Root, but that it has
been entirely superseded by the chemical invention known as "alizarine,"
which, by reducing the price in a ruinous degree, has driven the
vegetable substance out of the market, and the madder is no longer
cultivated. This chemical discovery has lowered the rich, deep, sandy
loams of Famagousta and of Morphu to a mere average agricultural value,
and has completely destroyed an important local industry.
The madder-root required three years before it arrived at maturity. From
Consul Riddell's report in 1872, the amount of madder exported reached
330 tons, of which 250 tons were shipped for Great Britain. The same
authority reports in 1873, "The falling-off, however, in the quantity
sent to Great Britain is remarkable, being only 230 cwts. (11.5 tons)."
This disappearance of a special agricultural industry has been an
enormous loss to the proprietors of the madder-lands.
The fruit-orchards and gardens of Famagousta are the finest in the
island. The land is extremely rich, and of a bright chocolate colour,
but the trees are, as usual in Cyprus, planted too close to each other,
which interferes with the necessary light and circulation of air. These
gardens commence just outside the walls, and, running parallel with the
sea below the large village of Varoschia, extend for about two miles
along the shore.
