66 



Malaga Raisin Vineyards. 



Vol. XII. 



time should be lost in decantin2[ the vinegar, 

 and replenishing- the vessel with a fresh sup- 

 ply, scalding hot, in which horse-radish, all- 

 spice, ginoer and a little alum have been 

 thrown. If managed in this way, there is 

 but little danger of failure, and the pickles, 

 besides being regenerated, will keep for 

 years perfectly sweet and unimpaired. 



Naslur lions. — These require to be kept 

 several days after they are taken from the 

 plants, and then covered with boiling vine- 

 gar, in which they should remain until per- 

 fectly cold. They should then be carefully 

 bottled and corked. In three months they 

 may be brought to the table. Nasturtions 

 make an excellent pickle, and should bo 

 cultivated in every garden whether large or 

 small. 



Artichokes. — This root makes a very good 

 pickle. They should be taken from the 

 ground while green, and put immediately 

 into strong vinegar. No previous prepara- 

 tion is required. — Olive Branch. 



Malaga Raisin Vineyards. 



At daybreak this morning, a gentleman,] 

 whom Mr. Kirkpatrick requested to show! 

 'me his vineyard, and explain the process of! 

 preserving grapes, waited upon me, and we 

 set out immediately. Our road lay along 

 the shore to the eastward, the vineyard of 

 Don Salvador Solier lying in that direction, 

 at the distance of about fourteen miles. Inj 

 the immediate vicinity of Malaga, the coun-j 

 try is extremely rugged, but every patch 

 where it was possible to thrust in a plant 

 was under cultivation. The rocks consisted 

 of rugged masses of limestone, alternating 

 with the same kind of slaty schist I had pre- 

 viously ob.'^erved on the road from Ante- 

 quera. For the first two leagues there 

 were few vineyards, chiefly owing to the 

 ruggedness of the country, which would not 

 admit of cultivation. Beyond that distance 

 almost every hill was covered with vines, 

 the produce of which is all converted into 

 raisins. The grapes arc all of the large 

 white Muscatel — the Muscatel Gordo of 

 Roxas Clemente. This grape, my compan- 

 ion informed me, does not succeed in the in- 

 terior, and therefore, all the Muscatel rai- 

 sins are made within two leagues of the 

 coast. The Lexia raisins, which are u.<ed 

 for puddings, &c., are made in the interior. 

 We arrived at the country house of Don 

 Salvador at nine o'clock, and after a sub- 

 stantial breakfast, sallied out to examine the 

 vines. Six or seven workmen were em- 

 ployed in preparing the ground for planting, 

 within a short distance of the house. They 



did not trench the whole of the ground, but 

 dug out square holes, about two feet in di- 

 ameter, and not more than twenty inches in 

 depth. The distance of the centres of these 

 holes from each other is seven feet, and this 

 is the distance at which the vines on the 

 hills round Malaga seem invariably to be 

 planted. The vineyard I was examining, 

 as well as all those in its vicinity, consisted 

 of a series of steep hills. The soil every- 

 where was a decomposed slate, mixed with 

 abundance of gravel of the same substance. 

 On the higher part of the ground, this soil 

 appeared rather hard and required great la- 

 bour to break it up, but once broken up it is 

 loose forever; so much so that it slides away 

 from under the feet even where there is only 

 a slight slope. There is no difference made 

 in the distance at which the vines are plant- 

 ed, between the hills and the valleys; al- 

 though in many places on the former, the 

 shoots scarcely exteml more than ten or 

 twelve inches, while in the valleys they ex- 

 tend to the length of as many feet. They 

 never, under any circumstances, manure 

 these vineyards; they say it would give 

 more wood but would not add to the quantity 

 of the fruit. The branches are pruned 

 closer to the stock than those of any vines I 

 ever saw; nothing but the half-formed buds, 

 at the junction of the old and new wood, 

 being lett to produce the wood of the suc- 

 ceeding year. I could not find an instance 

 where the spur had been left long enough to 

 include the first full-fi)rmed bud, which is 

 generally from half an inch to an inch from 

 the junction. The number of shoots seemed 

 almost unlimited; I counted from ten to 

 twenty-two; there was scarcely any vine 

 had fewer than ten, and they generally had 

 from twelve to fifteen. The stock was close 

 to the ground, and not the slightest eflbrt 

 made to raise the shoots, or support them 

 from the ground. Almost every bunch 

 would, therefore, lie on the ground; and 

 were the soil of a less gravelly description, 

 the greater part would, without doubt, be 

 lost. After the pruning they dig over the 

 ground and lay bare the stock, in order to 

 scrape oft' the barbe, or small thread-like 

 roots which arc near the surfiice. As scarce- 

 ly any grass or herb vegetates among these 

 vines, and the soil is always sufficiently 

 loose, it is evident that they require little 

 digging or cleaning. We went out to visit 

 a peasant, a neighbour of Don Salvador's. 

 He said four or five very fine vines might 

 yield raisins enouoh to fill a box which con- 

 tains an arroba of 25 lbs.; but throughout 

 the country it would require, on an average, 

 nine or ten. The grapes lose about two- 

 thirds of their weight in drying; this would, 



