1839] 



FARMERS' REGSITER, 



217 



in the gardens; a few palm-lrees, with vines 

 around tliem. 



A journal of watered hemp, proc'iiccs Horn 10 

 \o 12 (|uiiila!s : if not watered, ihe product much 

 inferior; the prii-.e, 14 fo 17 .Spanisli Hvres the 

 quintal, nr 35s. Euirlish, which makes 19/. 5s. an 

 acre. This is, iiovvever, lo he uiidcrslood oi" a 

 very fine acre. The mountains are at haICa mile 

 distant, and partly cultivated to the t0[). All the 

 way inclosed, and the men mending yaps in their 

 heJo-es. 



Every scrap of fiat land well watered, fron) 

 wells and reservoirs; the hill covered with vines. 



Land, near Canet, well watered, sells lor 500 

 Spanish livres the journal ; vineyards tor 300 lie. 

 They <jive, in <rood years, lo 12 charges. Unwa- 

 tered lanti, 100 to 150 liv. 



Enter a flat vale, half a mile broad, not water- 

 ed. Hemp, very poor ; maize, seven feet hij^h. 

 Vineyards, under regular plantations of olives ; 

 corn cut, in stooUs, and the land |)loughed. A 

 journal sells lt')r 200 liv. and further on, where ir- 

 rigated, fiir 1000 liv. which is an astonishing dif- 

 ference. 



While the mountains and waste parts of the 

 province present an unfavorable prospect, the 

 watered districts are, on tlie contrary, scenes of 

 most exuberant fertility. To a person, from the 

 north of Europe, there can hardly be a more 

 striking sjjectacle than tiie effect of watering in 

 these southern climates; it converts an arid sto- 

 ny waste, which would yield nothing but vines 

 and olives, and on which every sort of grain 

 would hardly return the seed, at once into fields 

 pregnant with the richest harvests; on such soils, 

 it gives almost the whole value of the land ; and 

 on the richest, it raises it, at the least, double ; 

 and, in some instances, five times. It enables 

 the cultivator to have a succession of crops, more 

 important than any thing we know in the north. 

 The reaping one crop is but the signal for inmie- 

 diately putting in another; in doing which, they 

 exert themselves with the utmost activity; plough- 

 ing universally as soon as the corn is cut; and 

 are, by this means, enabled to have constantly 

 two crops a year. The extreme fertility of these 

 lands has, however, led many travellers into great 

 or ignorant exaggerations; they have asserted, 

 that the land yields many crops at the same time, 

 one under another, which is both true and false. 

 It is liicf, that corn, wine, oil, and silk, are pro- 

 duced by the same field, in some few instances; 

 but it is not from hence to be concluded, that the 

 goodness of the land, or the importance of irriira- 

 tion, is at all shown liy that circumstance. The 

 fact is, tliatit is impossible to raise one crop under 

 another, without losing in one nearly as nujch as 

 you gain in Ihe other; the olive, being a large 

 tree, cultivation may be carried on under it, but 

 the crop gained is poor, and shows, that exactly 

 in proportion lo the shade is the injury sustained 

 by the produce which is shaded. If the trees are 

 thick, tlie corn is hardly worth reaping; it is the 

 same in other cases, and I was well convinced, 

 from viewing their grounds with this design, thai 

 the soil can carry, profitably, but one croj) al a 

 time; several may be crowded on it, but nothing 

 is gained ; with grass under trees, this is not. the 

 case so much in a hot climate; but even grass is 

 damaged, and it is not the question, at present, as 

 they have none. A country lo be supported, and 

 Vol. VH-2S 



in a hot climate, without meadows or pastures, 

 sounds very si range to English ears, and it is 

 among the curious circumstances of this part, and 

 lam told of the rest of 8pain. If they ap[)lied 

 to i^rass the land that is pro|)er lor it, they could 

 not possibly have bread to eat ; straw here is giv- 

 en instead of hay, and entirely supplies its place ; 

 and the oxen and mules, which we saw, did not 

 show in the least, by their looks, any deficiency 

 in nourishment. Lucerne is not at all connnon 

 through Ihe interior part of the province, and 

 where they cultivate it, it is used green. Maize 

 IS sometnnes sown merely for its herbage, as it 

 might be, I believe, profitably in England, late in 

 the spring, to avoid our frosts; it is one of the 

 niosi nourishing plants in the world. 



The consequence of water being so apparent in 

 the province, I could not but attend particularly to 

 their exertions in conducting it, and I concluded, 

 that not one acre in twenty, perhaps in forty, is 

 watered, that might be. In the flat vales, where 

 canals of irrigation are made, at a small expense, 

 a very good, though by no means a complete, use 

 is made of them ; but on Ihe declivities of the 

 mountains, it is necessary to erect a mound of solid 

 masonry across Ihe river, and to cut Ihe canal 

 partly out of rocks, and to support it by walls of 

 stone, as I have seen in France ; and having thus 

 diverted a large portion of the water of a river, to 

 carry it on its level, along the side of the moun- 

 tain, as fiir as it will go ; such exertions demand a 

 much greater capital, than is to be found upon the 

 lands of Catalonia : it could be done only by a 

 great lord, who knew th.e importance of such un- 

 dertakings, who resided on his estate, and whose 

 income was spent in something else than the taste 

 and pleasures of a capital. Eut leaving such ex- 

 ertions to individuals, w!>o either have not the 

 money, or not Ihe will lo employ it, is to perpetu- 

 ate wastes. It is ihe king only who can make 

 those efforts; a monarch, who should be deter- 

 mined to improve his kingdom, would presently 

 find the means of doing it. The importance of 

 water is so u'ell known, that if a canal is made to 

 con. fuel it, the proprietors, or farmers of the lands 

 below, would readily and speedily make use of it, 

 paying i)roportionab!y fc)r llie quantity they took ; 

 this is the system in Lombardy, and the eflect is 

 great. It would be tlie same in Catalonia, but 

 the capital, for the great work of the canal, must 

 probably be sujiplied by the king, if not the 

 whole, at least a C(M".siderahle portion. Such 

 money should be lent to undertakers, at a mode- 

 rate interest. Exertions ol such a natm'e, with a 

 prop(;r general altcntion given lo these objects, 

 would make them fiishionablc among the great 

 lords of the kingtloni, and lintile pro\ inces would 

 soon be created out of barren and desolate wastes. 

 Arbitrary power ha.g been exerted for ages, in ef- 

 forts of barbarity, ignorance, and tyranny; it is 

 time to see it enq)loyed in works that have the 

 good of mankind lor their aim. A beginning, and 

 a very good one, is made in the construction of 

 some great roads, on a scale of true magnificence, 

 which is never exhibited with such eliect as m 

 works of public utility ; and whenever the impor- 

 tance of cultivation is well understood in Spain, 

 and ll)e ri<j;ht means of advancing it clearly ana- 

 lyzed, irrigalion will tlien receive an attention 

 iliai has not, hitlierto, been given. Such is the 

 necessity of water, tijr various productions in this 



