This article was downloaded by: [UQ Library] On: 14 March 2015, At: 14:07 Publisher: Taylor & Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tped18 I. Notes on the Botany and Agriculture of Malta and Sicily H. Cleghorn M.D. Published online: 01 Dec 2010. To cite this article: H. Cleghorn M.D. (1870) I. Notes on the Botany and Agriculture of Malta and Sicily , Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 10:1-4, 106-139, DOI: 10.1080/03746607009468660 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03746607009468660 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and- conditions Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 14:07 14 March 2015 1 . 06 Dr H. Cleghorn on the Botany and 6. Professor Dickie sent specimens of the spermatozoids of Sphagnum cymbifolium, which were exhibited under the microscope. 7. Mr Gorrie made some remarks on the roots of Oxalis crenata, the Okas of the Peruvians, and presented speci- mens to the Museum. 8. Dr Post presented a collection of dried plants from Beyrout ; Dr Buchanan White, alpine plants collected in Ross-shire; and Miss Beever, forked specimens of Blechnum boreale and Asplenium viride. 11th March 1869.—Dr CLEGHORN, President, in the Chair. The following Gentlemen were elected as Resident Fellows :— W. F. FORSYTH, Esq. ROBERT SCOT-SKIRVING, Esq. Donations to the Library, Herbarium, and Museum, at the Royal Botanic Garden, were announced. The following Communications were read I. Notes on the Botany and Agriculture of Malta and Sicily. By H. CLEGHORN, M.D.* Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 14:07 14 March 2015 The island of Malta lies in 35° N . lat. and 14° E. long. Its greatest length is 17 miles, its breadth 9, the cir- cumference 60, and the entire superficies under 200 square miles. The rock is calcareous, dry, and bare ; the soil consists of a thin covering of earth, five or six inches in depth, on a soft whitish sandstone, and is increased by breaking up the sur- face of the stone into a sort of sandy debris, and mixing it * These Notes were made during the months of December 1867 and January and February 1868. The pleasure of my stay in Malta was much enhanced by the kindness of His Excellency Sir Patrick Grant, G.C.B., from whom I received cordial assistance in my inquiries. Agriculture of Malta and Sicily. 107 through the earth. A considerable portion of the area of the island is so rocky as to be incapable of cultivation. Climate..—There is an average rainfall of eighteen inches from October to March. Taken as a whole, the climate is not one of extremes. In February, the coldest month, the mean temperature is 56° Fahr., and in August, the hottest season, it is 83°. The mean temperature of the year is 68°. A full account of the climate is given in Dr John Davy's work on Malta ; in Hennen's " Medical Topography of the Mediterranean" (1830) ; and more recently in Dr Scoresby- Jackson's " Medical Climatology," p. 477 (1862), and in Dr Sutherland's " Report to Parliament on Barrack and Hospital Improvement of the Sanitary Condition of the Mediterranean Stations," part ii. Malta and Gozo, 1863. Want of Trees.—Dr Sutherland remarks truly, " The great improvement required everywhere, but particularly in the vicinity of the barracks, is shade from trees ; this can only be obtained at considerable labour and cost," owing to the nature of the soil. A good beginning has, however, been made in the public gardens of Florian, and several parts of Valetta have been successfully planted with beauti- ful trees by the late governor, Sir J. Gaspard Le Marchant. The subject of planting has lately been under the consider- ation of the local Government, and, I believe, the chief difficulties are to set aside a sufficient area of land for the cultivation of wood, and to allow an adequate supply of water for the first three years, which is an essential to success. All timber for building is imported from Trieste Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 14:07 14 March 2015 or America, while charcoal is brought from Sicily and Greece. There is no evidence to show that Malta ever was a wooded island, and the tradition that its soil was im- ported from Sicily tends to confirm this view. In Sandys' time (1611) there were no woods in the island, which he describes as " a country altogether champion, being no other than a rocke covered over with earth, but two feete deep where the deepest ; having but few trees but such as beare fruite . so that their wood they have from Sicilia." (" Sandys' Travels," p. 412.) Water Supply. —The Bengemma Hills, containing the fertile valleys of Boschetto and Entahleb, from the pre- sence of the soft marl and porous sandstone, which retain 108 Dr H. Cleghorn on the Botany and the rain-water, form the great sponge or reservoir for the supply of Valetta. The only permanent stream in the island flows from the Bengemma Hills, and is conducted by a fine aqueduct of several thousand arches and nine miles in length, to Valetta. This great and admirable work was begun in 1610, by Grandmaster Vignacourt, and completed in five years. From the source to the city there is a fall of 192 feet, and the supply of water is about 425,000 gallons a day. The gratitude of the inhabitants of Valetta is due to the founder of this, the most useful public work which the city possesses. The following inscription is on the main arch of the aqueduct :— " }lac Valetta tenus functum jacuisse cadaver visa est, nunc laticis spiritus intus alit, incubuit primus olim ceu spiritus undis spiritus evixa, sic modo fertur acqua Bontadino de Bonta- dinis." The reverse side of the arch bears the following : — " Fri. Alophio de Wignacourt magno magistro Valletam urbem et arcem dulcissimis acquis vivificanti xterna salus. Hen. in 1739." Additional-water is obtained by rocky cisterns, in which the rain is collected. These are sometimes cemented, and the water is led off as required to terraces and fields. Great efforts are now being made to increase the supply of water by tapping new springs, and very considerable suc- cess has followed these attempts, which promise to be of lasting benefit to the island. It is hoped that there may be no return of the scarcity experienced in 1866 and 1867. Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 14:07 14 March 2015 Agriculture.—Notwithstanding the thinness of the soil and the smallness of the rainfall, the crops, by aid of irrigation, are in general abundant. The fertility of the island was noted by Ovid- " Fertilis est Melite, sterili vicina Cosyra, Insula, quam Lybici verberat unda freti." Ovid, Fast. i. 3. And, again, by Cornelius a Lapide : — " Altera est vicina Sicilia vulgo Malta dicta, et hic intelligitur, glue coelo est Clemente, aquis salubribus, agro benigno at frugifero, a bonitate mellis laudata, indeque Malta ut videtur appellata." P. Cornelius a Lapide in Comm. 1 Act. Ap. cap. 28. Agriculture of Malta and Sicily. 109 The fields are small, and generally enclosed with high stone walls, built so as to form terraces, thus preventing the rain from washing away the soil, and also keeping out tres- passers. These walls are formed of the broken stones from the quarries, or from the fields, and they give an irksome appearance of sameness to the country, concealing the crops, and reflecting the sun's rays. There is no game on the island, except occasionally birds of passage, particularly quail and plover, which visit it in incredible numbers. The principal staples are cotton, wheat, carob beans, and various fruits. Cotton must have been an early production of Malta, as it is mentioned by Cicero.* Two species are cultivated—Gossypium herbaceum and religiosum. The cul- ture of cotton was much extended during the American war. Wheat, maize, and barley are raised. Of the first the annual crop is estimated at 100,000 beet. : the other two are produced in smaller quantities. Immense subterranean granaries, cut out of the rock by the Knights of St John, are stored with corn for the use of the garrison. The apertures are closed with square blocks of stone, and sealed up.