120 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



rise to the surface, and then by the same motion empty themselves into a trough, 

 from which the water is conveyed by trenches into the different parts of the garden 

 or field. The vertical wheel is put in motion by a horizontal one, which is turned by a 

 cow." (Jacob's Travels, 152.) The construction of dung-pits has already been men- 

 tioned, (710.) as introduced by the Moors, and the practice of preserving the dung in 

 that manner is still continued in Granada and Valencia. Threshing-floors are made in 

 the fields, and paved with pebbles or other stones. 



745. Feiu of the operations of Spanish agriculture afford any thing characteristic. No 

 hay is made in Spain [Toivnsend) ; and so dry and brittle is the straw of the corn crops, 

 that in the process of treading out, which is generally done by mares and colts, it is bro- 

 Jcen to pieces. The grain being separated, the straw is put in stacks, and preserved for 

 litter, or mixed with barley as food for cattle. Irrigation is carefully performed, and is the 

 only effectual mode of insuring a crop of grain, or any sort of herbaceous vegetable. On 

 some farms on the Vega in Malaga, scarcely any attention is paid to stirring the soil, but 

 by the very complete irrigation which can be there given, the land yields fifty bushels per 

 acre. Where the soil is naturally light, situated in a warm climate, and not irrigated, it is 

 remarkably free from weeds ; because from the latter end of May, or the beginning of 

 June, when the crop is harvested, till October or November, they have no rain ; and the 

 heat of the sun during that period destroys every plant, and leaves the soil like a fallow 

 which only requires tlie seed furrow. In effect it gets no more ; and thus, under such cir- 

 cumstances, one crop a year, after only one ploughing, may be raised for an endless period. 

 In the Asturias, after the women milk the sheep, they carry the milk home in leather bags, 

 shaking it all tlie way, till by the time of their arrival butter is formed. ( Townsend's 

 Travels, i. 273.) 



746. The labouring man of Spain adopts a custom which might be useful to the 

 reapers and haymakers of Britain, in many situations. The labour and heat of hay time 

 and harvest excite great perspiration and consequent thirst, which it is often necessary 

 to quench with sun-warmed water. To cool such water, the Spanish reaper puts it in 

 a porous eartlien pitcher (alcarraza), the surface of which being constantly moist with 

 the transudation of the fluid, its evaporation cools the water within. The frequent appli- 

 cation of wet cloths to a bottle or earthen vessel, and exposure to the sun and wind, 

 effects the same object, but with more trouble. 



747. The culture of forests is very little attended to in Spain. The best charcoal is 

 made from heath, chiefly the J5^rica mediterranea, which grows to the size of a small tree, 

 and of which tliere are immense tracts like forests. The 93 

 cork tree (Qu^rcus 5'iiber, fig. 99.) affords the most valuable 

 products. The bark is taken off for the first time when the 

 tree is about fifteen years old ; it soon grows again, and may 

 be rebarked three times, the bark improving every time, till 

 the tree attains the age of thirty years. It is taken off in 

 sheets or tables, much in the same way as oak or larch bark 

 is taken from the standing trees in tliis country. After 

 being detached, it is flattened by presenting the convex side 

 to heat, or by pressure. In either case it is charred on both 

 surfaces to close the transverse pores previously to its being 

 sold. This charring may be seen in bungs and taps ; but 

 not in corks, which, being cut in the long way of the wood, 

 the charring is taken off in the rounding. 



748. The exertions that have been made for the improvement 

 of the agriculture of Spain we have already noticed, and need 

 only add, that if the late government had maintained its 

 power, and continued in the same spirit, perhaps every thing 

 would have been effected that could be desired. Time, indeed, would have been requi- 

 site ; but improvement once heartily commenced, the ratio of its increase is astonishing. 

 But the French invasion of Spain, first under Bonaparte, and again under the Bourbons, 

 has spoiled every thing, and for the present almost annihilated hope. 



749. The agricultural circumstances of Portugal have so much in common with those 

 of Spain, that they do not require separate consideration. The two countries diflTer in 

 the latter having a more limited cultivation, the sugar-cane, and most of the West 

 India plants grown in Spain, requiring a warmer climate than that of Portugal. The 

 vine and orange are cultivated to great perfection ; but common agriculture is neglected. 

 The breed of horses is inferior, and there are few cows or sheep. Swine form the most 

 abundant live stock, and fatten, in a half wild state, on the acorns of the numerous oak 

 forests which cover the mountains. 



