AGRICULTURE OF ITALY. ^ 285 



As another example of the way animal warmih is availed of, I would mention that 

 in a stable I visited near Veroeil, which was quite clean and had no cattle, there were 

 fifteen women sitting tidily dressed and spinning flax. I at first thought they were 

 having a party, but was told tliey had come together to keep warm. This was at the 

 extensive wlieat, dairy, and rice farm skillfally carried on by Mr. Malinverni, and where, 

 too, I had the pleasure of seeing a school taught by a woman. At that farm thirty 

 families are employed ; and most of the buildings, fronting upon and inclosing a large 

 yard, are the remnants of a feudal castle. 



There is nothing peculiar in the appearance and dress of the farming people. That 

 of the women is respectable and simple. The small farmers and thtir hired labor- 

 ers, where they have any, dress cheaply and alike. They do^not wear the blue cot- 

 ton blouse or frock, so common in Southern Italy, in France, and in Switzerland ; but 

 instead, when going to town, or on particular occasions, a cotton satinet jacket of light- 

 brown color. Their every-day dress in winter consists of a coarse knit shirt of wool, 

 or wool mixed with cotton-shirts, with calico cuff's to the sleeves four or five inches 

 wide, and under that a plain cotton shirt, a woolen vest, hemp draws, blue cotton 

 trousers, leather shoes with thick wooden soles, an ordinary felt hat, and a colored 

 cotton handerchief about the neck. 



The diet of the farming workmen in the country about Fossano was stated to be as 

 follows : In the morning, a piece of bread, with a bit of garlic or onion ; at 11 a. m. x^laia 

 Indian corn-meal pudding, boiled, with ijerhaps enough preserved grapes or fruit to 

 flavor it ; and for supper, vegetable soup, either of cabbage or beans, and some bread, 

 occasionally a little wine of the country. At harvest-time, salad and oil form a part of 

 tile diet. It is considered that a workman consumes four pounds of bread per day. 

 A farmer in fair circumstances kills«avery year a fat hog weighing, say, 300 pounds, of 

 which a quarter is reserved for family use, the fat part being salted, the lean made 

 into sausages, and the lard saved for wheel-oil. 



In the neighborhood of Verceil, one of the principal rice districts, breakfast, before 8 

 o'clock, consists of corn-bread, though sometimes made of rice and rye-meal, v/ith a 

 piece of cheese, and somet'imes coff'ee, which is becoming popular with the working 

 class. Dinner at 12, of rice-soup, containing beans or cabbage, and bread ; sometimes a 

 piece of sausage or fried eggs ; after sundown, supper of boiled corn-meal pudding or 

 porridg.e. ' 



Around Milan the breakfast, taken at 9 a. m., consists of bread of mixed wheat and 

 corn and porridge of corn-meal. At noon, soup of rice, beans, and pork, with bread ; 

 after sunset and the work is done, supper, the same as the breakfast. In the best iu- 

 stancds one gets meat or poultry once a week, and some wine on Sunday, sometimea 

 cheese. 



The wages of farm-workmen near Milan are nominally (at the farm I visited) 1 franc 

 and 14 centimes per day, but as they were furnished with soup oncp a day and a per- 

 centage on the crops, the whole pa^ is considered equivalent to 2^ francs a day in 

 summer; in winter 2 francs a day. About Verceil the wages at harvest-time are 3 

 francs a day, in winter 1 franc a day, and average li francs per day. Generally in 

 Piedmont wages vary from a franc and a half to 3 francs a day, according to the season. 

 I was informed in Lombardy that as a rule the laborers do not lay up anything ; that 

 there were no unions or aid societies in the country, though such exist in the towns. 



With respect to ownership, taxes, &c., I would remark that ki Piedmont there are 

 many peasants who own from one to two acres of land, and sometimes up to ten acres ; 

 but the greater part of the soil is owned by large proprietors. I was told that no land 

 is exempt from taxation, though considerable m owned by religious bodies. There are 

 eighteen classes of land, of which the best is taxed, iocludiug state, provincial, and 

 local taxes, 30 francs per acre, and the poorest 6 francs per acre. Wild or pasture land 

 is taxed 3 or 4 francs an acre. As a general rule, in both provinces, the proprietor does 

 not cultivate the land himself, but lets it out t© a farmer, receiving from the latter 

 half the crop as rent. The farmer furnishes everything except one-third of the seed. 

 However, the terms of the contract must often depend on the quality of the soil. 

 There is no trouble in dividing the crop, although many proprietors imagine they do 

 not get their fall half. They realize, on an average, an income from their lands of 

 scarcely 4 per cent. 



The system of culture and of rotation of crops is not everywhere the same in the valley 

 of the Po. The most fertile land is never left in fallow. Above Turin the rotation is 

 usually Indian corn one year, then wheat two years, followed with clover one year. 

 Around Milan the rotation is, first, white bearded wheat, sown in November, with 

 clover sown the following February. The wheat is harvested in July ; the next month 

 some clover is cut, and then cattle are allowed to feed in the field. The second year 

 fonr crops of clover are cut, the laud having been periodically overflowed. In the 

 succeeding winter the ground is manured, and clover is cut the third year. The fourth 

 year the ground is plowed ouce, harrowed four times, sown with hemp in March, and 

 loUcd. The hemp is cut in June, during which month the ground is again plowed 

 cnce, harrowed once, and planted with Indian corn, which is harvested in October. 



