SPAIN 207 was not yet grown in sufficient quantities for home consumption, forms now a considerable article of export. "Wine and oil constitute the chief riches of some of the provinces. Agriculture has made especial progress in Bis- cay, Navarre, and Aragon, and all the arable ground near the roads has been cultivated. But the most careful cultivation is found in the Jiuertas or irrigated lands of Granada, Murcia, and Valencia, which are regarded as the gardens of Spain, and produce all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and plants. The farmers are for the most part wretchedly poor, and are obliged to obtain money at exorbitant prices by mortgaging their crops. Certain privileges, very injurious to the interests of agriculture, are enjoyed by the proprietors (called mestas) of large migratory flocks of sheep, especially merinos. They are not only allowed to drive their flocks over village pas- tures and commons, but the proprietors of such cultivated lands as lie in their way are obliged to leave for them a wide path; and no new enclosures can be made in the line of their migrations, nor can any land that has once been in pasture be again cultivated till it has been offered to the mesta at a cer- tain rate. Only about 53 per cent, of the soil is under cultivation. Manufacturing in- dustry in former centuries was very prosper- ous. In the middle ages, the wool and silk tissues of Seville, Granada, and Baeza, the cloths of Murcia, and the arms of Toledo en- joyed a high reputation. The expulsion of Moors and Jews, the monopoly given to the royal manufactories, the onerous taxes weighing down private industry and aggrava- ted by the avidity of the fiscal agents, com- bined to undermine this prosperity. Seville in 1519 counted 16,000 silk workshops, em- ploying 130,000 workmen ; in 1673 it had only 405 manufactories. The manufactories of Se- govia, in which formerly 25,000 pieces were annually produced, made in 1788 only 400 pieces. In recent times industry has greatly improved again, especially by the influx of foreign capital, as a considerable portion of the former property of the clergy has passed into the hands of French and English capital- ists. The cotton industry, which is concen- trated chiefly in Barcelona and other places in Catalonia, employs 1,200,000 spindles, and supports about 100,000 men. Metallurgic in- dustry has been developed in Guipiizcoa, Bis- cay, Aragon, Catalonia, and Granada; silk goods are manufactured at Barcelona, Man- resa, Tarragona, Toledo, Seville, and Valen- cia; woollen stuffs at Segovia, Arevalo, Col- menar (on the Manzanares), and Alcoy ; linen in Galicia and Catalonia; leather at Barce- lona, Cordova, Burgos, Toledo, Granada, and Madrid ; and glassware at Barcelona. There are manufactories of firearms in the Basque provinces, Catalonia, and Segovia, and can- non founderies at Seville, Lierganes, Trubia, and Barcelona. The number of stock com- 754 VOL. xv. 14 panies has greatly increased of late years. At the close of 1866 there were 65 credit and other commercial and industrial associations, with a nominal capital of $37,900,000. In 1867 there were 27 railroad and other public works associations, with a nominal capital of $204,480,000. The number of banks was 23, capital $35,600,000. A decree of March 19, 1874, founded a new national bank, with which the old privileged Spanish bank and the pro- vincial banks were to be consolidated. The first railroad in Spain was opened in 1848, from Barcelona to Mataro, 18|- m. Notwith- standing the mountainous nature of the coun- try, their extension has been pursued with some vigor ; but in consequence of the wretch- ed state of Spanish industry, the want of good inland roads, and frequent political disturb- ances, the financial condition of the railroads is unsatisfactory, and their progress has been less rapid lately than in any other European country. In 1867 only 26 m. of new railroads were opened ; in 1868, 72 m. ; in 1869, 6 m. ; in 1870, 36 m. ; in 1871, 20 m. ; in 1872 and 1873, 60 m. Some of the main lines were not yet completed in 1875. The aggregate length of the railroads on Jan. 1, 1874, was 3,364 m. In 1867 the number of passengers carried was 10,357,351. The total length of telegraph lines in 1871 was 7,287 m. ; number of stations, 193; number of despatches, 996,912. The number of post offices was 2,347; of letters, 78,174,000. There are several canals, some of them on a magnificent scale, but mostly un- finished and unfit for navigation. The chief of these are the Imperial canal, begun by Charles V., and extending along the right bank of the Ebro, and the canals of Castile, Manzanares, Murcia, Albacete, and Guadarra- ma. The aggregate length of the canals in 1874 was 430m., of which 131 m. were navi- gable. The number of the boats on the lat- ter was 332. The most important articles of export are wines, specie, metals, especially lead, raisins, olive oil, flour, cork, soap, wool, brandies, and salt ; and the imports comprise sugar, cotton and cotton goods, woollen, silk, and linen goods, iron in bars, codfish, machines, cacao, guano, and coal. In 1849 a protective tariff was adopted in place of the former pro- hibitive system. A decree of the regency, dated Aug. 1, 1869, introduced a new tariff, which abolished all prohibitions and reduced considerably the duties on most articles. It provided also for a further reduction to take place on July 1, 1875. The imports and ex- ports from 1867 to 1869 inclusive, according to official reports, were as follows : YEARS. Imports. Exports. 1867 $T6,800,000 110.200,000 84,900,000 $56,600,000 53,800,000 51.200,000 1868 ...... 1869 The trade of Spain is chiefly with France, Great Britain, and Cuba. In 1867 the value of im-
