If the people are too
inert to improve the qualities and to extend the cultivation of
vegetables, it is easy to comprehend their neglect of the tree-planting
so necessary to the climatic requirements of this island.
The oil-press is similar to the old-fashioned cider-mill of England. The
fruit, having been dried in the sun, is placed in a circular trough in
which the stone wheel revolves, driven by a mule and pole. When
sufficiently crushed, and reduced to a paste, it is divided into
basketfuls; these are subjected to pressure by the common vertical
screw, and the oil is expressed, but is not clarified. It is generally
rancid and unfit for European consumption. In travelling through Cyprus
the medicine-chest may dispense with castor-oil, as the olive-oil of the
country is a good substitute. By the government report, the yield of oil
in 1877 was estimated at 250,000 okes (of 2 3/4 lbs.) valued at about
nine piastres per oke, but during the same year foreign olive-oil to the
value of 1,706 pounds sterling was imported. There can be little doubt
that special attention should be bestowed upon the improvement of the
olive cultivation in Cyprus, and grafts of the best varieties should be
introduced from France and Spain; in a few years an important
improvement would result, and the superabundant oil of a propitious
season would form an article of export, instead of (as at present) being
converted into soap, as otherwise unsaleable.
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