Introductory 1 1 



The subjoined statistics give the state of Spanish agriculture 

 at the present day, the total acreage being taken as 50,451,688 

 hectares (2|- acres each) : — 



Hectares. 



Cultivated 21,702,880 



Uncultivated : — 



Pasture, scrub, and wood . 24,055,547 



Unproductive . . . 4,693,261 



Total . . 28,748,808 



Grand Total . . 50,451,688 



These figures demonstrate precisely the extent of the authors' 

 condominium in Spain — well over one-half the country I With 

 the area under cultivation (say 43 per cent), we have but one 

 concern — the Great Bustard. The remaining 57 per cent pertain 

 absolutely to our province — Wilder Spain. The term scrub or 

 brushwood (in Spanish monte), though by a sort of courtesy it 

 may be ranked as " pasture "■ — and parts of it do support herds of 

 sheep, and goats — implies as a rule the wildest of rough covert 

 and jungle, rougher far than a Scottish deer-forest ; and this 

 monte clothes well-nigh one-half of Spain. 



Such figures may appear to infer considerable apathy and 

 lack of effort as regards agriculture. 'Twere, nevertheless, a false 

 assumption to conclude that Spanish mountaineers are an idle 

 race — quite the reverse, as is repeatedly demonstrated in this 

 book. In the hills every acre of available soil is utilised, often 

 at what appears excessive labour — maybe it is a patch so tiny as 

 hardly to seem worth the tilling, or so terribly steep that none 

 save a se^'rano could keep a foothold, much less plough, sow, and 

 reap. 



The main explanation of the immense percentage of waste lies 

 in the fact first set forth — the high general elevation of Spain ; 

 and, secondly, in her mountainous character. 



Whether these or any other extenuating circumstances apply 

 to the corn-lands, we are not sufficiently expert in such subjects 

 as to express a confident opinion. But we think not. So 

 antiquated, wasteful, and utterly inefficient have been Spanish 

 methods of aorriculture, that a land which mio;ht be one of the 

 granaries of Europe is actually to some extent dependent on 

 foreign grain, and that despite an import-duty ! A distinct 

 movement is, nevertheless, perceptible in the direction of 



