762 Agricultural Gazette of N.S. TV. [Sept. '1,\^()^^ 



We ari'ivcfl at Ivimasol late that evening, and callcil iqniii tlic I Mstrict Com- 

 missioners, wild had arraiiii'ed to send us mides to Platens to takr us ovei- the 

 mountains. On Monday morniiif;' we stai'ted U]> through tlict'oot hills (((xcicd 

 with vines — for the natives jilaiit their \incyards u]i to the vi^iy top of the 

 juountains, on slopes so steep that it is wondrriul how they can gather them. 

 All day h)ng we met caravans of muleteers, with their animals cai-ryint;- a pig- 

 skin of wine on either side of the pack-saddle. As they treat most of their 

 wine with gypsum, and often paint the pig-skins on uhidi they carry it to 

 market with a coat of tar, some of the nativc-macic wine has a somewhat 

 strong flavour ; hut there is an English company whicli has taken up the wine- 

 making industry, and the export of an iin])roved ((uality has resulted, in ll)(j(> 

 there was an export of .'36,2^1 gallons of Coimnanchiria, worth i^l,'Jl).), and 

 <S78,0")9 gallons of other kinds of wines, worth £2(),4S7. The gi-eater part of 

 this wine goes to Egypt, though the English company make shipmejits to 

 England and Germany. We stopped at the village of Perapidha, when next- 

 morning some of the Greek villagers brought me specimens of a small moth 

 grub that was eating ofl" the Ijuds of the vines. 



Oidium is vei'v bad on these high lands, and the Government imjioi-t large 

 quantities of sulphur and distribute it at a very low rate, or fre(>, to the vine- 

 growers, but they are only just beginning to take the matter up. Later on 

 I found a very curious leaf gall upcm the vines which at hrst sight a]i]ieai-ed 

 exactly like leaf galls of Phylloxera, but on closer examination appear to he- 

 caused by a leaf mite. 



Cyprus is one of the few vine-growing places in the woi-ld where Piiylloxei'a 

 has not been discovered, and, since the British occupation, jio plants of any- 

 kind can be imported from countries where that disease is known to exist. 



On Tuesday night we camped in the .Summer Goxcrnment House <m the 

 top of Mount Troodes (G,000 feet above sea level), occupied by the Commis- 

 sioner and his staff later on in the season. Next moi'iiing, by winding side 

 tracks, rounded Mount Olympus, still covered with snow, and turned dow^n 

 the great Athalassa ^■alley. The fii'st village w^e stopped at, Prodromus, is the 

 highest up the mountains on the island, and confines its attention to gi-owing 

 apples. Here, as everywhei-e else, we found the trees covered with the nests 

 of a small "web worm," a lepidopteious larva that does a great deal of damage. 

 There is another one in the pine foi-ests that often strijjs the young pine 

 trees of their needles and covers them with masses of its nests. 



There was also a la)'ge borer in the branches of the ap])le trees, but the 

 owner said they were only found on the hillsides. At mid-day we came into 

 the village of Pedoulous, with very rich black soil, also perched on the moun- 

 \-A\n side, devoted to cherry and mulberry trees, but, as in the u})i)er village 

 though they were all irrigated from the river coming ilown the \alley, thei-(^ 

 was no attempt to prune oi- cut out aiiy dead wood, and many of the cheiry 

 trees were an immense size. 



Fx-om here downwards we passed through many small \illages Ijuiit along 

 the cliflTs, with our path sometimes winding over the flat earthen roofs of the- 

 lower houses. 



