The
Government Of Cyprus Must Be To A Certain Extent Paternal, And The
Planting Of Trees That Will Eventually Benefit
Not only individuals, but
the island generally, and ultimately the revenue, should be made
compulsory, in proportion to the area
Of the various holdings, due
assistance being accorded to the proprietors by way of loans.
The eucalyptus is suitable for many localities in the lowlands of
Larnaca and Famagousta, and it might be profitably introduced throughout
such swampy soils as the neighbourhood of Morphu and other similar
positions with good sanitary results; but such trees will represent the
woods and forests of the low country without a productive income to the
population; whereas by an enforced cultivation of fruit-trees upon every
holding the island would in a few years become a garden, and the
exportation of fruit to Egypt, only thirty hours' distant, would be the
commencement of an important trade, alike beneficial to the individual
proprietors and to the island generally.
At the present time, and for many years past, Alexandria has been
supplied with all fruits from Jaffa, Beyrout, and various ports on the
coast of Syria, but there is no reason why Cyprus should not eventually
monopolise the trade, if special attention shall be bestowed (by the
suggested department of Woods and Forests) upon the qualities and
cultivation whenever an arrangement for an extension of planting shall
be carried out. I have never seen any fruits of high quality in Cyprus,
but they are generally most inferior, owing to the neglect of grafting,
and the overcrowding of the trees. The cherries which grow in the
villages from 2500 to 4500 feet above the sea are taken down to Limasol
and the principal towns for sale, but they are small and tasteless,
although red and bright in colour. They grow in large quantities, and
are never attacked by birds which render the crop precarious in England,
and necessitate the expense of netting; should the best varieties be
introduced, every natural advantage exists for their cultivation.
The apricots are not much larger than chestnuts, and would be classed as
"wild fruit," from the extreme inferiority of size and flavour; but
there is no reason except neglect for the low quality of a delicious
species of fruit that seems from the luxuriant growth of the tree to be
specially adapted to the soil and climate. It is useless to enumerate
the varieties of fruits that are brought to market; all are inferior,
excepting grapes and lemons. The productions of the gardens exhibit the
miserable position of the island, which emanates from a want of
elasticity in a debased and oppressed population too apathetic and
hopeless to attempt improvements.
England can change this wretched stagnation by the application of
capital, and by encouraging the development of the first necessity,
WATER; without which, all attempts at agricultural improvements, and the
extension of tree-planting in the low country, would be futile. I shall
therefore devote the following chapter to the subject of artificial
irrigation, and its results.
CHAPTER XIV.
REMARKS ON IRRIGATION.
The ancient prosperity of Cyprus must have been due to artificial
irrigation, which ensured a maximum of production, similar to the
inundated lands of Egypt. In the latter country the Nile is a "Salvator
Mundi," without which Egypt would be a simple prolongation of the Nubian
and Libyan deserts, in the absence of a seasonable rainfall. The
difference between the great cereal-producing portion of Cyprus and the
Delta of Egypt is, that, although the plain of Messaria has been formed
chiefly through the action of the Pedias river and other periodical
mountain streams, which have deposited a rich stratum of soil during
inundations, the rivers are merely torrents, or simple conduits, which
carry off the waters of heavy storms, or intervals of rain, and act as
drains in conveying the surplus waters during floods; while at other
times they are absolutely dry.
If the Nile were controlled by a series of weirs or dams, with sluices
to divert the high waters of the period into natural depressions within
the desert, to form reservoirs at high levels for the supply of Egypt in
seasons of scarcity, the command of the water-supply would be far
preferable to the chances of rain in the most favoured country. Water,
like fire, should be the slave of man, to whom it is the first
necessity; therefore his first effort in his struggle with the elements
should reduce this power to vassalage. There must be no question of
supremacy; water must serve mankind.
Many years ago I published, in the Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, my
ideas for the control of the Nile and the submersion of the cataracts by
a series of weirs, with water-gates for the facility of navigation;
which with certain modifications will some day assuredly be carried out,
and will render Egypt the most favoured country of the world, as
absolute mistress of the river which is now at the same time a tyrant
and a slave. The Pedias of Cyprus may during some terrific rainfall
assume proportions that would convey a most erroneous impression to the
mind of a stranger, who, upon regarding the boiling torrent
overspreading a valley of some miles in width in its impetuous course
towards ancient Salamis, might conclude that it was a river of the first
importance. The fact is that no RIVER exists in Cyprus: what should be
rivers are mere channels, watercourses, brooks, torrents, or any of the
multifarious names for stream-beds that may be discovered in an English
dictionary. At the same time that the natural channels are dry during
the summer months, through the want of power in the water-head to
overcome the absorption of the porous soil throughout its course, it
must not be forgotten that a certain supply exists at the fountain head,
within practicable distance, which might be stored and led from the
mountains to the lower lands for the purposes of irrigation. When we
reflect that in the proverbially wet climate of England there is a
considerable difficulty in assuring a supply of wholesome water, and
that the various water companies have made enormous profits, it is not
surprising that in a neglected island like Cyprus there should be
distress in the absence of abundant rain.
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