Book I. AGRICULTUKE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. US 



Sect. IX. Present State of the Agriculture of Spam and Portugal, 



688. Spaiuy when a Roman province, was undoubtedly as far advanced in agriculture 

 as any part of the empire. It was overrun by the Vandals and Visigoths in the be- 

 ginning of the fifth century, under whom it continued till conquered by the IMoors in 

 the beginning of the eighth century. Tlie Moors continued the chief possessors of Spain 

 until the middle of the thirteenth century. They are said, during this period, to have 

 materially improved agriculture ; to have introduced various new plants from Africa, 

 and also bucket-wheels for irrigation. Professor Thouin mentions an ancient work by 

 Ebn-al-Awam of Seville, of which a translation into Spanish was made by Banquieri 

 of Madrid, in 1802, which contains some curious particulars of the culture of the Moors 

 in Spain. The Moors and Arabs were always celebrated for their knowledge of plants ; 

 and, according to Harte, one fourth of the names of the useful plants of Spain are of 

 Arabian extraction. 



689. Agriculture formed the principal and most honorable occupation among the Moors, 

 and more especially in Granada. So great was their attention' to manure, that it was 

 preserved in pits, walled round with rammed earth to retain moisture : irrigation was 

 employed in every practicable situation. Tlie Moorish or Mahomedan religion forbade 

 them to sell their superfluous corn to the surrounding nations ; but in years of plenty it 

 was deposited in the caverns of rocks, and in other excavations, some of wliicfa, as Jacob 

 informs us (Travels, let. xiii.), are still to be seen on the hills of Granada. These ex- 

 cavations were lined with straw, and are said (erroneously, we believe, ) to have preserved 

 the corn for such a length of time that when a child was born a cavern was filled with 

 corn, which was destined to be his portion when arrived at maturity. '^^ Moors were 

 particularly attentive to the culture of fruits, of which they introduced all the best kinds 

 now found in Spain, besides the sugar and cotton. Though wine was forbidden vines 

 were cultivated to a great extent ; for forbidden pleasures form a main source of 'enjoy- 

 ment in every country. An Arabian author, who wrote on agriculture about the year 

 1140, and who quotes another author of his nation, who wrote in 1073, gives the follow- 

 ing directions for the cultivation of the sugar-cane : 



690. The canes " should be planted in the month of March, in a plain, sheltered from the east winri nnH 

 near to water ; they should be well manured with cow-dung, and watered every fourth day till the slinol 

 are one palm in height, when they should be dug round, manured with the dung of sheen and waf^; <^ 

 every night and day till the month of October. In January, when the canes are ripe, rhev should h.r;.i.f 

 into short pieces and crushed in the mill. The juice should be boiled in iron cauldrons and left tn V.^ i 

 till it becomes clarified ; it should then be boiled again, till the fourth part only remain' when if shn,,M 

 be put into vases of clay, of a conical form, and placed in the shade to thicken ; afterwards thp%..c;i^ 

 must be drawn from the canes and left to cool. The canes, after the juice is expressed are DresVrvpH / 

 the horses, who eat them greedily, and become fat by feeding on them." (Ebn-al-Awam bu Bnn^uil^ 

 Madrid, 1801, fol.) From the above extract it is evident sugar has been cultivated in Snain iin,^!^.^' 

 of 700 years, and probably two or three centuries before. * "pwaras 



691. About the end of the fifteenth century the Moors were driven out of Spain and 

 the kingdom united under one monarchy. Under Charles V., in the first half of the 

 sixteenth century. South America was discovered ; and the prospect of making fortunes 

 by working the mines of "that country is said to have depressed the agriculture of Spain 

 to a degree that it has never been able to surmount. {Heylin's Cosmographia, Lond. 1657. ) 

 Albyterio, a Spanish author of the seventeenth century, observes, " that the people who 

 sailed to America in order to return laden with wealth, would have done their country 

 much better service to have staid at home and guided the plough ; for more persons 

 were employed in opening mines and bringing home money, than the money in effect 

 proved worth. " This author thinking with Montesquieu, that those riches were of a 

 bad kind which depend on accidental circumstances, and not on industry and 

 plication. ~ ^'' 



692. The earliest Spanish work on agricidture a.^\iQa.redL m 1569, byHerrera; it is a 

 treatise in many books, and, like other works of its age, is made up of extracts from the 

 Roman authors. 



693. The agriculture of Spain in the middle of the eighteenth century was in a very nee 

 lected state. According to Harte, " the inhabitants of Spain were then too lazy and proud 

 to work. Such pride and indolence are death to agriculture in every country. Want of 

 good roads and navigable rivers (or, to speak more properiy, the want of liakino- rivers 

 navigable), have helped to ruin the Spanish husbandry. To which we may add another 

 discouraging circumstance, namely, ' that the sale of an estate vacates the lease : Venta 

 deschaze renta.' Nor can corn be transported from one province to another The 

 Spaniards plant no timber, and make few or no enclosures. With abundance of ex- 

 cellent cows, they are strangers to butter, and deal so little in cows' milk that at 

 Madrid, those who drink milk with their chocolate, can only purchase goats* m'ilk 

 What would Columella say, (having written so largely on the Andalusian dairies,) if it 

 were possible for him to revisit this country ? For certain it is, that every branch of 



