1C8 Variation in the Price and Stipply of Wheat. 
irrigation or near the clouds, only afford Avinter pasturage, and' 
the large migratory flocks of sheep, after wintering in the plains 
of Estremadura, Andalusia, Leon, and the Castiles, are driven, 
about the end of April, up the mountain-sides of the Castiles 05 
further north to those of Biscay, Navarre, and Aragon, where, in a 
cooler and more humid climate, they find green herbage through 
the summer. The dairies of Andalusia have disappeared, and 
even Madrid is supplied with goats' milk. 
Wines and fruits, silk, and olives, are the rich products of the 
soil .and climate of Spain ; her agriculture is exotic. Scotch 
turnips and mangold wurzel are not suited to Andalusian skies. 
West Indian plants, the sugar-cane, coffee, and the banana all 
grow freely on the southern coasts. The pine-apple has been 
grown in the open air. The date ripens at Malaga. The agri- 
culture of Spain might become superior even to that of France 
in the value and variety of its productions. Her mineral wealth 
is also very great, and when the resources of the country are 
developed under a better government, the importation of wheat 
will be very large, and Spain may boast a second Marseilles, 
into which will be poured the produce of Hungary, Wallachia, 
and the future corn countries of the Mediterranean. Some parts 
of Castile and the northern provinces generally would grow 
corn in abundance if there were roads for conveyance, and if 
the inhabitants were as industrious and energetic and as attached 
to rural pursuits as the northern races of Europe, and their 
descendants, instead of being as non-agricultural in their tastes 
and habits as their Latin ancestors. 
Spain is wanting in the means of traffic ; the irregular surface 
does not admit of water communication, and the roads are about 
equal to ours 100 years ago. Wheat often sells at a low price in 
a rural district on the spot Avhere it is grown, and at almost a 
famine price elsewhere. Under the present corn-law it is at 
a maximum price at the sea-ports, and a minimum in the inland 
provinces. In 1866 it sold for 24s. a quarter in the province of 
Segovia (Old Castile), and at 80s. per quarter at the sea-port 
of Pavia (Asturias). In the inland provinces of Burgos, Segovia, 
Soria, and Saragossa, the average price was below 30s. per 
quarter, whilst in those of Alicant, Barcelona, Cadiz, Malaga, 
and Pontevedra, all bordering on the sea, the price exceeded 50s. 
per quarter. The maximum price of barley on the coast was 
42s., and the minimum price inland was lis. 9r/. per quarter. 
The population of Spain is 15,600,000 ; of Portugal, 6,000,000. 
There is land in Portugal of marvellous fertility, which is said 
to be capable of growing 55 bushels of wheat per acre, but 
capital is not attracted to agricultural pursuits. The land is 
principally possessed by the nobles and by religious corporations, 
