Excerpt from Report on Agriculture in Malta

Agriculture in the Maltese Islands is probably as old an art as it is anywhere. The Megalithic inhabitants must have been proficient in its practice. There is some evidence of an abundant population in those days, and food supply must largely, if not entirely, have been grown on the spot. Carvings of domestic animals in Stone Age ruins point to stock-keeping, and, with only a little imagination, the existence of cotton or other fibre cultivation and a weaving industry can be conjectured from the voluminous skirts carved on a tiny figure bearing every evidence of Stone Age, art and found among the Megalithic remains. There is, however, little agricultural history available. During the Phoenician period, cotton was certainly cultivated, and the products of its cultivation are referred to during the Roman period.

Coming to more recent times, we find it evident that the Knights of St. John thought very little of Maltese agriculture. They described Malta as "an arid rock, not growing half enough to feed the scanty population." The population at that time was estimated at 20, 000, and a census in 1632 gave it as 50, 113. As late as 1862, Leith Adam drew a sad picture of the summer cultivation. According to him vegetation existed only in gardens. Either Leith Adam was mistaken, or summer cultivation has made great strides, for his description is far from applicable now.

To appreciate the agriculture, more than a passing glance is necessary. Approaching Malta from the sea, one notices the resemblance to parts of the Adriatic and Syrian Coasts, which likewise seem devoid of vegetation. To have anything like an idea of the extent of the cultivation, it is necessary to go inland and look down on the terraces which, from the sea, are obscured by the retaining walls. On first acquaintance, with the exception of goats, horses and small donkeys, livestock seem non-existent. I was several days on the Islands before I noticed other animals, particularly cattle. The reason for this apparent dearth becomes plain when one realises the stock-keeping methods of the farmers. Cattle are kept throughout the day and night in outhouses or in lower chambers behind high walls, and appear, on the threshing floors and at work generally, late in the afternoon or early in the morning only. Pigs are to be seen rooting in Sulia in the evenings and poultry are to be found mainly confined inside the farmcourts. If one walks along the roads, no real idea of the farming can be obtained, but if one walks on the tops of the walls or enters the houses, one is often agreeably surprised at the extent of it. I did not realise the intensiveness of the cultivation until I hit on the idea of sitting on the hood of my motor-car and viewing it generally from there. Orchards were often looked for even then in vain, and it was necessary to make a house to house visitation before one could realise the extent of fruit culture in the high-walled gardens attached to these.

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