COTTON 77 



FIBRES 

 Cotton 



During the time of the Venetian occupation (1489- 

 1570) Cyprus exported annually from seven to fifteen 

 million pounds of raw cotton. In the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries the English Levant Company sent 

 large quantities from Cyprus to England. When the 

 scarcity of cotton occasioned by the American Civil War 

 gave a stimulus to its growth Cyprus took part in meeting 

 the demand, and in 1866 over 2,000,000 lb. were exported. 

 Since then the production has declined. In former times, 

 then, the production of Cyprus cotton must have been 

 very large, as cotton manufactures in the Island were, as 

 in most cotton-producing countries in the East at that 

 period, both considerable and of choice quality. Cyprus 

 was always distinguished for its ' cotton spinning. 

 Gennadius suggests that the Karpas, which is one of the 

 centres of the Cyprus cotton manufacture, derived its 

 name from the ancient " karpasos," a fine cotton cloth 

 which came from India. There is an old Hebrew word 

 " karpas " found in the Old Testament, and derived from 

 the Sanscrit " karpasa," cotton, or " karpasum," cotton cloth. 



During the Turkish Administration cotton cultivation 

 declined, owing to the destruction of aqueducts, Vene- 

 tian wells, etc., and to the practice of taxing the 

 cotton crop in the field before it was picked a cause of 

 considerable delay and detriment to the crop. Careless 

 cultivation and consequent deterioration of the fibre as 

 well as the general fall in value contributed to the decay 

 of the industry. Taxing the crep in the field was aban- 

 doned in 1890, and a tithe was levied on exported cotton 

 only (Handbook of Cyprus). 



The species of cotton principally cultivated in the 

 Island is Gossypium herbaceum. American " New Orleans " 

 seed was introduced some twenty years or so ago, and 

 this has now largely displaced the original native kind ; 

 in fact the native kind has almost entirely disappeared, 

 and what little is grown is mostly used for stuffing the 

 native bed-quilt or " paploma." 



Cotton grown without irrigation is known as " dry " 



