Its Light Green Foliage Is Highly Ornamental,
Mixed With The Dark Shades Of The Ilex In The Deep Bottoms Of The
Gorges; And Wherever A Never-Failing Stream Is Met With The Plane May Be
Expected.
The elm, ash, maple, walnut, mulberry, peach, apricot, apple, pear,
filbert, fig, plum, cherry, orange, lemon, pomegranate, are common, but
as they do not come within the category of trees indigenous to the
natural forests of the island, I shall not include them.
Olive.--The wild olive forms a considerable portion of the low
scrub-woods of the Carpas district, and the young trees, when
transplanted and grafted, become the accepted olives of cultivation.
There is no reason why the wild olive should not be grafted in its
natural position the same as the caroub.
Caroub.--This tree has already been described, but although not valuable
as timber, owing to the short length of its trunk, it should receive the
special attention of the government, as its produce should be extended
to the utmost limit of the capabilities of the island. If the wild trees
were grafted wherever they are met with, whole forests would quickly be
produced with a minimum of labour, and vast tracts of rocky soil,
worthless for other cultivation, would be brought into value, at the
same time that the surface would be covered with the much desired
vegetation.
Tremithia.--The wood of this tree is of no value, but the berries are
used as a substitute for olive-oil; as it grows in large quantities as a
shrub, simply because it is not allowed the chance of arriving at
maturity, it is to be hoped that a few years of forest supervision will
add this shady and highly-ornamental tree to the list of those common to
the island. The arbutus, myrtle, and the mastic are trees of so small a
growth that they cannot be classed with "Woods and Forests."
One of the first acts of the British administration was a stringent
prohibition against the felling of any tree throughout Cyprus, or the
cutting of any wood for the burning of charcoal. This law for the
preservation of woods and forests extended to trees upon PRIVATE
PROPERTY OF INDIVIDUALS!--thus the owner of a garden could not cut down
one of his own caroub-trees if they were too thickly planted; or if he
required a piece of timber for making or repairing his water-wheel. An
act for the protection of crown forests was highly necessary, but no
laws are of value unless the machinery exists for enforcing them, and at
the present moment the stringent enactment against the destruction of
trees may be evaded like any of the Ten Commandments, because there is
absolutely no staff, nor special officers for the supervision of woods
and forests. This important subject requires a separate department, and
nothing can be more simple if administered by persons qualified by
education for the development of trees suitable to the island. The
poverty of the local government, owing to the miserable conditions of
our tenure, which send the cream to Turkey, and suckle the necessary
staff upon the thin skimmed-milk, does not permit the real improvement
of the forests.
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