242 
Variation in the Price and Supply of Wheat. 
by sea to Beyront and by road to Damascus. A direct road, now in con- 
templation, would reduce the journey to 40 days, or in good weather to 20 days. 
MALAGA. Report by Mr. Consul Mark FOR 1863. — The province of 
Malaga is -not a grain-producing district, the consumption being greater than 
tlie growth, and grain and flour are imported coastwise. 
The fruits peculiar to Malaga, such as raisins, grapes, almonds, figs, oralis, 
and lemons form the staple produce. 
LISBON, Eerort by Mr. Consul Smith for 1861. — The hai-vest this 
year has not produced sufficient grain to supply the wa-nts of the population, 
and in those years when corn has been exported the quraitity Las been made 
up by corn introduced over the Spanish frontier. 
The price of wheat having risen considerably during the end of 1861, a 
Government decree was issued in October permitting the admission of foreign 
grain for consumption for six months to the end of April. Since then 25 
vessels laden with wheat have arrived from America, and 15 vessels from 
Algiers and the coast of Barbary. The following table shows the average price of 
grain during the year 1861 : — 
In the province of Alemtejo great quantities of grain of all kinds, and of oil, 
are produced ; but, owing to the scantiness of the {wpulation, want of cajjital, 
and the miserable stale of the roads, a vast proportion of its excellent soil 
remains uncultivated. The works now in active progress, in the construction 
of railroads, which are in a forward state of completion, the making new roads 
of the ordinaiy kind, and the repairing of those now in existence, must be 
productive of the most beneficia,l results, in bringing very extensive tracts of 
excellent soil under tillage and facilitating the working of several of its 
numerous mines. 
EAST COAST, VALENCIA, BARCELONA, ALICANTE. Ebports of 
THE Consuls for 1861. — Rice, wine, oranges, silk, raisins, nuts, locust-beans, 
and oil, are the principal products of these provinces, in which wheat is 
scarcely grown in .sufficient quantity for consumption. 
The profits of the rice crop are inducing its cultivation in the extensive 
swamps near the mouth of the Ebro. In the raising of rice and the other 
grain crops under irrigation in this province, nearly 200 tons of guano are 
annually consumed. On the whole, agrirulture may be pronounced in a 
flourishing condition. 
C ARTHAGEN A.— " The harvest of 18G3 was a complete failure, the drought 
having continued from early in the spring to the end of November." The dry 
season seems to have cured the vine of its long-standing disease, the grape 
having seldom turned out more prolific or in better condition. ITie silk crop 
again failed through disease in the wonn, the olive crop was bad, and as all the 
necessaries of life were exorbitantly high, great distress prevailed. 
Crops in 1864 abundant. 
ALICANTE, 1866. — The exportation of esparto grass (siipa spicata) at this 
port has been somewhat less, only about 7000 tons having been shipped, 
instead of 9000 in 1865. This, however, is owing to the want of cheap 
freights, which the article requires, as there ai-e considerable stores of it 
waiting for embarkation. 
Spain. 
Wheat 
Indian com 
Eye .. .. 
Barley 
s. d. s. d. 
62 8 to 72 1 0 per imperial quarter. 
.32 1 ,, 35 10 
34 6 , , 37 0 
28 8 ,, 33 6 
