276 Mode of Rearing Cattle in Spain. 
crude and natural advantages, but, alas, we Andalusians 
are devoted to our primitive and accustomed routine, and 
thus we are punished, and cannot boast half the fine herds 
of cattle, and of pastoral wealth, which we might do if we 
were wiser. 
We now come to the second system of rearing and treat- 
ing cattle throughout Spain—viz., part of the year housed, 
and part in open pastures. 
During winter, and indeed from the first days of autumn, 
the cattle intended for exportation or for work, are always 
housed at night in their sheds or semi-open stalls. In 
Gallicia they are regularly stabled whenever it is cold. In 
Andalusia the peasants obstinately adhere to making these 
cow houses or sheds far too open. The animals derive cer- 
tainly some shelter from the rigour of the atmosphere; but 
their food gets wet with rain, and often they refuse to eat it 
in consequence, and thus become ill and weak, and liable 
to disease. The peasants are stupid and obstinate about 
this, and give as their reason, that if there is a shelter im- 
mediately above the cattle (afforded by a roof) the sides 
cannot admit too much air. It is singular how they per- . 
sist in this view. 
In the middle of Spain, and in the northern provinces, 
the houses for cattle are, on the whole, well and carefully 
built, with windows and openings for air; but the animals 
never suffer from the rain or snow beating upon them or 
their food. These cattle are often worked, and they are 
much more attended to than the semi-wild herds in our 
beautiful province. It is supposed to improve the northern 
cattle (intended for exportation) to make them labour regu- 
larly and moderately at the plough and with the cart. 
In the spring the cattle in most districts of Spain leave off 
going into the houses or sheds, and live and feed on the 
uncultivated portions of the large farms; a third portion of 
which is sold every year, the other two-thirds remain un- 
cultivated or “ fallow,’ and there the oxen intended for 
labour (and the market, &c., &c.) graze. This rotation sys- 
tem, as regards “fallowing,’ is pursued with considerable 
regularity throughout Spain. After the harvests are reaped, 
the stubble lands, on which grow also some herbage and. 
green weeds, afford abundant pasture, and the cattle graze 
these districts very advantageously. They produce largely 
the wheat grass, ¢riticum repens, which is considered nutri- 
tritious and wholesome. This second system (mixed) of 
treating our cattle keeps them more directly under the 
