51 



Oidium is very prevalent all through these orchards, but growers are 

 only just beginning to understand the value of sulphur, which is imported by 

 the Government and distributed at a very low rate to the vine-growers. 

 Phylloxera is unknown in Cyprus, probably because soon after the occupation 

 the Government made a very strict regulation against the importation of any 

 plants into the island from abroad. Coming over the mountains, numerous 

 orchards were visited in the great Athalassa Valley ; on the upper slopes were 

 cherry, apple, and mulberry tree?, but when we reached the plains we came 

 to the Turkish village of Lefka, where there are quite a number of oranges 

 grown, some under irrigation, but they are planted in all sorts of irregular 

 thickets and are, as a rule, very badly kept. Many oranges were lying about 

 under the trees, but on examination all of them had a hole gnawed in the^ide 

 and had been neatly cleaned out, leaving only the skin ; the owner told me 

 this was done by the bush rats. This rat may be a very effective agent in 

 checking the fruit-fly, which, as far as I could learn, was unknown on this 

 side of the island. 



Before leaving Cyprus, I spent a day at Famagusta, where, through the 

 kindness of Commissioner Travers, who sent one of his officers with me, I saw 

 a number of the best citrus orchards in Cyprus. This was the district in 

 which Mr. Saracomenos had told me the Mediterranean Fruit Fly was a well- 

 known pest at certain seasons of the year, but I was unable to obtain any 

 signs of the maggots, though I examined very many fallen oranges. All these 

 orchards are planted in light sandy soil, which is banked up in squares round 

 the trees, and irrigated with water drawn from shallow wells. They grow 

 some of the very largest and finest oranges I have ever tasted. One of the 

 Jaffa oval type is common in Turkey, and another is almost hemispherical ; 

 the skins of both are very thick, but even when this is removed, they are 

 quite as large as our finest fruits. Most of the oranges grown in this district 

 are shipped to Egypt, where they bring a very good price. 



Red Scale (Aspidiotus auranfi) is very bad in many of these orchards, but 

 the orchardists are beginning to understand how to deal with it, and if they 

 do not spray, they scrub the worst of it off with a brush. Though a few other 

 fruits are grown, the chief crop is oranges, and the next important is pome- 

 granates, the latter being a very valuable crop. 



From Cyprus I took the Port Said mail-boat on the 15th of May, reaching 

 Egypt on the 17th, and went straight on to Cairo. Here I met Mr. F. C. 

 \Villcocks, Entomologist to the Khedivial Agricultural Society at Giza, which 

 undertakes an important [art in the agricultural work of Egypt. It has- 

 well-equipped laboratories ; a chemical branch under Mr. F. Hughes ; a 

 botanical and plant pathology under Mr. W. L. Balls ; an entomological under 

 Mr. Willcocks ; and several other departments. This society was instituted 

 by the Khedive, and afterwards a sum of money was granted by the Govern- 

 ment to pay the salaries of the officer.*. There are some large experiment 

 plots attached to the Society Gardens, where experiments are carried out by 

 the pathologist, in breeding and experimenting with different varieties of 

 cotton. Among those growing, he pointed out to me specimens of the Car- 

 vonica from Queensland, from seed I sent him two yeais before. It is closely 

 .allied, he thinks, to a variety grown in the dry country of Upper Egypt, and 

 considers it may be a very useful addition to their varieties. 



As cotton is the staple industry of the Nile Valley, everything that has a 

 bearing on this plant is carefully studied, and the insect pests of cotton are 

 well-known. The commonest and most destructive is the Cotton Boll 

 Worm, the larva of a handsome little green moth (Earias tnsulana), closely 

 allied, if not identical, with the cosmopolitan species that is well-known in 



