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AGRICULTURE IN SPAIN. 



[Dec. 1895. 



AGRICULTURE IN SPAIN. 



According to a despatch received through the Foreign Office 

 from Madrid, a collection of reports, contained in five bulky 

 volumes, issued towards the end of I89I, constitutes the latest 

 information with regard to agriculture in Spain. These reports 

 show the state of agriculture from 1886 to 1890, giving the 

 area of cultivated land in each province, the various systems of 

 farming practised, and the amount and value of the produce of 

 each crop. 



The varying conditions of soil, climate, and accessibihty in the 

 different provinces of Spain render a satisfactory comparison 

 between them difficult ; but the characteristic features of each 

 are given as follows : — 



In Andalusia, farms comprise from 2,500 to 5,000 acres, 

 and a triennial rotation of crops prevails ; but although only a 

 third part is sown annually, the farms are found to be expensive 

 to work and the results are unsatisfactory. 



In Badajoz and Caceres the three-course system with its 

 fallows also prevails, besides which, portions of the large tracts 

 of natural pasture in these provinces are occasionally ploughed 

 up and sown with cereals at intervals of four, five, or somstimes 

 ten years, according to the fertility of the soil. 



In La Mancha and the two Castilles the triennial system is, 

 owning to conditions of soil, to a great extent superseded by that 

 known as " ano y vez'' (alternate years); the fallows are more 

 limited, the farms less extensive, and the system of cultivation 

 more thorough. 



In Navarre. Aragon, and the eastern provinces, fallows 

 almost entirely disappear. Irrigation is general, and farming 

 is carried on with greater energy. 



Finally, the arable land in the Basque provinces, Galicia, and 

 Santander, comprises a great variety of soils, notwithstanding 

 which, the subdivision of land and the damp climate, generally 

 speaking, admit of a much more elaborate system of farming, 

 so that in various districts two or three crops can be obtained 

 from the same land in two years. 



If to the variations of soil are added those of climate which 

 prevail in different parts of the Peninsula and, consequently, 

 the different degrees of productivity of the soil, the difficulty of 

 determining what is the average production or the average 

 quantity of seed sown per acre becomes apparent ; and to the 

 same factors must be attributed the different results obtained 

 by apparently similar agricultural conditions in adjoining 

 districts. 



The most productive region, considering the crops as a whole, 

 comprises Valencia, Alicante, and Barcelona, with some of 

 the Cantabrian provinces where high farming is more or less 

 extensively carried on. The poorest results are obtained in the 

 central and some other provinces. 



