SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



za Mercant'd* published by the GoveiTiment, it appears that the expoite 

 of Spain of all kinds, in 1S2G, amounted to only c€l,587,o07. The exports 

 of raw and manufactured silk and gut reached ^£243,390 ; lead, <d£215,360 ; 

 wines, ^189,340 ; wool, 66161,650 ; fiiiits, c£152,075 ; brandy, dei07,715 ; 

 barilla, c£79,200, etc. This exhibits not only the smallness of the entire 

 export of wool, but the diminished comparative importance of this once 

 great national staple. 



The number of sheep in Spain is still placed by many writers as high ao 

 10,000,000 for the migratory flocks, and 8,000,000 for the stationary ones 

 Even Mr. Youatt has fallen into this, as it strikes me, unquestionable error, r 

 If Spain possesses 18,000,000 of sheep, what does she do with the wool, 

 which should amount to at least 54,000,000 lbs. % Admitting — which prob- 

 ably exceeds the fact — that her export to France and other nations equals 

 that to England, and that she manufactures a quantity equal to twice her 

 whole export, the aggregate amount would be less than 8,000,000 lbs. 

 The author of the article on Sheep Raising in the Encyclopaedia Ameri- 

 (;ana, places the number of the whole fine-wool sheep in Spain at 4,000,000. 

 This 1 think high enough, and probably not far from the truth. This is a 

 million less sheep than those of the State of New-York in 1839 ! 



The actual facilities for growing wool in Spain have already been al- 

 luded to in my fifth Letter. I should not consider it necessary to bestow 

 farthei examination on them, were it not for the fact that owing to various 

 associations connected with the early history of the Merino sheep, and the 

 lead once taken by Spain in the production of fine wool, her facilities have 

 been, popularly, prodigiously overrated, and even the difficulties under 

 which she has labored for this husbandry, magnified into advantages. Her 

 northern raoantains are high, broken, cold, and exposed to peculiarly 

 piercing north winds,t and the winter on them lasts, as I infer from Mr. 

 Livingston, about six months. He says : [| 



" When the severe weather commences on the mountains, the shepherds prepare to de- 

 part, which is generally about the end of September and throughout the month of October 

 to seek more temperate climates aiid fresher pastiirea In April or May, according as th^ 

 eeason is late or eai-ly, they return to the mountains. 



It might be practicable to prepare hay for winter use, in favorable posi 

 tions, and particularly on the parameras, on these mountains, and thus th<i 

 migratory sheep might become stationary on them. But the Spaniard is 

 too much wedded to ancient customs, too little in love with change of any 

 kind, and, most of all, a change bringing an addition of labor, to thus in- 

 novate on his own habits or those of his flocks. 



The high basins of the Douro and Tagus (embracing the two Castiles 

 and Leon) are too valuable for the cultivation of grain, vineyards, fruits, 

 etc., to be profitably devoted to the pasturage of sheep. The wheat of 

 Spain is among the best in Europe, § and it is stated in Mr. Jacob's Tracts 

 on the Corn Trade, that she frequently does not raise enough for her own 

 consumption.^ For the vine, olive, fig, mulberry, barilla, and various 

 other products of equal profit both for home consumption and for export, 

 fl'jo is not excelled probably by any country in Europe. A friend of mil e 

 who traveled in Spain in 1845, describes the valleys above alluded to, as 

 almost exclusively devoted to tillage crops. In the Southern Provinces, 



" Quoted by McCiilloch — Com. Die, art. Cadiz. 



* See Yauntt on the Sheep, Lond. ed., p. 147 et supra.. Mr. Livingston in his day estimated the migrotorj 

 iheep at 5,000,000, the stationary at 8,000,000. See Essay on Sheep, pp. 36, 39. Mr. L. was a'so undoubt 

 •dly in error. | Malte Brun. || Livingston on Sheep, p. 3fi. 



5^ Note Ijy Percival to Am. ed. of Mnlte Brun ; art. Spain. 



V Quoted l>y McCuUr-h— Com. Die; an. Odessa. 



