the cultivators.

For the last four years the Department has had trial plots in which new varieties of cereals and fodder plants have been experimentally grown (see Plate I, fig. 2). The seed has been obtained from England, South Africa, India and Australia, but so far none of the varieties have been found in any marked degree superior to the native kinds. One or two varieties introduced two years ago are promising, and when fully acclimatised may be worth the attention of farmers. Experimental sowings are often made in the villages when it is desired to bring any particular crop to the notice of the agricultural cla.s.ses.

The _Cyprus Agricultural Journal_, published quarterly in English, Greek and Turkish, is the official organ of the Agricultural Department.

_Fungoid Diseases and Insect Pests_

The Cypriot agriculturist has to contend against the attacks of many species of insects and a number of fungoid pests. Little could be done to bring these under control until, in 1914, an Entomological Branch of the Agricultural Department was established. Much valuable research and descriptive work had been carried out by Mr. Gennadius, but no organised field work could be undertaken until the last three or four years.

A detailed description of the numerous pests cannot here be given, but the more important ones are enumerated below. Happily Cyprus is one of the few Mediterranean countries which has not been invaded by Phylloxera.

_Cereals._--_aecophora temperatella_ (Lima.s.sol district only), s.m.u.t and rust, hessian fly (occasionally), grain weevils (_Calandra granaria_), grain moth (_Sitotroga cerealella_).

_Carobs._--_Cecidomyia ceratoniae_, scale (_Aspidiotus ceratoniae_) _Myelois ceratoniae,_ borer (_Cossus liniperda_), _Oidium ceratoniae_.

_Olives._--_Capnodium_, scale (_Lecanium oleae_ and _Aspidiotus oleae_), aphis (_Psylla oleae_), olive fly (_Dacus_ sp.), _Tinea oleela_ and various borers.

_Citrus and other Fruit Trees._--Gummosis (Citrus and all stone fruits); scale (all); ermin moth (apples, pears and plums); downy plant louse, _Schizoneura lanigera_ (apples); aphides (almond, peach, plum and apricot); _Tingis pyri_ (pears and apples); codlin moth, _Carpocapsa pomonella_ (apples, pears, quinces and walnuts); peach leaf curl, _Exoascus deformans_ (peaches); black aphis (peaches); Mediterranean fruit fly, _Cerat.i.tis capitata_ (all); mites, _Acarus_ sp. (all); various borers, thrips, and barkbeetle (_Scolytids_).

_Vines._--_Oidium Tuckeri_, _Peronospora_, anthracnose, _Cladosporium,_ root rot, _Zygaena ampelophaga_, thrips, _Cochylis_, _Lita solanella_.

_Vegetables.--Peronospora infestans_ (potatoes), _Cladosporium_, _Altica_, aphides, mole crickets.

Much damage is done to carobs by the large rat, _Mus Alexandrinus_.

The large fruit-eating bat is a great pest. Hornets attack all kinds of fruits and cause much loss.

The chief cotton enemies are the cotton boll worm (_Earias insulana_), aphides and _Capnodium_.

Locusts are no longer the formidable plague they were in the eighties.

They are limited almost to the Famagusta district, where they annually breed and do a certain amount of damage to early cotton and to vegetable crops. If not vigilantly kept under control they would quickly multiply and become a serious danger.

III. LIVE STOCK

_Cattle_

The cattle of the country have been bred, until the last two or three years, exclusively for draught purposes. Cattle breeding as a business is unknown. Farmers, as a rule, aim only at raising a calf or two every year in order to maintain one or more yokes of oxen. Some of the draught animals are very fine (see Plate III, fig. 1, and Plate V, fig. 1).

These belong mostly to the monasteries; one animal exhibited at a recent show measured over 17 hands. The race is presumably the result of many crossings with imported breeds, but has acquired a definite type. The cows are in colour and conformation not unlike Jerseys, but larger and without the udder development of that breed. The oxen have mostly a more or less p.r.o.nounced hump, possibly acquired through many generations of progenitors used exclusively for draught purposes. In some of the best bulls this hump is particularly marked.