Notes on Agriculture in Cyprus and Its Products

Notes on Agriculture in Cyprus and Its Products is by W. Bevan, Director of Agriculture, Cyprus, dated 1919. The contents list names, among others, geographical features, climate and rainfall, land tenure and labour, irrigation, and live stock such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

The writer says much importance attaches to the rains in March, without which the grain crop, however ample the earlier rains may have been, will not be satisfactory, and renders a maxim in English verse. Nearly everything except corn, wine, oil, carobs, cotton and wool is sold by the oke, and an oke, dry measure, equals 400 drams, or 2-4/5 lb. The broad bean has been grown for some years on irrigated land in the plains, and the soy bean was introduced a few years ago by the Agricultural Department but has failed hitherto to attract attention. The red dye obtained from the dried and ground madder roots constituted at one time one of the most valued of dye-stuffs, in special demand for military uniforms, but has been entirely superseded by artificial coal-tar derivatives.