Economia e ecologia nos montados de sobro ibericos: o uso do solo na segunda metade do seculo XIX

The supply of raw material is probably the most important issue in the cork business due mainly to the preponderance that it presents in the industry's cost structure. In the 19th century, the quality and quantity of cork was an even more important factor than nowadays because, in the absence of the cork agglomerate, only corks with larges calibers and high quality had industrial use. This work analyses, in a comparative perspective between Spain and Portugal, a cultural practice with high repercussion in the forest production of cork, the use of the soil. The main objective is to identify, during the second half of the 19th century, agroforestry practices that may have reduced the cork potential of the Iberian countries, helping to partially explain the different level in which Portugal and Spain cork business were in the 19th century. However, it is concluded, from the analysis of several sources that cover the main Iberian regions with cork oak forests, that on both sides there were harmful actions against the correct development of cork in the trees. Soil mobilization and full weeding of the bushes, for example, often due to cereal crops, led to a decline in soil fertility and of the usability of the land with negative economic and ecological repercussions.