114 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



until the middle of the thirteenth century. They are said to have materially improved 

 agriculture during this period; 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. 



710. Agriculture formed the jmndpal and most honourable occupation among the Moors, 

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

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

 employed in every practicable situation. The Moorish or Mohammedan religion forbade 

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

 was deposited in the caverns of rocks and in other excavations, some of which, 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 com for such a length of time, that, when a child was bom, a cavern was filled with 

 corn which was destined to be his portion when arrived at maturity. The 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 j 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 : 



711. TTie canes " should be planted in the month of March, in a plain, sheltered from the east wind, and 

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

 are one palm in height, when they should be dug round, manured with the dung of sheep, and watered 

 every night and day till the month of October. In January, when the canes are ripe, they should be cut 

 into short pieces and crushed in the mill The juice should be boiled in iron caldrons, and left to cool 

 till it becomes clarified j it should then be boiled again, till the fourth part only remains, when it should 

 be put into vases of clay, of a conical form, and placed in the shade to thicken ; afterwards the sugar 

 must be drawn from the canes and left to cooL The canes, after the juice is expressed, are preserved for 

 the horses, who eat them greedily, and become fat by feeding on them. {Ebn-al-Awam, by Banquieri. 

 Madrid, 1801, fol.) From the above extract it is evident sugar has been cultivated in Spain upwards of 

 700 years, and probably two or three centuries before. 



712. AhovX 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. {HeylirCs 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 ap- 

 plication. 



713. The earliest Spanish work on agriculture generally appeared' in 1569, by Herrera : 

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

 from the Roman authors. Herrera, however, had not only studied the ancients, but 

 visited Germany, Italy, and part of France : his work has been translated into several 

 languages ; and the later editions contain some essays and memoirs by Augustin, author 

 of Secrets de f Agriculture, Gonzalo de las Cazas on the silkworm, and Mendez and 

 others on bees. 



714. The agriculture of Spain in the middle of the eighteenth century was in a very neg- 

 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 properly, the want of making rivers 

 navigable) has 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' milk. 

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

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

 rural economics, in the time of him and his uncle, was carried to as high perfection in 

 Spain as in any part of the Roman empire. Though they have no idea of destroying 

 weeds, and scratch the ground instead of ploughing it, yet nature has been so bounti- 



