The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-04-18

RaiSPd"A LOOK RI q f6knl village
The Honey OF HyInettus-Greek
country Gir1s-Queer Customs OF
Love and MaFriage-When Kan
tippe is silent.
u,opvr:ght, 1911, by Frank G. Car
peh'ef.' pArRAs.
Vhe Greeks Of today are a nation
II farmers and sailors. The cities
are few and there are only twelve
towns which have more than ten thou
sand inhabitants. The most Of the
which they so out daily to their work
IN the fields. The holdings are small
rhe farms on the plains are from
zen 20 fifty acres in size and there
are very few IN the country which
have more than two hundred acres.
/ have spent the last week In riding
through the chief agricultural dis
tricss and pen these notes at Patras,
the chief port OF h west. It took
ME a day to reach it from Athens.
and there were vineyards and farms
al the way. I first crossed the
plains of Attica. They are now spot
led with orchards and vineyards. The
trees and vines are bare, but the
buds are swelling and they will soon
be covered with emerald leaves. The
soil is a rich, reddish brown. which
shines like velvet under the rays
~ the sun. The mountains are
btanketed with robes of silver gray
plush, the dusty grass, upon which
focks OF sheep and goats are feed
ins.
AZ ] crossed these plains I stopped
AZ Fleusis to attend the spring festi-
yities OF the Greeks preparatory to
planting, and thence came on to
torinth, which in the days of Christ
was as large a. Boston Is now. 1t
has ~shrunken to less than four thou
sand, and is mainly made up Of farm
ers. The town has not been bettered
by the Corinth canal, which there
.uts its way through the isthmus. The
trat7c is small and most Of the ships
sill go around to the PiraAus by
ses. There was a ship in the canal
as / crossed It.
From Corinth on westward the rail-
.oa1 passes for miles through great
vineyards. The vines have been Il
back, and they are now nothing but
stumps as thick as my leg and as
high as nv knee. They are budding.
AM will soon put out the new sprouts
Tor The year.
Millions in Curraats.
AS l looked at the stumps a Greek
official with whom I was travelling
said:
1T is these vineyards that give Us
orr living. hey produce the chief
crop OF the country, bringing in from
five TO ten million dollars a year"
Indeed" said T.. Il did net know
that Greece was a great exporter OF
vine"
1T Is not replied the Greek, "but
these vineyards are not grown for
wine. The grapes they produce are
known as ~currants, and they are ship
ped all over the world for making
plum paddings, fruit cake, buns and
ntince pies. We send thousands OF
tons Of them to Europe and from
$4,000, 900 to 0 ,eee,o coo pounds to the
United States every year
But the bushes are not k u
@urrant bushes?"
sense OF the word. They are a seed
less grape as big as a marroWfat pea
and as sweet as sugar. They are dried
and sold as raisins. They get their
name, currant, from the fact tina.
they We're originally grown near Cor
o0o acres devoted to them, and we
regulate the crop so as not to cheaper
the prices. This matter comes up IN
parliament and 1t Is one of our politl-
cal issues. We rave q curTant bank,
organized to aid the Greek farmer,
mig the crop At one time the cur
rant bank. bought up the poor cur
rants on the market and sold them
to local distillers for brandy. nj
vas because it was feared they might
!hluFe the reputation Of the Greer
'urfant In the markets of the world
From where are the currants ship
ped ?'
The most OF them are sent to
fafras and thence to the different
countries by sea. The export IS ONE
times as much as 3,000, 000 pounds
per annum."
A Crop Tor America.
Since this conversation I have made
some inquiries about the Zante cur
rant as it is called, and am Wonder
ing II it cannot be produced in
america. We are now taking about
1900 tons every yea n this is
spout one-twe1fth of the whole crop.
We have all sorts of climates, and
some which correspond to that OF
Cor!nth. Parts of California and
arizona must be Of that nature.