ON VITICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 335 



there are differences in the grape as well as in the soil. 

 The vine has several distinct natural species, as dis- 

 tinguished from mere varieties (whether artificial or 

 climatic), and the character of wine is largely dependent 

 on the vine producing it. Vast quantities of wine are 

 grown in adjacent districts, good genuine wines, sound 

 and wholesome, but the two localities named stand out 

 in marked i^rominence. The area of the choice i-iguohles 

 around Jerez is some 12,000 acres, divisible into four 

 classes according to geological formation.* The average 

 yield of the fine vineyards being two and a half butts per 

 acre, it follows that the total annual production of first- 

 class sherry is some 35,000 butts, or thereabouts. 



In addition to the above quantity, there are also grown, 

 as above stated, large quantities of wine in the adjoining 

 districts. These, though pm-e and genuine, are but of 

 second rank. From what we have already written, it will 

 be apparent that in this land of the vine (and the same 

 remark applies to Portugal), there is nothing so cheap as 

 the grape. There is therefore no temptation to seek 

 substitutes for this, its commonest product, or to employ 

 other materials in its place. 



Viticulture abstracts from the soil a smaller proportion 

 of alkalies and other mineral constituents than either 

 corn or root-crops : hence the exhaustion of the soil is 

 slower and the vine can be cultivated on land incapable of 

 yielding any other crop. An acre of vines on sandy soil 

 will cost but one-half the money to cultivate, and yield 

 three times the weight of fruit that an acre of the 



* The following are the constituents of the four different classes of 

 soil of the Jerez vignobles, according to Don Simon de Roxas 

 Clemente : — 1st. Alhariza, chiefly consists of carbonate of lime, with 

 a small admixture of silex and clay, and occasionally magnesia. 

 2nd. Barros, composed of qnartz or sand, mixed with clay and red 

 or yellow oclire, which forms horizontal bands extending along the 

 coast from the mouth of the Guadalquivir as far as Conil. ord. 

 Arenas, or pure quartz ore sand. 4th. Biujeo, which contains argil- 

 laceous loam, mixed with carbonate of lime, some quartz ore sand, 

 and a large proportion of vegetable mould. — " History of Modern 

 Wines," by Dr. Alexander Henderson, p. 190. 



