918 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



has tended to weaken the plants, and in poor soils tkey have to be re- 

 newed every thirty or forty years. 



The incision is made after the fruit has set, to keep the sap up and 

 produce a larger berry, or what is known in commerce as a bold fruit," 

 and as this is in vogue in most consuming markets, by far the greater 

 portion of the crop is thus treated, the result being that the keeping 

 properties of the fruit are sacrificed to the fashion of trade. 



Irrigation. There is no system of artificial irrigation, but if the winter 

 has been a dry one every means are resorted to to try and irrigate as 

 best one can. 



Yield. The yield, value, and cost of the crop per acre varies according 

 to the soil, cultivation, and other circumstances. The wages of laborers 

 are an important item 5 as a rule they are much lower in the islands than 

 on the main-land ; here 50 cents per diem is considered high, whereas in 

 the Morea it sometimes exceeds 75 cents and even $1 per diem. A good 

 average in this island is 260 pounds net fruit per u axinari,"or 2,OS3J 

 pounds per acre, since 8J " axinarias" form an acre ; the average value 

 of late years has been $62.40 per acre ; the cost of the crop as far as 

 cultivation goes, from beginning to end, including sulphuring (about 80 

 pounds per acre being under ordinary circumstances consumed), is $22 

 per acre. The cost of a good vineyard would be about $450 per acre. 



This island's annual yield of currants is now, on an average, nearly 

 7,000 tons, the acreage under cultivation being over 10,000 acres, but 

 this is going on increasing, as many fine olive groves are being rooted 

 up to make room for the currant plant. 



I hope I may prove a false prophet, but this tendency to trust all one's 

 eggs in one basket, I fear, will in the end prove disastrous to the interests 

 of this beautiful island, where the olive flourishes, and the produce can 

 be collected without much expense, and showing a value, one year with 

 another, of over $300,000, and this whilst large tracts of virgin soil in 

 the Morea are annually being brought under cultivation, threatening 

 before very long to bring the total production of currants in excess of 

 the requirements of the world, especially if the condition of the vine- 

 yards in France improves since, owing to the ravages of the phylloxera 

 in that country, some 30,000 tons of dried currants have in recent years 

 been annually imported direct, or via other countries, for wine-making 

 purposes. 



The annual total production of currants of late has exceeded 120,000 

 tons indeed, had not rain damaged a considerable portion of this last 

 year's crop the yield would have been over 130,000 tons and the pro- 

 duction could be increased to an almost unlimited extent should an 

 unforeseen demand require it. 



The old English firm of Barff & Co., established in this trade since 

 the early part of this century, gives a table showing the production and 

 distribution of the whole currant crop from 1820 to 1883, of which I 

 inclose a copy, 



