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. Sometimes goats are turned in to nibble off the
shoots in order to save labour, and at the same time to feed the
animals; they of course damage the vines, but the Cypriote thinks the
system pays. The young vines are never staked and tied as in Europe, but
are allowed to take their chance, and the heavy bunches in many
instances rest upon the dusty ground.
There is seldom rain after May, but a few showers are favourable at this
particular season when the young bunches are in blossom.
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