1875.] 



319 



[Uelinar. 



guano appears to have been largely imported into Spain. I have the 

 statistics by quantities for only tlie years 1852 to 1856 and 1863 to 1867, 

 inclusive ; but these will serve to show the extent of the movement, 

 which first began in 1852: 



Imports of Peruvian Guano into Spain. 



To show the relation which these quantities bear to the world's con- 

 sumption of guano, it may be stated that the 48,000 tons imported in 

 1852 to 1856 formed but 2^ per cent, of the world's consumption of: 

 Peruvian guano ; while the average annual quantity of 28,000 tons im- 

 ported during the years 1863 to 1867 formed 7^ per cent, of the world's • 

 consumption, which was 370,000 tons per annum during that interval.- 

 (For details of the consumption of each country, see Com. Rel., 1867,. 

 p. 361.)f 



The extent to which fertilizers are now being used in at least some 

 parts of Spain, may be judged from the fact that the U. S. Consul at^ 

 Valencia reported in 1871 that the ground in that district was being 

 burned up by an immoderate use of guano ! 



Agricultural Implements. 



There seems to have been no improvement in respect of agricultural 

 implements since the days of Arthur Young. The corvee is abolished 

 and the absentee landlords of vast estates, of whom he has so bitterly 

 complained, are things of the past ; but the old Roman plow, with its 

 wooden mould-board, without a bit of iron upon it (Arthur Young, ii, 

 p. — ), and its four or five inch blade (Com. Rel., 1871, p. 1037,) remain. 

 Indeed, even the plow is rarely met with in some provinces (C. R., 1866. 

 219), the "laya," or two-pronged fork, and the spade being used in its 

 place (L. T., 87 and 51). 



Until within a very few years, agricultural machinery was wholly 

 unknown in Spain. The corn was left in the fields for lack of barns 

 (Young) ; it was threshed by driving mules over it ; it was winnowed by 

 throwing it iu the air (M'Culloch) ; and most frequently it was ground 

 by hand rather than by wind-mills or other machinery. (Ibid.) 



* Quantities exported from Chiucha Islands to Spain, 1852-57.— App. Cyc, viii, 529. 



t The average annual consumption by the United States before the war is set down 

 by this authority at 40,000 tons ; while the actual imports into the United States from 

 1850 to 1881, inclusive, were 954,989 tons, an annual average of double the quantity. 

 However, a portion of this gaano came from other places beside Peru. For complete 

 statistics on this subject, see U. S. Com and Nav., 1837, p. xlvi. 



