THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
render it unsuitable for the growth of any but 
the most hardy of plants. 
The winds of winter, the sparsity of soil, and 
the droughts of summer are inimicable to the 
production of crops in paying quantities: and the 
consequence is that the greater part of this dis- 
trict is neglected, and is little more than a barren 
waste. 
But there is no reason why such a state of 
things should continue to endure. The consti- 
tuents of which the rocks in the neighbourhood 
are composed are such as are suitable for making 
the richest of soils — besides which, there is a' 
plentiful supply of phosphates, sulphates and 
other plant food in the underlying beds. 
In those localities where the soil is too scant to 
allow of its 'being spread over the rocky area, 
the rock might be crushed and an unlimited sup- 
ply of soil might thus be obtained. 
Some parts of the plateaux area are, too, 
covered with extensive deposits of red loams, and 
slightly indurated breccias which lie hidden 
beneath a thin covering or crust of compact lime- 
stone. This crust, like that which covers the 
surface of the Upper Coralline Limestone, 
owes its origin to a species of metarnorphism 
which has been induced by capillary action set up 
by the heat of the sun; and .so closely does it 
resemble the superficial layers of the rocks around 
that the true character of these rich loams are 
often effectually conceale.1. 
Here and there, as in Uied el Mista and Tal 
Puales, the husband man has made the discovery 
for himself, and has broken up portions of the 
beds and made fields of the rich, fertile soil: 
but in the majority of cases these beds lie 
unutilized and unrecognized. 
They do not, of course, extend uniformly through- 
out the area: but where they do occur they often 
average 10 and 15 feet in thickness so that 
there is always soil enough when spread out, to 
extend over an area three and four times greater 
than that which they originally occupied. 
If these beds were used, in conjunction with the 
soil obtained from the crushing of the rocks, consi- 
derable areas of land might be brought into cul- 
tivation and new sources might thus be opened up. 
The total area of the reclaimable land may be 
roughly estimated as being equivalent to about 
one fifth of the total extent of the islands. This 
would represent an areage of cultivable ground 
equal to about 54,000 tummoli, and this reckoned 
at 10/- per tummoli per annum, which is the 
average price of land in Malta (census report 1892), 
would mean an addition of about £ 27,000 per 
annum to the wealth of the islands. 
But who will undertake the expenditure that 
would be necessary to inaugurate a scheme of this 
description? 
As is well known, the Maltese farmer, is no ca- 
pitalist. and therefore the small outlay that it 
would be necessary for him to incur for breaking 
up these deposits, for laying them on the sur- 
rounding rock areas, and for suitably draining and 
irrigating them would be an insuperable barrier 
to his undertaking the work. 
It is the financier, and the financier only, that 
can effectively carry out the work so as to make 
the reclaimed land produce an adequate return for 
the time, labour, and capital which it would be 
necessary to spend upon it. 
I have already drawn attention to the fact that 
the exposed situations of the unreclaimed lands 
militates considerably against their value to the 
agriculturist. 
But why would not these lands be planted with 
crops suitable to the peculiar climatic and geog- 
uostic characters of the district? 
Why do not the Maltese capitalists combine 
with the Maltese agriculturists for the purpose of 
Introducing into these islands the industry of Sisal 
growing which is at the present time doing so 
much, towards increasing the wealth of the people 
of the Bahamas? 
The plant, Agava rigida , is a species of wild 
aloe, the fibres of the leaves of which are at the 
present time in great demand for rope making 
in the London market. 
Like our own ubiquitous prickly pear it ' ill 
grow in any limestone soil, and it is proof against 
winds, droughts, and most of the other evils to 
which the majority of plants usually succumb. 
A few years ago, at the time of the great depres- 
sion in the sugar trade, the Governor of the Ba- 
hamas, Sir Ambrose Shea, induced the Bahame^e 
to take up the systematic cultivation of the 
| plant; and some idea of the success that has 
! attended their efforts may be gleaned from the 
