COTTON 79 



kin/' " Truitt's Big Boll," " Culpepper Big Boll," 

 and " Allen's Long Staple." Since then other varieties 

 have been tried by the Agricultural Department, and 

 while " Allen's " and " Truitt's " have continued to do 

 well, good results have been obtained from " Triumph " 

 and " Durango," both of which are early kinds and are 

 therefore very suitable to the Island. A report by the 

 Imperial Institute on samples of " Allen's Improved," 

 " Mebane's Early Triumph " and " Sakellaridis " cottons 

 grown experimentally in Cyprus in 1915 will be found in 

 the BULLETIN OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE (vol. xv. 1917, 

 p. 298). 



Owing to fear of locusts, late sowing (about May- 

 June) became rather general. This is a dangerous practice 

 as the bolls ripen late and much cotton is spoilt by the early 

 autumn rains. It is mostly sown broadcast or in trenches ; 

 on irrigated land it is mostly sown in the ridges, but the 

 older practice of sowing broadcast still, unfortunately, 

 continues. 



11 Dry " cotton is usually sown either on land which can 

 be irrigated by a river when in flood, or in " livadhia " or 

 low-lying lands which retain their moisture a long time. 

 In the former case the seed is sown about March-April, 

 while the soil is still damp from rain water or from river 

 overflow. It is generally expected that when the young 

 plants are fairly established a second irrigation from 

 flood-water may occur. In the " livadhia " the seed is 

 sown later. " Wet " cotton is watered about every 

 fortnight. 



''The crop begins to be collected in mid-September and 

 continues up till the end of October. " Dry " cotton is 

 rarely manured ; " wet " cotton occasionally. The use 

 of chemical manures is coming into practice. There are 

 several ginning machines in the Island, but baling by 

 hydraulic presses is done almost exclusively at Larnaca. 



In the Island the cotton seed is used for sowing and for 

 feeding cattle. The exports of cotton seed have been : 



Year. Quantity. Value. 



Cwts. 



1909 . 2,708 769 



3,066 970 



1910 

 I9II 

 1912 

 1913 



3,245 830 

 15,874 4,535 

 13,933 3.750 



