It is curious to note the changes in crops brought
about partly by world conditions, partly by local accident or fiscal experiments. AS the almond—to the enhancement of the scenery-
begins to oust the olive in Majorca, so the sugar cane in Madeira began to supplant the vine. Probably the sugar cane is not a really congenial crop to the island, where it has increased out of measure solely in response to one of the most foolishly elaborate taxes known to economic history. But the vines (some of the best arc of Cyprian origin) begin to reassert themselves, One of the oddest combinations— at least to British eyes and perhaps most others—is the association of grape and sugar. I fOund many small plateau gardens roofed with long vine shorts, often supported on an ingenious tracery of bamboo, through which the heads of
the sugar cane penetrated and waved their plumes like red Indians too tall for their wigwams or teepees. One of the strangest fashions in crops, through which the islanders have passed and front which they have escaped, is the cultivation of the cochineal insect.
Previous page
