6 



methods of husbandry are in some cases perfect, but in the 

 majority of cases the soil is not scientifically exploited. 

 Education as regards agriculture has just recently been given 

 an impetus, but a great deal is still to be done in showing 

 experimentally the advantage of the rotation of crops, of manuring, 

 of selecting seeds, of using modern implements, &c. The size 

 of the holdings varies a great deal. The larger ones are situated 

 in the Alemtejo, Extremadura, and Beira Baixa. The banks of 

 the Tagus (Eibatejo) are the richest tract of land in Portugal 

 and the most adequate for mechanical agriculture. In Minho and 

 Traz-os-Montes land is so divided that sometimes a tree belongs 

 to 20 or more owners. 



The cereal crops occupy 751,321 hectares approximately. 

 The yield of wheat per hectare averages at 300-420 kilos. The 

 production of the districts of Portalegre, Evora, and Beja is more 

 than half of the total produced in the whole country. At Aveiro 

 and Porto the average production is 720 kilos per hectare, and 

 in some places one ton and more have been recorded per hectare. 

 The yields vary with the rainfall and the manure. The imports 

 of manures (phosphorites, super- phosphates, &c.) average 

 70,000 tons per annum. Fish guano is the manure of the district 

 of Aveiro. A good deal more might be produced in the numerous 

 fishing centres of the coast and in the rich coasts of West Africa. 

 Stable manures are estimated at 10,000 tons per annum, but in 

 most cases they are inadequately prepared. The cereal crop in 

 1921 was approximately the following: 



Wheat. Eye. Oats. Barley. 



Litres. Litres. Litres. Litres. 



247,420,226 ... 120,263,060 ... 164,998,832 ... 57,135,197 



The imports of wheat bear a great influence on the exchange. 

 The highest figures under this heading were 82,538 tons in 1879, 

 81,869 tons in 1899, 184,200 tons in 1916. The highest crop of 

 wheat was recorded in 1911, viz., 322,000 tons, the average being 

 "230,000 tons. The average consumption of wheat in the country 

 is increasing*. Wheat bread is replacing maize and other inferior 

 qualities of flour. The cultivation of wheat has been encouraged 

 by the agrarian policy of the Government, that is, the grant of a 

 remunerative price for the crops and the restriction of the import of 

 wheat and flour to the amount strictly required for seed and for the 

 consumption over and above the land production. 



In addition to wheat, Portugal produces 500,000 tons of 

 maize (the average during the war declined to 274,000 tons per 



* In 1911 the w^neat consumption amounted to 293,939 tons, and 

 in 1920 to 364,272 tons. 



