THE VINE. ] 457 



The wild or half-wild vines mostly produce white 

 grapes, and are generally grafted with good sorts for the 

 table or for the press, and as the vine is here invariably 

 propagated by cuttings or layers new local sorts are only 

 obtained from chance seedlings However, our soil and 

 climate are most favourable for the development of 

 the vine, and both table and wine varieties of superior 

 quality, and more fertile and vigorous than the imported 

 sorts, can be produced by sowing seed from carefully 

 selected and hybridized fruit. 



The cultivation of the vine in these Islands, like 

 that of most fruit trees, has had its periods of prosperity 

 and depression. In ancient days Kormi was the land of 

 vineyards, and extensive vineyards must have exited 

 also at Zabbar and in the hilly western districts as shown 

 by the characteristic long troughs excavated in the rock 

 for the reception of the vine, and met with every- 

 where it was planted. In the middle ages owing to the 

 frequent invasions by the Arabs of Barbary, the spread 

 of malaria, the epidemics of fevers and plague, and the 

 emigrations to Sicily and Italy, the population became 

 greatly reduced in numbers, and the cultivation of lands 

 in outlying districts was neglected or abandoned. But 

 during the rule of the Order of St. John with the return 

 of comparative security after the defeat of the Turkish 

 invasion in 1 565, viticulture once more flourished, and 

 the Island began to produce its own wine, and even 

 exported some to other countries. However in the 

 eighteenth century, the increased demand for cotton 

 caused a wholesale destruction of our vineyards as well 

 as of our olive-groves to make room for its cultivation, 

 and a further reduction of our vineyards took place dur- 

 ing the American War of Secession, when the fabulous 

 prices of cotton induced our farmers to take up its 

 cultivation to a hitherto unprecedented extent. Accord- 

 ingly the production of grapes became limited to their 



