352 
On the Agriculture of Spain. 
and 150 pairs of mules ; and this year the seed he sowed amounted 
to near 10,000 Encrlish bushels of wheat and 3000 of barley ! For 
one extraordinary contribution durinp^ the civil war he was taxed 
at 16.000 dollars — 3,000/. or 4,000/., equal to double that sum 
in this country. One of them lately took the whole Andalusian 
property of the Duke of Medina Celi, amounting to thirty-four 
estates of different sizes. This is too vast for one management, 
and he sublets them ; but it is obvious this plan must retard 
improvements. The Duke of Ossuna, another grandee, who has 
estates as large if not larger than those of Medina Celi, by resid- 
ing abroad has acquired more knowledge than the great proprie- 
tors are in general possessed of, and has commenced the system 
of letting small portions of land to the labradores, or cultivators, 
in his villages. This has answered so well that there is little 
doubt of its being followed up by others ; but the former noble- 
man has incapacitated himself from doing it by letting his whole 
property for twenty years to the individual above m.entioned. 
With respect to the stock, the only cattle as yet to my knowledge 
imported are from Galicia, where the best draught bullocks, after 
a certain age and servitude, and good keep, have improved so as to 
give a profit to the owners ; they are disposed of, and replaced by 
them with others of less price to undergo the same routine. The 
ports where they are embarked are Coruna and Vigo. I saw some 
of them, which came to this country in July, and were fine animals, 
but decidedly inferior to some I saw of the Estremadura breeds 
in the Sierra Morena in May. It was soon found that the in- 
ferior animals would not pay the expense of transport, and at 
present only those of the first class are selected. The vice-consul 
at Vigo, a Spaniard, a wealthy and most active and intelligent man, 
told me he was so fully aware of the advantages to be derived 
from the trade, that he had been instrumental in purchasing one 
of Mr. Bates's bulls and a cow at a high price, in order to avail 
themselves to the full extent of them, by producing animals of a 
higher class. I had long been struck with the beauty of some of 
the races in Castile and in Andalusia, as they are seen at the bull- 
fights, whilst tried and found wanting for the noble sports of the 
arena, and after they have been engaged in the more tranquil 
labours of the husbandman. 1 have no doubt that some of these 
breeds might be crossed with our own to great advantage. They 
differ in almost every district, and especially where the bulls are 
known, each proprietor keeping his own exclusive stock with Spa- 
nish jealousy : but this is not in general the case with the oxen, 
and abundance are to be had of excellent shape and qualities. 
The bullocks I saw at Vigo cost about 10/. each, to which the 
freight and duty are to be added ; but some I saw in the Sierra 
Morena were much finer, and might have been had for 6/. For 
