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.
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 assistance 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 assist 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.
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, Athalassa, 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 Athalassa 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 Athalassa 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 1,036½ lb. of butter. 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 analysing 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 classes.
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.—Æcophora temperatella (Limassol district only), smut and rust, hessian fly (occasionally), grain weevils (Calandra granaria), grain moth (Sitotroga cerealella).
Carobs.—Cecidomyia ceratoniæ, scale (Aspidiotus ceratoniæ) Myelois ceratoniæ, borer (Cossus liniperda), Oidium ceratoniæ.
Olives.—Capnodium, scale (Lecanium oleæ and Aspidiotus oleæ), aphis (Psylla oleæ), 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, Ceratitis capitata (all); mites, Acarus sp. (all); various borers, thrips, and barkbeetle (Scolytids).
Vines.—Oidium Tuckeri, Peronospora, anthracnose, Cladosporium, root rot, Zygæna 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.