AGRICULTURE, LIVE STOCK, AND FISHERIES. Spain's largest interests are agricultural, over half the people living by farming, which supplies about two-thirds of the exports. In general the husbandry of Spain is of an antiquated charac ter. Farm methods and implements are primitive, and the special disadvantages are that much of the land is owned by the nobility in large hold ings, the taxes are high, and communications poor. Four-fifths of the area is classed as produc tive; 33.8 per eent. is devoted to general agri culture and gardening. 3.7 to vineyards, 1.6 to olive-growing, 10.7 to natural grasses, and 20.8 to fruit. Pasturage is abundant, even the great plains of the dry tableland being covered in sum mer with aromatic herbage on which sheep thrive, while in winter the flocks are driven down to the lower districts, especially to Estremadura. Al though about 250,000 of the holdings are in large estates, the subdivision of the soil has been rap idly advancing in recent years. As in all coun tries in which winter rains prevail. irrigation, as stated above, is necessary during the rainless months. Artificial watering in a wide belt along the Mediterranean coast transformed a great area into a region of remarkable fertility. These lands are ealled huertas or gardens. All avail able fertilizers, including street sweepings, are used, with the result that no land in the world is more productive than the huertas. Here are produced southern fruits, vegetables, sugar cane, maize, and other crops requiring abundant moisture. Only about nine per cent. of the coun try, however, is artificially irrigated. The Gov ernment in 1900 took steps to enlarge the agricultural area by the construction of reser voirs and irrigation canals. The plans adopted for the irrigation system cannot fully be carried out for many years. Lands now irrigated in the valleys of the Ebro and Tagus are yielding twelve times as much fruit as the dry lands.
The most profusely watered and the best cul tivated region is Valencia. where three or four crops are harvested every year. The level parts of Catalonia, Mnreia. and Andalusia are also very fertile. while Asturias and Galicia, though less productive, are carefully cultivated. A large part of the dry lands of the interior is unfilled, though where subterranean waters are near the surface wheat and other cereals are grown. in good years the northern provinces export cereals, though the wheat crop does not always meet the home demand. A region extend
ing widely around Valladolid is called the gran ary of Castile. The swampy lands bordering the Gulf of Valencia yield fine crops of rice. Oats are little grown; rye is the chief breadstuff in the part of Spain fronting on the Atlantic; and barley is grown for cattle food.
The areas in acres devoted to the cereal crops in the year of 1901 were as follows: Wheat, 9,172.196; barley. 3,301.115; rye, 1,968,989; oats, 944,198; maize, 1,156,126; rice, 84,463.
The most important branch of husbandry is the cultivation of the vine, and wine at times forms as much as a third of the total exports. As much as 700,000.000 gallons is sometimes produced. hut most of the wines are poorly made. In the African climate of the south are produced the famous wines of Malaga. Alicante. and Jerez (Sherry). These wines are highly valued both for medicinal and table purposes. Besides wine Valencia, Malaga, and Alicante also export great quantities of raisins and grapes. The most profit able crop of the huertas is fruits. Oranges and lemons thrive best along the Gulf of Valencia and in the Balearic Islands. Large quantities of the peel of the bigarade or bitter orange are sent to Holland to be used in the manufacture of the liqueur Curacao. Olives and olive oil are large products. though somewhat less important than oranges in the export trade. No other country produces so much olive oil as Spain, and most of the product is consumed at home. The industry is chiefly developed in the southern provinces, Seville supplying the greater part of the olives for table use, while the oil comes from Cordova. As a large amount of the home product is poorly made, much of the oil is refined in France; but efforts have been made in recent years to improvo the quality of the oil, so that it may compete in foreign markets with French and Italian oils. Leguminous vegetables, a staple article of food in Spain. are raised in sufficient quantity to pro vide a surplus for export. Esparto, which thrives in droughty lands. grows in the southeast and is sent in large quantities to England. Tobacco is cultivated, but much is also imported; the to bacco industry. which is a Government monopoly. is an important source of revenue. Hemp and flax are grown chiefly in the northern provinces.