lo Feb., 1909.] 



Viticulture in the Levante. 



71 



being made to grow oranges, tomatoes, onions, fodder plants and the 

 numerous other products which will be dealt with in connexion with irri- 

 gation problems. The vine is limited to land that cannot be utilized for 

 such crops. Together with the olive, the algarrobo, and the almond, it 

 is exclusively to be found in the dry but deep soils in which none but 

 deep rooting plants can be depended on to give satisfactory results. 



No doubt in such a climate as that of Mildura, without artificial 

 watering the vine could not be cultivated, whereas in Eastern Spain the 

 rainfall is fair. For the ten years ending with 1896 the average annual 

 rainfall in Valencia amounted to 20 inches. Being a coastal town, the 

 atmosphere is moister and consequently evaporation is less active than in 

 inland Victoria. 



The limiting of vine culture to land essentially suited for the vine, 

 though often of little use for other crops — excepting, of course, the olive; 

 almond and algarrobo, — is an almost invariable rule in Eastern Spain. 

 When grown on land rich enough for wheat and, in a still higher degree, 

 on irrigated land, quality falls off to an extent, more especially in the 

 case of wine, that the increased yield is not able ^o compensate for. 



This point is worthy of serious consideration by intending planters in 

 Victoria. It is one which has not always received sufficient attention in 

 the past. Some of our vineyards have been established in a haphazard 

 way with little consideration as to the suitability of the land for vine 

 culture. Unless soil conditions be such that quality and quantity may 

 be combined in the highest possible degree success cannot be logically 

 expected. One of the most precious qualities of the vine is to enable use 

 to be made of soils of little value for ordinary farming— -deep friable 

 land, often, where its powerful roots enable it to thrive but where cereals 

 &c. give poor crops. We thus find, in Spain, the vine running up 

 mountain gullies or up the sides of hills in company with other deep 

 rooting plants, leaving the rich flat land to crops demanding more fertile 

 soil. 



The rich irrigable land is chiefly to be met with where rivers or creeks 

 empty themselves into the sea. It is therefore somewhat limited in extent, 

 whereas that of the secano type is far more prevalent. We thus find 

 vine culture to occupy an enormous area. The following statistics, show- 

 ing the area under vines and olives as well as the quantitv of wine and 

 oil harvested in each of the four provinces that constitute this region, are 

 instructive : — 



Vines and Olives in the Levante in 1906. 



The above figures do not include raisins mad&, amounting to some- 

 where about 30.000 tons. 



It will be thus seen that viticulture is the most important rural in- 

 dustry in the Levante. So far as area under vines is concerned, it is 

 the most important of the thirteen regions into which Spain is divided. 



