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fale, that interior commerce, which is the bed a country can poflefs. Tliefe are alfoevils which the reiidence of men of fortune is the mod likely to correft, and muchabove the power of peafants and mountaineers. With all thefe difadvantages there aredill circumdances which make it furprifing that more land is not cultivated. Vines andolives fucceed very well on the poored and mod arid foils; their growth and luxuriancein fpots furrounded on every fide with wades, and in foils not better, yield a conviction,which leaves no doubt, that the adjoining lands would, if planted, give a funilar pro-duce. The profit of doing it will not be fufpe&ed, if the revenue and value of culti-vated lands on companion with the wades be conddered. Two points here forcethemfelves on our notice ; fird, the want of capital for undertaking the work ;and, fecondly, the wade being in all probability in poffeflion of abfent landlords,who will not give fuflicient encouragement to others to do what they ncgleft doingthemfelves.
Where cultivation climbs up the mountain fides, it is by fmall proprietors, who pur-chafe of the communities of the pariflies the property of the land; wherever the foil ishi hands that will fell jud the portion which is in the power of a man to buy, great ex-ertions are fure to be the -confequence. There is no fpur to indudry fo great as thepofi'efiion of a piece of land, which, in a country where the means of fubfidence arecontradted for want of more diffufive and more various employments, is the only com-fortable dependence of a man, who willies to be the father of a family. The parilhthat will fell a wade at a moderate price, will be almod fure to fee it cultivated; but thegreat lord, who rarely, or never, fells any of his property, unlefs ruin forces him tofell the whole, is equally fure of perpetuating the deferts, which are the difgrace of hiscountry. He would let them, and perhaps upon advantageous terms; but it demandsconliderable capitals, and a very enlightened date of agriculture, for fpeculations ofthat fort to take place ; the only capitals, which can be found in Catalonia , for fuch apurpofe, are the hands of men willing to work ; aided, perhaps, by fome little favings,which have originated from the view of wades that are to be purchafed. All that hasbeen done, and it is much in fome didricts, is to be traced clearly to its origin.
That thefe. obfervations are jud, will be confirmed by the prices of all the necefiariesof life in that province; they have nothing very cheap; every article of confumption isfomewhat dearer than in Trance ; and it is more than once noted, that all the meat theyeat comes from that kingdom. Their mules are bred in France , and great imports ofcattle and fheep are common. This is a direft premium upon every fpecies of ruralindudry, and its not having operated greater improvements, mud be owing to thecaufes on which I have touched.
To cultivate their wades, to fpread irrigation wherever It is poflible to carry it, arethe two fird objects in Catalonian improvement; all others are inferior; they have,however, fome which ought not to be neglected. Their wine and oil are obje&s ofthe greated importance; for it is by thefe, probably, that all the lower wades lhouldbe improved., which are r_ot capable of irrigation; to improve the manufacture of thefetwo articles, in fuch a manner as to increafe the demand for them, would be one greatmeans of accelerating the cultivation wanted; they are both bad ; the wine is thick,muddy, and poifoned by the borachio; and the oil is generally rancid; both wouldotherwife be excellent; to remedy thefe defers, and force thofe commodities, by theirmerit, inio commerce, would tend powerfully to enrich the province; and .to enrich itin the very bed method, by one, which would, at every dep, accelerate its improvement.Wool is another commodity, which is of confiderabfe value, and might be produced in£n infinitely greater quantity than at prefent.
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