In 1888 a school of sericulture was founded by the public debt administration for the rearing of silkworms according to the Pasteur method.
Fruits and vegetables are plentiful, and there are large herds of buffaloes, goats and sheep. Silkworms are reared.
The leading industry is the breeding of silkworms and the spinning of silk.
The industries are few, the growing of wine, breeding of silkworms, making of agricultural instruments, printing and the manufacture of laces being the chief.
Wheat and other cereals are cultivated, with fruits of many kinds, olives, and vines which yield a wine of fair quality; while saffron is largely produced, and some attention is given to the keeping of bees and silkworms. Stock-farming, for which the wide plains afford excellent opportunities, employs many of the peasantry; the bulls of Albacete are in demand for bull-fighting, and the horses for mounting the Spanish cavalry.