During the fifteenth century, the blighting influence of successive wars was keenly felt, and the best energies of the Lusignans were devoted to warding off the repeated attacks of the Mussulmans. Since the New World had arisen in the West, strong and vigorous immigrants no longer lent their aid to prop a declining state. The conquest of Cyprus by the Turks cost the island the last remnant of its industrious, enterprising, and independent inhabitants, and the bloodstained and desolate country was no longer cultivated. The Turks, always passionate admirers of flowers, introduced a few tulips and hyacinths, and planted date-palms in the spots they occupied; but the soil was not congenial to them, and in Cyprus the date-palm rarely produced its sweet and highly-prized fruit. The tobacco plant was also introduced at this period, but its cultivation was never carried on to any great extent, owing to the necessity of planting it in gardens surrounded by high walls, in order to protect the plant from the depredations of the locust. No attempt was made on the part of the Turkish Government to rouse the dying energies of the people; slowly, but surely, every art and industry declined, and the locust swarmed over the barren and neglected country. Thus, in ancient times, we see that the island of Cyprus was celebrated for its varied vegetation, but of the plants that once grew there, many are totally lost, others are now cultivated with difficulty, and very few new ones are added to the list. The vegetation of Cyprus, like its history, seems to have undergone many changes, and from the nature of the soil, is very diversified in different parts of the island. At the present day, corn is still extensively cultivated; wheat, barley, oats, and beans flourish well. Upon the mountains grow fir and pine-trees, and in the valleys we find fine oaks, ashes, orange, fig, citron, date, walnut, and a great variety of other trees. Overhanging shrubs crowd the deep dells and precipitous cliffs, and amongst them grow the oleander, myrtle, arbutus, juniper, and mastic. Not less striking is the lovely carpet of flowers, which clothes the face of the country with ever-varying beauties. Roses and jasmine, tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, and anemones, are but a few of those that I might enumerate. In Cyprus the use of manure is unknown, but nevertheless there is but little change in the luxuriant fertility of the soil, and wherever the earth is sufficiently supplied with moisture, a thousand plants spring up in rich profusion. One of the principal difficulties in the field is to keep the corn from being smothered by weeds. This task of weeding falls entirely to the lot of the women.