VALUE OF VINEYARDS. 



25 



acre, but he understood that a large portion of the grapes 

 were sent to the market. The at^enas, in general, he 

 says, yield from 4 to 6 butts a Spanish acre, which is 

 worth, on being made, about 22 pesos of 15 rials each. 

 Thus, 5 butts will amount to 82i Spanish dollars, which 

 is equal to about £17 10s. per aranzada, or £18 10s. per 

 English acre. This vineyard, he informed me, was worth 

 300 dollars per aranzada, or about £66 an English acre. 

 The Albariza vine^^ards yield, on an average, from 2^ to 

 3 butts per aranzada, which is worth, including the agiia 

 pies, this year (October 1831), 38 pesos per butt, — 2^ 

 butts amount therefore to £16 13s. 9d., or about £17 10s. 

 per English acre. Mr. Domecq's vineyard was some 

 time ago valued at 40,000 Spanish dollars. The extent 

 being 191 English acres, and the buildings at that time 

 worth 3,000 or 4,000 dollars, the value of the whole will 

 appear to be £7,756 5s., or about £40 12s per English 

 acre, the average produce being about 800 butts. — This 

 at 38 pesos, will amount to £4,275 for the value of one 

 year's produce of the whole, or £22 7s. per acre. The 

 expenses of cultivation are stated by Mr. Cormack to be 

 from 50 to 60 dollars per aranzada, and this also agrees 

 pretty nearly with Mr. Domecq's statement. It therefore 

 appears that the profit upon an acre of the arenas will be 

 about £7 10s.; upon the ordiuar j albariza, £5 13s. 9d. ; 

 on Mr. Domecq's, £11 7s. I am inclined to think that 

 this estimate is pretty correct, as it applies to the arenas, 

 but it is probably under-rated in the albarizas generally, 

 and over-rated in Mr. Domecq's. 



The whole extent of the Xeres vineyards, which pro- 

 duce wine fit for the English market, does not exceed 

 7,000 acres, and about double that extent will also include 



