lo Nov., IQ08.] Viticulture in Europe. 687 



scarcely necessary for me to speak here. The high esteem in which he is 

 held in official circles in his own country has led to his being charged 

 with important missions in different parts of Spain in connexion with re- 

 constitution. He is one of the fathers of Spanish reconstitution, and I 

 found him to be one of the most interesting men I had the good fortune to 

 meet during my varied journeys. He is at present carrying out two viti- 

 cultural Investigations of the greatest importance, not only to the province 

 to which he is officially attached, but to the viticultural industry generally. 

 One is the compilation of a viticultural soil map of the whole of Spain, 

 which has entailed an enormous amount of travelling and the collection 

 and analysis of several thousand soil samples. This work is now approach 

 ing completion and will be awaited with interest by students of viticulture 

 generally. Another work of great national importance on which he 's 

 engaged is the collection and identification of all t' e different varieties of 

 vines cultivated in Spain — the establishment of a Spanish ampelography, 

 in other words. He has already collected about 1,000 varieties cultivated 

 under different names in different parts of the country. He anticipates 

 that several of these will turn out to be varieties cultivated under different 

 local names in different districts, and that the verification of these synonyms 

 will reduce the number considerably. Nevertheless it is evident that a 

 very large number of distinct varieties peculiar to Spain exist ; probably 

 several hundred, apart from the different grafting stocks and direct pro- 

 ducers of recent creation. 



The confusion existing in Victoria as regards the different varieties of 

 vines we cultivate, and the names by which they are generally known, 

 makes the initiation of a similar work highly desirable. Similar confu- 

 sion appears to exist throughout the Commonwealth. It is not limited to 

 Victoria. 



From Madrid to Pamplona, the capital, one takes the Barcelona train as 

 far as Casetas, the station before Zaragoza, changing to a line to the 

 French frontier, which remounts the course of the River Ebro as far as 

 Castejon, at which place it bifurcates, one branch taking the Navarra 

 route, whilst the other follows the course of the river via the district of 

 La Rioja. Pamplona was my first objective. The night journey from 

 Madrid to Casetas deprives one of a view of the scenery in that part of 

 the country. Day dawned shortly after changing trains, enabling one to 

 see the picturesque valley of the Ebro. This remarkable river cleaves a' 

 deep furrow right across Spain in an almost straight line parallel with, but 

 longer than the Pyrenees, from its mouth near Tarragona to its source in the 

 Basque country, north of Burgos. This part of the journey is exceedingly 

 picturesque, as is also the more mountainous portion met with after leaving 

 the river at Castejon ; one is taken up amongst hills which rise higher and 

 higher, and are here and there covered with snow. Many picturesque 

 villages and towns are passed, among the most striking of which are 

 Tafalla, with its citadel on a high hill, and Olite, the ancient capital of 

 Navarra, the remarkable palace of which, no doubt a royal palace in the 

 time of Henri IV. of France and Navarra, is now in a sadly ruinous 

 state. 



Pamplona is at length reached, a prosperous town of some 30.000 inhabi- 

 tants, which was in olden times strongly fortified — moats and drawbridges 

 still remain as mementoes of the past, and bear witness tO' the historic part 

 this interesting town played in the frequent wars in which Navarra par- 

 ticipated. As a result of some of these the province was granted, and 

 enjoys to this day, a special system of self-government. The Government 



