70 journal of Agriculture. [lo Feb., 1909. 



charges (case included) would come to about 5 pesetas, or 4s. Mandarins 

 are differently packed to oranges ; as compression would damage them, 

 they are put up in shallow trays, or flat cases, sixteen of which are usually 

 made up into one large crate by means of laths nailed to the sides. Man- 

 darins are graded, and the diameter of the fruit in millimetres is stencilled 

 on the case; we thus have crates marked as 6^ m/m or 50 m/m. All 

 cases are supplied from the sawmills in the form of boards of cut lengths; 

 they are nailed together by the packer, to whom the fruit is brought by 

 the grower. 



Oranges are sold either by the thousand or by the arroba of 12.78 kilos 

 (28 lbs.), from 88 to 112 oranges going to the arroba. Unless the grower 

 can obtain 2)h reals (equal to 87 cents) per arroba, or 10 pesetas per 1,000, 

 he does not cover expenses. According to advices received from Mr. 

 Harker, H.B.M. Consul at Valencia, since my return to Australia, the 

 orange situation was improving somewhat, and a more hopeful view of 

 the situation was taken than a few months previously, when matters were 

 so critical that the Spanish Government had been induced to remit the 

 Excise duty of 15 centimes (ijd.) per case which had, the previous year, 

 contributed 200,000 pesetas (;^8,ooo) to the revenue. 



VITICULTURE IN THE LEVANTE. ; 



F. de Castella, Government Viticultunst. 



The I.evante is the name given in Spain to the eastern coastal p>ortion 

 of the peninsular south of the Ebro. It comprises the provinces of 

 Castellon, Valencia, Alicante and Murcia and constitutes a region which 

 from several distinct points of view differs a good deal from the rest of 

 the country. 



The climate is mild — even more so than in the celebrated Riviera of 

 Southern France. Though snow is not unknown, as witness the fall near 

 Denia, of which a photograph was reproduced in the January issue of 

 the Journal, such an occurrence is exceptional. The date palm thrives 

 and ripens its fruit; at Elche (province of Alicante) these palms are 

 grown on a commercial scale. The Levante justifies the title frequently 

 bestowed on it of the garden of Spain, and so far as climate is concerned 

 strongly reminds an Australian of his native land. 



The region consists of a long strip of land of varying width, between 

 the high rocky hills which form the supports of the central plateau of 

 Spain, and the sea shore. It comprises three distinct types of soil as 

 follows : — 



1. Rich, iriigable level land. 



2. Undulating land above the water channels and intermediate be- 



tween the irrigable land and the rocky hills. 



3. High rocky hills, mostly unfit for cultivation. 



It is the second category which concerns us here, as it is in this non- 

 irrigable land that the vine is almost exclusively cultivated. The tirst 

 division will be dealt with in a separate article devoted to irrigation, which 

 is very extensively practised for cultures other than the vine. 



One is struck by this fundamental difference between Australian and 

 Spanish methods. In Victoria we have large areas under irrigated vine- 

 yards in such places as Mildura and the Goulburn Valley, whereas ir* 

 Spain the vine is confined to land of what is known as the " secano " 

 or non irrigable type, the areas of rich soil to which water can be applied 



