_Climate._--The climate of Denia and its surroundings is rather cold and windy; damaging spring frosts, as well as early fall rains, frequently interfere with the setting of the grapes and with the harvesting of the crop; it has even happened several times that the entire crop has been seriously injured by one of these, or by both causes combined. Farther north, or in the Valencia district proper, the climate is milder, and frost is rare. Oranges are here at home, while the culture of raisin grapes becomes less every year. North of Castellon the climatic conditions are such that no raisin culture is possible.
As compared with the climate of Malaga, that of Denia is much less favorable to the raisin grape. The production of sun-dried and undipped raisins in Denia is not possible, and, although it has been attempted several times, it has seldom succeeded. The rainfall of Denia averages twelve inches per year. The rainiest months are those of November, February and April, but the heaviest rainfall at one time occurs quite frequently in the first week of September, while light showers are not uncommon in August, at that time doing much damage to the grapes or the just exposed raisins.
_Irrigation._--Not only is irrigation necessary to grow the vines successfully and to produce an abundance of grapes, but the irrigation in the province of Valencia is necessary to the health and longevity of the vines. Nowhere else in Spain is the water so abundant, and no saving of the water is necessary in the majority of the districts. Through an abundance of water, the soil on the lowlands has now filled up to such an extent, that in the best vineyards the surface water is only from five to eight feet from the surface of the ground. Those vines which could not be irrigated have gradually become diseased, and the hillside vineyards are being rapidly abandoned and devoted to something else. Upon the abundance and constancy of the water depends the prosperity of the whole province, and there is hardly a more prosperous country in Spain. To show the close connection between irrigation and raisin production in Spain, it will no doubt interest many to know something of the irrigation system and the irrigation districts of the province of Valencia, than which no more important ones are found in Spain.