FIGS CHERRIES 45 



The native dried fig is much eaten, and is also used as 

 an adulterant of, if not a substitute for, coffee, and makes 

 a good beverage, like the well-known Austrian " feigen 

 cafe*." Dried figs are also made into a paste and mixed 

 with flour to make fig pies (" sykopitae "). 



The method of oiling, that is, smearing with oil the 

 orifice on the top of the fig while still unripe, is applied to 

 those varieties which ripen slowly. It is these varieties 

 which are especially grown in Cyprus. The fruit so treated 

 is rather tasteless and insipid, but as it comes early to 

 market it fetches a good price. The reason for hastening 

 the ripening process by oiling is that the fruit may become 

 ready for picking before sparrows and hornets get it, as 

 they would otherwise do at that season. The later crop 

 is more or less immune from their attacks, as ripe corn is 

 then abundant in the field or on the threshing-floor. 



Figs first appear on the market in May. This early 

 fruit is called " magiles " (possibly from Maios-gilia = May 

 production). The fruit is produced on the wood of the 

 preceding year, from a bud which has remained dormant. 

 The next crop appears about mid-July, and then the 

 fruit is called by its proper name " syka." 



Cherries 



The principal and almost the only cherry-growing 

 village in the Island is Pedoulas, in the Marathassa valley. 

 This village is about 3,600 ft. above the sea-level. The 

 trees at that village do remarkably well, and they bring 

 in a good revenue. They are mostly wild trees which 

 have been grafted ; but there are also a small number 

 which have been raised from imported Malaheb seed. 

 From time to time good kinds of young grafted cherry 

 trees have been imported from England by the Agricultural 

 Department and grafts from these have been freely 

 supplied to the village. 



There are two native varieties, one (" kerasi ") which 

 is almost exclusively grown at Pedoulas, the other 

 (" vysino ") which is found fairly well distributed over the 

 Island. The former is pale yellow and pink, the latter is 

 slightly smaller and less sweet and of a darkish-red colour, 



