to the Vineyards of Spain and France. 93 



grain is trodden out by horses and cattle, and the straw is most 

 generally burned ; and thus closes the labours of the year. " At 

 one place," says Mr. Busby, " I saw seven men ploughing, each 

 with a pair of oxen, and following each other in the same furrow. 

 The oxen were yoked by the head." The plough was little better 

 than a pointed stick ; and these seven ploughs, following in the 

 same line, did little more than scratch the surface of the ground. 

 In travelling through the country, it is customary to pay a sort of 

 black mail to the chiefs of the banditti or their agents ; and to 

 such a system is this reduced,, that the banditti have regular toll 

 houses for collecting their tribute, (p. 29. and 37.) At Seville, 

 the sweet orange is more cultivated than the bitter. The latter, 

 as our correspondent Mr. Spence found in Italy (VII. 224.), is 

 much the hardier variety, and is always used as a stock both 

 for the sweet orange and the lemon. The orange groves are 

 reckoned of great value, though the fruit is not much eaten by 

 the natives, and the tree is seldom found in private gardens. 

 The trees are planted 20 ft. or 22 ft. apart each way ; and, in 

 good seasons, yield from 1000 to 1500 oranges each. During 

 summer they are irrigated every ten days. There are seldom 

 two good crops in succession, whether of oranges, or of grapes, 

 olives, pomegranates, or any other fruit ; which must be owing, 

 in some degree, to bad management, though mainly, no doubt, 

 to the seasons. 



At Malaga Mr. Busby arrived on October 21. It is remark- 

 able that the proprietors of vineyards here have found that a 

 dark-coloured soil is the best on which to dry their raisin grapes, 

 in the same manner as the inhabitants of some parts of the Alps 

 have learned to throw black earth upon snow, to increase the 

 force of the sun's rays in melting it. The muscatel grapes are 

 only grown on a very limited surface, and never farther than 

 two leagues from the coast, " There are three distinct sorts of 

 raisins ; first, the muscatels, which are the finest, and are always 

 packed in boxes of 25 lb. each, and half and quarter boxes; 

 secondly, sun or bloom raisins, which are prepared like the 

 muscatels, but from a different grape, and which are generally 

 packed in boxes, but sometimes in casks ; and, thirdly, the lexia 

 raisins, which are packed in casks, or in grass mats called frails. 

 These raisins are of an inferior kind, and require to be dipped 

 into a lexia, or lie, of wood ashes, with a little oil, before dry- 

 ing." (p. 45.) The grass mats here alluded to are made of 

 the Stipa tenacissima, which also forms the ropes to which the 

 noria baskets are attached ; and which, indeed, is applied to a 

 great variety of purposes. Some of the vine-growers had 

 M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary^ and had adopted his recom- 

 mendation of employing sulphate of potass in the wine-press j 



H 3 



