The times., 1899-12-10

with thick slices Of Portuguese bacon,
hanked with boiled vans, big as your fist.
There is also q basin Of stew savOrv and
delicious, whose mysterious compOuents
would better not be euquiTed into. an euCE-
nous trasca para viuhO, or wine EagOu.
containing gallon OF two Of cheap Alem-
teio vine and mountain of bTOa bread
yellow as saffron and hard as rock This
coarse but nutritious bread OF mingled
corn and rye which seems to have been
constructed simultaneously with the sew
eral- l-hundred-y -year-Old casa IS the staple
luxury Of the Portuguese peasautry and to
10 they owe their hardness. as well as their
strong white teeth When the corn crop
mas been bad and is therefore scarce and
dear, less OF it ia proportion To- the rye
can be used 10 the Loaf and vice versa.
In the corn producing province Of the
Mimic and in the l0wLand districts gen
orally the usual proportions are eight
parts of corn to one Of rye, aud in the
rye lands where less corn Is grown. the
proportions are reversed
Since farming has moved very little TO
Portugal in the last fourteen centuries, &c
may safely be said that there is consider
able room for improvement For every
hundred bushels OF corn now produced,
fifty more might just as easily be raised,
and avey hing else in proportion. Corn
has been grown on the same lands. sum
mel after summer for hundreds Of years.
with no change OF crops. Few Portuguese
farmers own an acre Of land. but famiH
hold the same tracts. generation after gen.
Grafton, under various tenures- hard for the
foreigner TO comprehend. FoF eXaMp-e
there is the alldial tenure. whieh prevails
in the wide and fertile plains Of southern
Portugal. The holder of the fee simple of
The land either tills his own acres with tie
minimum of capital. energy, and kuo"l-
edge or lets it on snort and uncef tain
leases 10 tenants who farm 10 IN his stead,
almost TO as Iirtle purpose as he would
have done. The parceTija rural tenure is
not unlike what we call 'Ou snaJ eS- and
akin 20 tne m5jdyeT system Of France and
Italy, whereby the owner hEds the land and
sometimes the seed, and receives Tor rent
a proportion Of The produce. In Portugal
as elsewhere. 10 has grown out of the wait
of capital in both landlords and tenants
and is probably the best system where inn
pecuniOsiiy prevails. To is fair On both
sides for while the m5tayer has the
strongest incentive 10 good and honest
work he is ensured against absolute ruin
by droughts or floods as the losses as vel
rs the profits are divided with the landlord
The communal tenure Is found chiefly
in the wild and more mountainous see-
tious the communist holders being. for
the most part ljue8I descendants 1t The
original communal grantees OF rhe land
at q time when the country was ius5 re-
covering from SaraceH occupation. iu the
course " ages most of these grantees have
been bought cut, forced out or cheated
ont of their lands by ueishboriug aodla--
Wherever remoteuess. inaeeessi 5tlirV. or
poverty OF soil have offered no temptations
TO powerful encroachers the e0mmuners
endure 10 the present dav. on the noun
tain frontier between Lsun and Portugal
are communists whose common possession
has dwindled 90 a single pasture q chest
nut grove or flock Of sheep.
Stranger vet. and unlike am thing To be
found outside of Portugal is what is
known as the emphyteutie tenure of land
II had it's birth in the dawn OF Portuguese
history. in early contests between kings
and baFous. prelates and heads Of mon
astic orders in the effort OF successive
monarchs 10 establish other than monk
ish cuitivaJors OF the soil, and in stringent
laws of entail and primogeniture. alto
gether too complicated 20 go into Jt thu
tail OF tCt, long letter.
FANNIE b WARD.