Book I. ^ AGRICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, 119 



vertical wheel is put in motion by a horizontal one, which is turned by a cow." 

 {Jacob's Travels, 152.) The construction of dung-pits has already been mentioned, 

 (689.) as introduced by the Moors, and the practice of preserving the dung in that 

 manner is still continued in Granada and Valentia. Threshing-floors are made in the 

 fields, and paved with pebbles or other stones. 



724. Few of the oj)erations of Spanish agriculture afford any thing characteristic. 

 No hay is made in Spain ; but so dry and brittle is the straw, that in the process of tread- 

 ing out, which is generally done by mares and colts, it is broken to pieces and the grain 

 separated, the straw put in stacks, and preserved for litter, or mixed with barley as food 

 for cattle. Irrigation is carefully performed, and is the only effectual mode of insuring a 

 crop of grain, or any sort of herbaceous vegetable. On some fanns on the Vega in Malaga, 

 scarcely any attention is paid to stirring the soil, but by the Very complete irrigation which 

 can be there given, the lands yield fifty bushels per acre. Where the soil is naturally 

 light, situated in a warm climate, and not irrigated, it is remarkably free from weeds ; 

 because from the latter end of May, or the beginning of June, when the crop is harvested 

 till October or November, they have no rain ; and the heat of the sun during that period 

 destroys every plant, and leaves the soil like a fallow which only requires the seed furrow. 

 In effect it gets no more ; and thus under such circumstances, one crop a year after only 

 one ploughing, may be raised for an 'endless period. In the Asturias, after the women 

 milk the sheep, tliey carry it home in leather bags, shaking it all the way till by the time 

 of their arrival butter is formed. {TownsencVs Travels, i. 273.) 



725. The laboring man of Spain adopts a custom which might be useful to the 

 reapers and haymakers of Britain, in many situations. The labor and heat of haytime 

 and harvest excite great perspiration and consequent thirst, which is often obliged to be 

 quenched with sun-warmed water. To cool such water, the Spanish reaper puts it in a 

 porous earthen pitcher (alcarazas), the surface of which being constantly moist with the 

 transudation of the fluid, its evaporation cools the water within. The frequent applica- 

 tion of wet cloths to a bottle or earthen vessel, and exposure to the sun and wind, effects 

 the same object, but with more trouble. 



726. The culture of forests is very little attended to in Spain. The best charcoal is 

 made from heath, chiefly the erica mediterranea, which grows to the size of a small 

 tree, and of which there are immense tracts like forests. 

 The cork-tree (Quercus suher, fig. 102.) affords the most 

 valuable products. The bark is taken off for the first time 

 when the tree is about fifteen years old ; it soon grows 

 again, and may be re -barked three times, the bark improving 

 every time till the tree attains the age of thirty years. It is 

 taken off in sheets or tables, much in the same way as oak 

 or larch bark is taken from the standing trees in this country. 

 After being detached, it is flattened by presenting the convex ^ 

 side to heat, or by pressure. In either case it is charred ^"^ 

 on both surfaces to close tne transverse pores previously to 

 its being sold. This charring may be seen in bungs and 

 taps ; but not in corks, which, being cut in the length way 

 of the wood, the charring is taken off in the rounding. 



727. The exertions that have been made for the improvement 

 of the agriculture of Spain, we have already noticed, and 

 need only add, that if the late government had maintained 



its power, and continued in the same spirit, perhaps every 



thing would have been effected that could be desired. Time, indeed, wouk 

 requisite ; but improvement once heartily commenced, the ratio of its increase is astonish- 

 ing. But the French invasion of Spain has spoiled every thing, and for the present al- 

 most annihilated hope. 



728. The agricultural circumstances of Portugal have so much in common with those 

 of Spain, that they do not require separate consideration. The two countries differ in the 

 latter, having a more limited cultivation. The sugar-cane, and most of the West India 

 plants grown in Spain, requiring a warmer climate than that of Portugal. The vine 

 and orange are cultivated to great perfection ; but common agriculture is neglected. 

 The breed of horses are inferior, and there are few cows or sheep. Swine is the most 

 abundant live-stock, and fatten, in a half wild state, on the acorns of the numerous oak- 

 forests which cover the mountains. 



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