By that time, according to
civilised taste, it would be perfectly valueless and undrinkable; if the
best wines in the world can be thus destroyed by a savage means of
transport, what must the effect be upon such inferior qualities as the
crude produce of Cyprus? Common sense will suggest that the first step
towards improvement will be the completion of roads throughout the wine
districts, that will enable the two-wheeled native carts to convey the
wine in barrels direct from the growers to the merchants' stores at
Limasol.
We will now commence at the beginning, "the cultivation of the vine,"
and trace its progress until the wine is ready for the consumer.
As I have already described, the commanderia and the black wines are
produced by the two different qualities of soils, but there is no
difference in the altitudes. The new British road from Limasol to
Platraes, thirty miles, cuts directly through the principal vine
districts of the country. From the deep valley and roaring torrent, up
to the mountain-tops exceeding 4000 feet above the sea-level, the
country is green with vineyards in the middle or latter end of May; not
a yard of available land is lost. When the shoots are about three feet
long and have shown the embryo bunches, a number of men enter the
vineyard with switches and knock off the tender ends of the runners,
which in a gentler method of cultivation would be picked off with the
finger and thumb-nail.
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