;6o Ji'iinuU of Agriculture. [8 June, 1908. 



of the square basin enclosed by it. These basins are known as " Piletas.''' 

 The appearance of a vineyard when worked into piletas is very striking. 

 I have endeavoured to represent it in the accompanying diagram. This 

 system presents the great advantage of insuring the absorption of any 

 rain which falls after its execution — an important one in such a dry climate 

 as that of Jerez. When executing the Chata the ground is first turned 

 over in the interval between the vines where the ridges are subsequent! v 

 formed by drawing the earth from immediately around them. This 

 differentiates it from the second method known as ^' Serpia" which is 

 only a partial working, the ground under the ridges not being turned over. 

 In outward appearance there is little or no difference between the two, 

 the vineyard being worked into Piletas in the same way as by the Chata 

 method. On some vineyards the Chata is performed one season and Serpia 

 the second, the latter system costing considerably less labour tO' execute. 

 "Alomado " is the term given to the third method. The ground is com- 

 pletely worked and drawn up intO' long ridges between the rows in one 

 direction onlw This method is frequently used on level land, and also 

 after an exceedingly wet autumn which has thoroughly saturated the sub 

 soil, in which case it may even be considered advisable to allow portion 

 ot any subsequent rainfall to run off without soaking intO' the soil. The 

 winter cultivation, according to one or other of these three modes, is per- 

 formed about the months of November and December. ' It is sometimes 

 commenced — especially Chata or Serpia — in a very drv autumn soon after 

 vintage, in order to collect and store in the subsoil as much rainwater as 

 possible. 



The second cullisation known as Cavahicn is performed about the month 

 of Februarv. The Tiletas are hoed down and the surface of the vine- 

 yard left level though rough. It is done about the season for "Espiga" 

 grafting and high mounds are formed if there are any newly executed 

 grafts to protect. " Golpc Lleno " (full cut) is the third cultivation in 

 April or May. It is an ordinary hoeing which leaves the land level and 

 in as fine a state of division as possible. The last cultivations are verv 

 superficial hoeings known as " Vh^a " or " Bh/a." Weeds are cut and 

 the ground left as smooth as possible by tapping it with the flat of the 

 hoe. Great importance is attached to this tapping, the fhief object of 

 which is to close any cracks which may have formed, for the soil of Jere/ 

 — -especially the Afuera type— cracks much in hot weather. " La Bina da 

 Vino" (Bina gives wine), says an old Spanish proverb, and upon the 

 proper carrying out of this shallow culture and especially the careful 

 tapping and filling of cracks, the yield of grapes is considered to depend 

 in no .sin;ill measure. The number of times Bina is performed depends 

 on the growth of the weeds and the extent to which the soil cracks — as a 

 rule it is done twice during the summer. 



General Features of the District. 



Wine-making methods and the very special treatment by which high- 

 class Sherries are reared will be dealt with in a separate report, as well 

 as the distillation of Spanish brandy which is an important industry in 

 Jerez, but the present one would not l)e complete without a few general 

 remarks concerning this most interesting district. 



In its present state it is a very different place to what it was thirty-five 

 years ago, for the year 1874 saw the height of its prosperity. Vineyards 

 were then selling for up to ^400 an acre and Mostos (fresh grape juice> 



