292 



The Country Gejitleman's Magazine 



the growth of the cattle population in Ireland, 

 and by the widening area of land under cul- 

 tivation for green crops, grass, and clover. 



As to the influence which the importation 

 of dead meat may have upon our markets we 

 fear that want of space forbids our doing 

 justice to the subject at present. But we 

 may inform our readers that we are now im- 

 importing about 25,000 tons of freshly 

 slaughtered beef, mutton, and pork in every 



year, and we must bear in mind, further, that 

 if the less affluent can once overcome their 

 feeling of dislike towards the preserved meat 

 sent us'from Australia, much will have been 

 accomplished to meet the increasing wants 

 of an advancing population, and to prevent 

 the inevitable rise in price due to the growing 

 demand for a commodity which can only be 

 produced here in greater quantity at an 

 augmented cost. 



AGRICULTURAL MATTERS IN ITALY. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the Times, 

 writing from Umbria, in Italy, says 

 that agriculture in that country is in a com- 

 paratively primitive state as yet. Within a 

 certain numbei' of years progress has been 

 made in some provinces, as, for instance, ill 

 Piedmont and Tuscany; but there is still 

 much to be done. He tells us, however, 

 that efforts are not wanting to enlighten the 

 peasants as to their true interests, and 

 stimulus is given in the shape of prizes 

 offered by agricultural associations, now be- 

 coming numerous in Italy. There is one in 

 Perugia, the locality from which the corre- 

 spondent writes, which gives annual prizes for 

 agricultural improvements and rural construc- 

 tions. 



The relations between the land-holding and 

 the land-cultivating classes in Umbria, he 

 adds, are much the same as in Tuscany. A 

 landed proprietor divides his property into 

 lots, and, generally, each lot is supposed to 

 be about what a family can cultivate. The 

 peasant finds the tools ; everything else is on 

 joint account; the oil, the wine, the corn, all 

 that the land produces, is divided between 

 owner and labourer. This is known as 

 the "halving" system — la mezzadria. The 

 peasant enjoys certain facilities; as, for 

 instance, portions of forest land, where 

 there is any on the estate, in which his 

 pigs may feed, and the landlord finds it 

 to his own advantage to assist him as 



far as possible in ways little costly to him- 

 self The peasant has generally very little 

 capital, and the loss of beasts employed 

 upon the land often falls heavily upon him, 

 for he has to bear half the cost of those 

 which replace them. Usually these losses 

 are more than he has means at once to meet, 

 and the sura due has to be deducted from 

 his share of the revenue of the podere, or 

 farm. Thus he may become indebted be- 

 yond the possibility of redemption, and Um- 

 brian proprietors have told me that their 

 losses in this way are sometimes heavy, as 

 the peasant often becomes bankrupt and 

 leaves his land, or is ejected from it. The 

 contracts are annual, with six months' notice. 

 The system just described has the obvious 

 tendency to keep the class of day labourers 

 within narrow limits. That class exists, 

 however, and the usual day's wage is if, ex- 

 cept in harvest time, when it is i^f., with 

 food in addition. I am assured that a 

 labourer can live on if a day in this pro- 

 vince ; if he is married his wife earns some- 

 thing, and his children, as they grow up, con- 

 tribute. 



Every peasant occupant receives, with his 

 piece of land, a house for himself and family. 

 These dwellings are generally much upon the 

 same plan, one-storied buildings with the 

 stables below, and, above, a kitchen in the 

 centre, with bed-rooms around it, and a store- 

 room or granary. The casengoli, or hired 



