280 



AGRTCULTUKE IN SPAIN. 



[Dec. 1895. 



The three -course (ires hojas) system of cultivation is adopted 

 on a large scale in Oastille, Andalusia, and Estremadura, and, in 

 fact, wherever the area cultivated is too large for the population, 

 the means of communication difficult, and fertilisers (manures, 

 &c.) not easily obtainable. It consists in dividing the cultivated 

 area into three portions, the first being cultivated whilst the 

 other two are resting, one as " barbecho " {i.e., being prepared 

 for the following year's crop), and the third as ''posio " 

 (i.e., employed only as pasture for cattle). Under this system 

 each portion consequently only produces a crop every third 

 year. 



" Ano y vez," or " crop and fallow," is adopted only on richer 

 soils or in districts where implements and fertilisers can be easily 

 procured. 



An annual crop is only obtained on soils which can be 

 irrigated and on small areas of land called " huertas." In some 

 parts of Spain, where irjigation works (mostly constructed by 

 the Arabs) allow of large extents of land being watered, 

 cultivation is carried on by means of a system of rotation ; but 

 each landowner possesses and farms only a small portion. Such 

 are the " huertas " or " vegas " of Saragossa, Granada, Valencia, 

 and Murcia. 



Peasant proprietors exist only in the above-mentioned vegas," 

 and in the neighbourhood of large towns (Galicia is to some 

 extent an exception : many agricultural labourers emigrate from 

 this province to South America, and on their return purchase a 

 plot of land which they cultivate). The ordinary peasant in 

 Spain either works for wages, which are very low, or rents a 

 piece of land, which is usually larger than that cultivated by a 

 similar class in France, but which produces much less. For 

 instance, a man possessing a "junta" (pair of bullocks or mules) 

 will rent from 7 to 17 acres. 



Rents of course vary very much in different parts of the 

 country. In tlie southern portion of the province of Ciudad 

 Real, the northern part of Cordova, and in Caceres, it is paid 

 either in grain or in money. If paid in grain, the land is let 

 " al tercio," at quinto," or " en aparceria." Under the tirst of 

 these systems the peasant cultivating the land pays one-third of 

 the produce ; under the second, a fifth : while the " aparceria" 

 is a mutual agreement, of which the conditions vary somewhat, 

 between landlord and tenant. According to one form of the 

 "aparceria,'' the landlord contributes the land and manure 

 while the tenant provides the labour and seed. Rent is paid as 

 a rule, not for cultivated land alone, but for arable and pasture 

 land combined. 



Rents in one district of Saragossa, to take an example, are 

 about 8s. to 20s, per fanegada (1'687 acres) per annum. In the 

 same district, the price of a sheep is from 2s. to 3s. 4>d. ; that of 

 a goat from Is. 8d. to 2s. 6d. 



