184 Journal of Agriculture. [10 March, 1909. 



a high place. So profitable were the results obtained a few years ago 

 that over plantation has resulted, to which last season's low prices are no 

 doubt largely due. But the orange has been dealt with elsewhere, and, 

 owing to its permanent occupation of the land, it can scarcely be con- 

 sidered in the same light as the numerous annual crops the relative im- 

 portance of which often varies from one season to another. The same 

 remarks apply to fruit trees and white mulberries (for silkworms) which 

 are everywhere in evidence, though rarely in regular plantations. I'he 

 quantity of fruit grown near Valencia is very considerable, a large propor- 

 tion of it being exported. 



Fodder Crops of various kinds are very largely raised, chief amongst 

 which are lucerne, maize, and beans; of the latter, a great number of 

 varieties are cultivated for the beans they \ield, for fodder, and for green 

 manuring. As my visit took place near the winter, there was little to be 

 seen of lucerne or maize culture, but beans were very much in evidence. 

 Onions enter largely into the human food supply of Spain, and in 

 Valencia they are raised in enormous quantities for export as well as for 

 home consumption ; large quantities are shipped to England. 



The Tomato is another most important product. The Spanish cook 

 would be quite lost without tomatoes, the consumption of which in the 

 country is enormous. The area devoted to this culture is correspondingly 

 large, and the profits realized are heavy. The little I was able to see of 

 tomato and onion culture can be better described in connexion with my 

 visit to Gandia some 30 miles south of Valencia. In Andalucia, I have 

 seen tomatoes which, gathered on the unripe .side, and hung up in a dry 

 place, kept in good order right through the winter. I secured seeds of 

 this variety which, sown since my return, have produced plants now bear- 

 ing fine fruit, the keeping properties of whicli I propose to test. A large 

 proportion of the tomatoes grown in Eastern Spain is exported to other parts 

 of Europe, both preserved and in the fresh state. 



All the usual kitchen vegetables are grown in great abundance, as well 

 as potatoes. I do not think there is an edible vegetable known tO' us in 

 Australia which is not largely cultivated, and in addition one meets with 

 some which we usually look upon as curiosities rather than as regular 

 articles of diet such as they are in Spain. Among those which interested 

 me most are the egg plant {Solanum mclongena). This botanical relation 

 of the tomato, called in Spanish berengena, though not unknown to us, is 

 not cultivated nearly so extensively as it merits. In Mediterranean coun- 

 tries it supplies enormous quantities of excellent, wholesome food for 

 rich and poor. A visit to the market in anv town in Spain or Southern 

 France, when this fruit is in season, is convincing as to the esteem in which 

 it is held. It is the large purple variety which is generally preferred. 

 Cooked in various way it constitutes a most palatable vegetable, meriting 

 more attention than it receives with us. 



Capsicums or Chillies {Pimlcnto in Spanish). — Various sorts are 

 to be met with. The large mild ones are held in great favour, and enter 

 largely into the every day bill of fare. Cut into quarters and stewed in 

 stock, they constitute a most palatable, though novel vegetable. Dried 

 and ground into a coarse, cayenne pepper-like powder called pimenton they 

 constitute a sort of spice much used in Spanish cookery for colouring 

 and flavouring stews and other dishes. In many parts of the countrv the 

 fronts of the cottages are almost hidden in autumn bv long streamers com- 

 posed of these large mild capsicum threaded on strings and drying in the 

 sun to be subsequent! v ground into pimenton. 



