The right of possessing an olive mill is a feudal privilege belonging to the lords of particular manors, and to such mills all the olives grown in the district, often a very extensive one, are obliged to be carried. Here they remain in heaps, waiting their turn to be ground, from October and November, when they are gathered, till the month of January, and sometimes February, and consequently become rancid, to the great detriment both of the colour and the flavour of the oil. The stones of the olive produce some oil, which is equally transparent with that of the pulp, but of a more acrid flavour; and as the farmers are anxious to produce as large a quantity as they can, the two kinds are mixed, by which means the whole becomes tainted.

The oil is kept in large jars, sunk in the ground, so as to preserve it in an equable temperature, and prevent its suffering from the extremes of heat and cold. The proprietors take, from the top of each jar, the clearest of the oil for the use of the table: the residue is appropriated to different purposes, and is used by the poor to light their habitations. Though the quantity of oil made here is very great, a small portion only is exported. The principal part of that which exceeds the immediate consumption was formerly sent to the Castiles, and other parts of the north of Spain: but though the war has closed that vent for this commodity, and the harvest has been most abundant, yet the price is still too high to admit of its being exported to England.

* The wine made in this vicinity is very inconsiderable in quantity, and is of a bad quality. The greater part consumed in this city is

LETTERS FROM SPAIN.

brought from Xeres, but some, which comes from La M strong red wine, similar to Valdepeñas, and being broug has the flavour of the tar with which the seams of th closed.

A large quantity of wheat and barley is grown in t but no oats. The wheat is small grained, which is prob to not changing the seed sufficiently often. The barley is and when mixed with straw, constitutes almost the only f horses and mules. No hay is made in Spain, but in ever there are large stacks of straw, broken in the operation out the grain, which at a little distance have the appear wheat-ricks in an English farmer's barn-yard. The gr rated from the chaff and the straw on the field where A threshing-floor, paved with large pebbles, receives the number of unbroken mares are driven over it, in a circl standing in the centre, who holds a long rein fastened to The trampling, in the dry climate of Spain, is sufficient the grain, which falls to the bottom, and to break the stra The broken straw is then carried to the farm-yard, and I stacks; and the grain is removed on the backs of asses, of pannier made of esparto, and deposited in the granary I wished to ascertain how many bushels of wheat average crop per acre; but I could gain no information subject upon which I can depend: I could not even learn of the mode of measuring land, so as to form any calcul fertility. There are two terms of mensuration employed

of the country, the fanega and the aranzada: the former is derived from the fanega (a dry measure, which is equal to two of our bushels), and which, when applied to land, relates to the quantity requiring a fanega of wheat to sow it; the other is applied to as much land as two oxen are capable of ploughing in one day. This uncertainty in the measure of land is a striking proof of its small value in this country.

Onions, garlic, melons, pumpkins, and cucumbers, are cultivated in large quantities, and form some of the most important articles of human subsistence. They are grown in gardens, in the irrigation of which they use a mill, of Arabic origin, from which our chain pump is evidently derived: it is called a Noria: a vertical wheel over a well, has a series of earthen jars, fastened together by cords of esparto, which descend into the water, and fill themselves by the motion of the wheel: they rise to the surface, and then, by the same motion, empty themselves into a trough, from which the water is conveyed by trenches into the different parts of the garden or field. The vertical wheel is put in motion by an horizontal one, which is turned by a cow. No machine can be more simple, or, in a dry country where the wells are far below the surface, more beneficial.

Liquorice was formerly cultivated here to a considerable extent, but the quantity of late has been much diminished; it requires a great deal of labour to gather the root and extract the juice; and the price of labour, occasioned by the demand of men for the armies, has caused several houses employed in the preparation of this article

to be shut up. The plant grows in great abundance near St. Juan de Alfarache, but only a small quantity at present is manufactured. Potatoes are grown, but not in large quantities, nor are they so good as in England. The Irish merchants, settled in Andalusia, import for their own use, and that of their friends, considerable quantities from Ireland. The sweet potatoe is very common, as well as turnips, carrots, cabbages, and broccoli, the last of which is remarkably good. Celery grows to an enormous size, but the flavour is inferior to that produced in our gardens.

X

THE Spanish cows are of an excellent race, are small in size, and of great beauty; they more nearly resemble our best Devonshire breed than any others I have seen, being nearly of the same size, and marked in a similar manner: they are sometimes used for ploughing, and also, though rarely, for drawing carts. In the winter, when grass is abundant, they become fat, and at this season the meat is good. Their milk is not much valued, nor indeed are there any dairies, as the milk of goats is in common use both here and at Cadiz.

The horses of Andalusia are very highly valued; they are deep chested, rather short backed, and heavy about the legs; they have generally a good shoulder, and being taught the menage, have a magnificent appearance. It is a general opinion in Spain, that the race of horses has degenerated, and that the number has considerably diminished of late years. In the year 1784 much pains was taken to calculate the number, and they were then estimated at about