78 NOTES ON AGRICULTURE IN CYPRUS 



cotton. It is grown chiefly in the Messaorian plain and 

 in the Karpas ; it is harsh to the touch arid short in staple, 

 but of satisfactory colour. " Wet " cotton is grown on 

 irrigated land ; it is usually of larger staple and of finer 

 quality than the " dry " cotton and commands a higher 

 price. This is grown mainly round about Kythrea, Nisou, 

 Dali, Lapithos and in the Solea valley. Native cotton is 

 always grown " dry " ; the ordinary American variety is 

 grown both " wet " and " dry." 



The Karpas cotton, which is " dry " grown, is inferior 

 not only on account of its shorter staple, but on account 

 of the method of picking. In some places of Messaoria, 

 at Dali, Nisou, etc., the " dry " and sometimes the " wet " 

 cotton is picked in the morning before the dew has quite 

 evaporated, and it is picked direct from the growing plant. 

 But the most general practice is for the villagers to cut the 

 bolls early in the morning before the dew is evaporated 

 (iropvrf) > transport them to the houses and then remove 

 the lint at their leisure. In this way the bolls are more 

 or less crushed and the lint when removed contains a 

 mixture of husk, leaves, etc. 



In the case of native and other varieties the lint of 

 which adheres to the boll, the husks, leaves, etc., are 

 removed from the bolls in the following way : The bolls 

 are spread out on mats to dry in the sun ; when sufficiently 

 dry the bolls are put in a rotary sieve made of reeds and 

 sticks, similar in make to the ordinary reed baskets of the 

 country. Each end of the sieve is closed, but it has an 

 opening in the middle, about i by ij to 2 ft., which is 

 closed by a small reed mat. The sieve is about 5 to 6 ft. 

 long and 2 to 2j ft. in diameter. The bolls are dropped 

 into the sieve through the opening and it is then revolved 

 by hand by means of an axle which passes through it 

 longitudinally. By this means most of the crushed husks 

 and leaves fall through the interstices of the sieve. 



The native seed is usually grown on dry lands as it 

 withstands drought. The " wet " cotton is mostly of 

 the American variety. 



Professor Wyndham Dunstan, F.R.S., in his Report 

 on the Agricultural Resources of Cyprus (1905), referred 

 to the successful trials made with " Sea Island," " Peter- 



