e a flavour and approximates more
closely to Cyprus produce. Cypriot smokers have thus had their palates
prepared for the flavour of the locally grown tobacco.

About the year 1912, when Houry's Cyprus Tobacco Association, Ltd., was
formed, a revival in the industry set in. This has since received
considerable impetus from the war, which, temporarily, has thrust
Macedonian tobacco out of the market. The primary object of the
Association was to manufacture tobacco and cigarettes from Cyprus-grown
tobacco, although foreign tobacco could also be used. Tobacco then began
to be regularly grown by the Association at a Chiftlik near Limassol and
elsewhere, and cigarettes made therefrom have had a fair local sale. The
arrival of well-to-do refugees from Latakia and other parts of Syria,
skilled in tobacco cultivation, led to great extension of this crop. A
large part of the produce was at first converted into Latakia tobacco.
Owing possibly to the lack of care and skill on the part of native
labour, partly perhaps to the unsuitability of the herbs and brushwood
used in the fuming, the market was not found sufficiently encouraging
and the Latakia, for which at best there is a very restricted market,
has almost ceased to be produced. Tobacco for cigarettes, however,
continues to be grown on a fairly large scale, but in order that land
suitable for corn and other foodstuffs should not be sacrificed to
tobacco, the cultivation of the latter is permitted only by special
licence. In 1916 and 1917 the industry fell almost entirely into the
hands of the richer refugees, who were expert growers, and they
contracted with the small farmers and peasants. A number of speculative
growers, professional men, merchants, etc., were tempted by the
prevailing high prices to embark in the industry, but the licensing
system has tended to throw it more into the hands of the _bona-fide_
farmers, who are allowed only to cultivate small areas which can be
looked after mainly by their own families. In 1916 the total production
was 89,065 okes, and the estimated yield for 1917 is 487,674 okes.

The Agricultural Department has for some five years carried out
experimental growings in various districts, and samples of tobacco so
grown have been submitted to the Imperial Institute (see BULLETIN OF THE
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE, vol. xiii. 1915, pp. 547-550). The two best samples
reported on were grown in the Nicosia plain. They were said to conform
with the Turkish