176 Journal of Agriculture. [10 March, 1909. 



I llUl NATION IN EASTERN SPAIN. 



F. de Castclla, Govcrniucnt \ iiicuUurist. 



'I'hough my mission was a viticultuial one and it was in connexion 

 with the vine that I visited Valencia and its neighbourhood, no descrip- 

 tion of agricultural development in the rich region of the Levante could 

 be attempted without reference to irrigation ; for this is one of the por- 

 tions of Euroi>e where the natural water supply has been turned to best 

 advantage and where irrigation practised during many centuries in a 

 remarkabh- enlightened manner has rendered it one of the richest and 

 most productive parts of the Peninsula. 



The efficiency of irrigation and cultural methods, the variety of pro- 

 ducts raised, the density of population, and last but not least, the simi- 

 larity of the climate to that of the greater part of Victoria were facts 

 which impressed me vividlv. The necessarily incomplete notes which 

 follow can give, I fear, but an inadequate idea of the impression created 

 on me bv a region which is generally considered to be an object lesson in 

 irrigation. 



I have already referred to the orographical structure of the eastern 

 coast of Spain and the distribution of the land fit for cultivation along 

 a strip of variable width between the sea and the inland plateau with its 

 high flanking rockv hills. Here and there, are patches of rich, level, 

 alluvial soil. These are of greater extent near the mouth of a river or 

 creek and, if the river be of any .size and sufficient water available, ad- 

 vantage is taken of it and one finds an irrigated plain or huerta — this 

 being the Spanish equivalent of garden. We have thus several distinct 

 irrigation areas. Each is complete in itself, and though presenting in- 

 dividual peculiarities as regards the arrangement and amount of waters, 

 and even as regards water laws and regulations, the methods of culture, 

 based as they are on long experience, are similar. 



The Huerta de Valencia or wide irrigated plain surrounding the 

 town of that name is one of the most interesting of these. In spite of 

 its antiquity it has served as a model for many a modern scheme and 

 has been the objective of missions for hydraulic engineers and agricul- 

 turists from many different lands. That its works should have .=:urvived 

 unchanged throughout the long centuries of turbulent mediaeval times is 

 remarkable. Thev appear to have been always respected by combatants 

 and, though wars and revolutions have time and again devastated the 

 country, the channels and headworks remain unchanged — a striking tes- 

 timony to that strange Moorish race which for several centuries occupied 

 a large portion of the Peninsula bringing with it progressive ideas in 

 the arts of peace as well as of war, and which have had such a con- 

 siderable influence on Spanish civilization and more particularly on its 

 agriculture. 



Though naturally much impressed by what I saw, I had some doubts 

 lest the Spaniards whom I met, and with whom I discussed the matter, 

 might not, through a very pardonable pride in one of the remarkable 

 features of their country, have led me to take an exaggerated view of the 

 efficiencv of their irrigation methods ; for these considerations belong to 

 the domain of the hydraulic engineer rather than the viticulturist. 



Desirous of forming a correct opinion on these points, I consulted the 

 Chairman of our State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, l\Ir. 

 Elwood Mead, who informs me that the importance and efficiency of irri- 

 gation methods in these parts is very generally recognised, and that the 



