Book I. 



AGRICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 



17 



bandry of Spain. It grows by the leaf, which it is only necessary to slip off, and lay 

 on the ground with the broad end inserted a little way in the soil : it makes excellent 

 lences ; and the fibres, separated from the mucilage, have been twisted into ropes, and 

 woven into cloth. Bowles, the best Spanish writer on natural history, says, the mucilage 

 might easily be made into brandy. The same plant is used as the boundary fence for 

 villages in the East Indies, and is found a powerful obstacle to cavalry. 



724. The hina, or Indian fig (Cactus Opuntia, Jig. 94. 6), is cultivated in the plains 

 of Seville for its fruit, and also for raising the cochineal insect. It is either grown on 

 rocky places or as hedges. 



725. The }}almetto, or fan palm (ChamaeVops humilis), is grown near Seville. From 

 the foot-stalks of the leaves, brushes and brooms of various kinds are formed both for 

 home use and exportation. 



726. The potato is grown, but not in large quantities ; nor so good as in England. 

 The Irish merchants of the sea-ports import them for themselves and friends. The 

 batatas, or sweet potato (Convolvulus Batatas), turnips, carrots, cabbages, broccoli, 

 celery, onions, garlic, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, &c., are grown in large quantities. 



727. Though the olive is grown to greater 

 perfection in Spain than in Italy, yet the 

 oil is the worst in Europe ; because the 

 growers are thirled, that is obliged to grind 

 their fruit at certain mills. To such mills 

 {Jig. 95.) all the olives of a district are 

 obliged to be carried ; and, as they cannot all 

 be ground alone, they are put into heaps to 

 wait their turn ; these heaps heat and spoil, 

 and when crushed, produce only an acrid 

 rancid oil. 



728. The vine is cultivated in every pro- 

 vince of Spain, and chiefly in those of the 



east and south. The old sherry wine, Xeres seco, the sherry sack of Shakspeare, is pro- 

 duced in Valencia and Granada, and especially near Malaga. On the hills surrounding 

 this city are upwards of seven thousand vineyards, cultivated by the proprietors, or by 

 petty tenants who pay their rent monthly when in money, or during harvest when in 

 kind. The first gathering of grapes commences in the month of June, and these are 

 dried in the sun, and form what are known in Europe as Malaga raisins. A second 

 crop is gathered in September, and a wine made from it resembling sherry ; and a third 

 in October and November, which furnishes the wine known on the Continent as Malaga, 

 and in England as mountain. In Valencia the grapes for raisins are steeped in boiling 

 water, sharpened with a ley made from vine stems, and then exposed in the air, and sus- 

 pended in the sun till they are sufficiently dry. 



729. The sugar-cane {Sdccharum officinarum) is cultivated to a considerable extent in 

 Malaga and other places, and the ground is irrigated with the greatest care. The sugar 

 produced resembles that of Cuba, and comes somewhat cheaper than it can be procured 

 from the West India Islands. Sugar has been cultivated in Spain upwards of seven 

 hundred years ; and Jacob is of opinion that capital only is wanted to push this branch 

 of culture to a considerable extent. 



730. The white mulherry is extensively grown for rearing the silkworm, especially 

 in Murcia, Valencia, and Granada. The silk is manufactured 

 into stuffs and ribands in Malaga. 



731. Of other fruits cultivated may be mentioned the fig, 

 which is grown in most parts of Spain, and the fruit used as 

 food, and dried for exportation. The gum cistus (Cistus 

 ladaniferus, ^g. 96.) grows wild, and the gum which exudes.] 

 from it is eaten by the common people. The caper shrub 

 grows wild, and is cultivated in some places. The orange 

 and lemon are abundant, and also the pomegranate. 



732. Other productions^ such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, 

 indigo, pimento, pepper, banana, plantain, &c., were culti- 

 vated in Granada for many ages before the West Indies or 

 America was discovered, and might be carried to such an 

 extent as to supply the whole or greater part of Europe. 



733. The rotations of common crops vary according to 

 the soil and climate. In some parts of the fertile plains of | 

 Malaga, wheat and barley are grown alternately without 

 either fallow or manure. The common course of crops 

 about Barcelona, according to Townsend, is, 1 . wheat, wliich, being ripe in June, is 

 immediately succeeded by 2. Indian corn, hemp, millet, cabbage, kidneybeans, or 



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