OLIVE PLANTATIONS. 



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leagues from Seville. On this excursion I was accom- 

 panied by Don Francisco Dias, a Spanish gentleman 

 who spoke French, and to whom I had brought an intro- 

 duction from Mr. Gordon, of Xeres. We expected to 

 find the Marquis, who was a particular friend of Don 

 Francisco's, at his plantation. 



The town of Jlcala, perhaps from its excellent situa- 

 tion for water mills, is almost wholly inhabited by bakers, 

 who send their bread to Seville. At almost every door 

 we saw the women sitting picking from the wheat the 

 small stones, and other impurities, which it collects from 

 their rude mode of thrashing. 



The Marquis had left his country-house about an 

 hour before our arrival, but we found a very intelligent 

 peasant, who had the management of it in his absence, 

 and who answered my questions with great readiness and 

 intelligence. There are 200 aranzadas under olives, 

 which have this year suffered much from the rain. 

 When rain falls in August, as was the case this year, 

 the olives always suffer from it. He estimates the 

 present crop at about 2,000 fanegas of olives, which will 

 yield about 1,500 arrobas of oil ; but in a very favour- 

 able year the plantation will yield 5,000 fanegas of olives, 

 or about 3,750 arrobas of oil. All the ground we saw 

 was a very light sandy loam. It is ploughed once a-year. 

 They plough an aranzada of the olive ground in a day, 

 but not more than half that quantity of the meadow or 

 corn land below. There are five kinds of olives on the 

 estate — one of them, the La Reyna, is of a very large 

 size and is pickled for eating. The tree of this variety 

 produces but little fruit, and the fruit when pressed 

 yields very little oil, but it is very highly prized for 

 eating, being as large as a good siz:ed plum. 



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