Читать книгу The Raisin Industry - Gustavus A. Eisen - Страница 31

—The soils of the province of Valencia, where the vineyards are situated, are of various kinds, such as cretaceous and calcareous soils, containing admixtures of clay, sand and gravel. The color is often red, changing to gray where irrigation has been practiced, but much of the soil is of an ashy white color, similar to that of bottom lands generally. In many of the lower situated plains, the soils are blackish or dark gray, especially so where stable or other manures have been used for years.

Many vineyards are situated on the hillsides or on the rolling lands, where the gravelly soils produce raisins of smaller size and in less quantity, but sweeter and finer flavored. But the largest bulk of the vineyards are on comparatively level land, which can be and which is irrigated. The raisins produced on these low grounds in the moist and cool valleys are larger, but not of equal flavor and sweetness. In wet seasons, the hillsides are preferred, the valley lands then being too wet and cold. Accordingly, as the seasons are wet and cold, or dry and warm, the various localities produce raisins of different qualities, which again are valued and paid for differently. The extent of the valley or plain lands decides the extent of the raisin districts, and of late years the rolling vineyards have decreased in quantity, while those on the plains have increased, until at the present time almost all the plain lands are occupied with raisin vineyards, especially in the Denia sub-district.