SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. . 127 



where rain does not sometimes fall for months in the summer,* the grass 

 becomes entirely dried up, so that flocks, to be made stationary there, 

 would require hay or other prepared food for several of the summer months 1 



The Transhumantcs or migratory flocks must still continue, then, to 

 travel from the northern mountains to the warm basins of the Guadiana 

 and the Guadalquiver for their winter quarters, and return to the moun- 

 tains in the summer, or this branch of the husbandry would undoubtedly 

 become extinct. The effect on the health and condition of the sheep, and 

 the important item which it would form on the debit side of the account 

 in Sheep Husbandry, to thus drive flocks a six weeks' journey twice a year, 

 (consuming nearly a quarter of the year on the road,) can be estimated by 

 any one acquainted with such matters.t The losses and expenses thus in- 

 curred would absorb all the profits of the husbandry, were it not for the 

 extraordinary privileges conferred on the flockmasters (mainly consisting 

 of th6 King, nobles and clei'gy) by the absurd and tyrannical regulations 

 of the Conscjo dc la Mcsta.\ The abolition of the " Council of the Royal 

 Troop," thei'e cannot be a reasonable doubt, would be immediately fol- 

 lowed by the downfall of the migratory Sheep Husbandry in Spain. That 

 the day has gone by when this unfortunate and distracted country can 

 ever again enjoy the blessings of permanent peace and settled institutions, 

 under which this or any other branch of husbandry can increase or steadily 

 flourish, until she reaches a point of political civilization entirely incom- 

 patible with the continuance of a relic of tyranny and barbarism so mon- 

 strous as the Mesta, I consider equally certain. I see, therefore, no possible, 

 or at least probable contingency under which the migratory Sheep Hus- 

 bandry of Spain is likely to be extended, or even to permanently main- 

 tain its present footing. Nor is there any probability of her again rising 

 into importance as a wool-producing country, fi-om her stationary flocks. 



Italy, though too accessible to the dry, hot wind of Africa, (the Solano,) 

 to exhibit the uniformity of deep-green verdure seen north of the Alps, is 

 nevertheless — much of it — a country of fine pasturage. The great plain 

 between the Alps and Appenines, the basin of the Po — including Lom- 

 bardy, Sardinia, Parma, Modena, etc. — is one of the most productive in 

 Europe, and its extraordinary facilities for irrigation allow five or six 

 crops of hay to be mown in a single season. In Tuscany, the orange and 

 lemon begin to make their appearance — the soil is alluvial and rich, and 

 the mountainous districts are finely adapted to pasturage. The States of 

 the Church are also highly fertile, and abound in good herbage ; and on 

 the deadly Campagna d'l Roma, and even the Pontine Marshes, flocks and 

 herds find an abundant subsistence in winter, and are driven to the Appe- 

 nines in summer. The same remarks apply to the northern portions of 

 the Kingdom of Naples. The southern extremity of Italy is exposed to 

 a burning climate, and exhibits the vegetation of Africa. 



The whole superficial area of Italy does not exceed 122,000 square 

 jTtiiles, and her population is 172 to the square mile. Scarcely raising 

 bread-stufl's enough for her own consumption, taking one year with an- 

 otlier,|| there is not the most remote prospect of her ever becoming an im- 

 portant wool-exporting country. 



* See lion. Wm. Jan-is's LettPr to me on the subjeet of Meiino Sheep, when I acted as Corr. Sec'y of 

 the N. Y. Stale Apritultural Society — Transnctionfl, lf41, ji. 3i!2. 



t Since eiving this as the diplance from " the middle of Kstremadiira to the Cantabrinn Mountains" (Let- 

 ter V), I bee it Slated in the Kncyclojia-dia Ainpricana that "the whole journey from the mountains to the 

 interior of Eslremaduia is reckoned at about (I'.K) miles." Meaeurrment on llie map will show tliat it does 

 not exceed 4 degrees or 277 miles, but the difference may be made by the circuitousness of the route, or 

 the writer may refer to more eastern portions of the great Appenine Chain. 1 find it stated by several wri- 

 ters thai each journey consumes six weeks. 



iFor a description of this odious tribunal see Livingston on Sheep, p. 30. 

 See McCulloch'B Com. Die. ; art. Odessa. 

 (271) 



