286 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The ground is then plowed again, harrowed once, sown in November with wheat, 

 which is harrowed in. The soil abont Milan is easy to work, only one pair of oxen 

 beino- required to draw the plow, while toward Mantua, on account of the stiffness of 

 the clay, five pairs are required. 



In the rich rice district of Verceil a three-years' course is the more common, but the 

 best cultivators, including Mr. Malinverni, follow a six-years' rotation, as follows : 

 First year, wheat,- (which was sown the preceding October, after the harvest of rice, 

 and after deep culture and mauaring at the rate of one cwt. of guano per acre.) Clover 

 having been sown in th'? wheat in the spiing, a fair crop of this is cut in August, after 

 the wheat crop. Second year, the clover is liberally manured, irrigated, and cut three 

 times. Third year, Indian corn manured with guano. Fourth, fifth, and sixth years, 

 rice. The rice-fields are inundated five months. There is a depth of 4 inches of water 

 till the grain is up, 'then the quantity of water is leeseued. Some sorts of rice grow to 

 a height of 4 feet, others less. It costs 20,000 francs a year to supply a rice-farm of 

 600 acres with water. The rice-crop is gathered in September, the harvest sometimes 

 running into October. 



In the country above Turin it is a practice to plow twice after a crop of wheat — once 

 at the time of manuring and again at> the time of sowing — and but once after a crop 

 of Indian corn. In preparing the soil for hemp, it is usual there in the autumn to cover the 

 ground with heaps of stubble and brush, in such number as 300 heaps to an acre, and to 

 burn them slowly. This is called half manuring. In spring some manure is added, the 

 ground plowed, and the hemp sown in April. Among the smaller farmers on hilly land 

 the rotation is: wheat two years, manured each jear with stable-manure ;' the third 

 year, rye, with clover to a part of it. Timothy is not used in the Po Valley. 



I have before referred to the peculiar rigid appearance of the wheat-fields. This 

 formation comes from a plowing with a view to draining. The furrows are turned so 

 that with the subsequent harrowing and use of a wooden smoother the ground is left 

 in oval ridges or beds a foot high, and from 2 to 3 feet wide. The ditch between is 

 scarcely wfdo enough to place the foot. What is striking about the ridges is their re- 

 markable regularity and precision. Occasionally, however, and apparently on the 

 better-cultivated farms, the drains are in some cases 10 feet, in others 30 feet, apart — 

 the plowing in such case being done as in the country north of the Alps. 



In selecting seed-Avheat the more careful fahners sift it in three diflerent sieves, re- 

 eerving for seed the medium-sized and heaviest grains. This is done at the time of 

 thrashing. As a prevention against insects, the seed is washed in lime-water just before 

 sowing, which is usually broadcast. Only a few of the rich people as yet use sowing- 

 machines. Indeed, it would not be practicable to use them on fields ridged as above 

 described. * 



The wheat is harvested in the last half of June, and is all reaped by hand. It stands 

 in the fields in sheafs four days, is then brought and piled under a shed, and soon 

 thrashed. Thrasliing-machines are being introduced, yet the usual way of thrashing 

 is by cattle drawing a heavy roller over the wheat on the ground at the farm-yard. 

 The' yield varies from 17 to 30 bushels per aero. 



The accidents to which the wheat-crop is liable are principally hail-storms. These 

 destroy the wheat-crop about once every ton years, and near Turin as often as once 

 every five years. In such case, " forty-day " Indian corn is planted, or millet is sown, 

 though miilett is getting out of use. There are companies for insuring against injury 

 to crops by hail-storms. Rust, sometimes called mildew or blight, may occur once in 

 the course of ten years. A small, yellow, glazed worm, about an inch in length, occa- 

 sionally destroys, say, two acres out of one hundred by eating the seed. This worm, 

 " jebus," changes its form and returns after three years. 



I was assured that the best wheat-culture in Italy is in the vicinity of Parma ; also 

 that it is in no province the practice to hoe the wheat, as was the custom in the old 

 Roman Republic, and as is the practice still in Japan. 



Owing to the advantages of the system of irrigation called J/arc!7a, and the profits 

 of the <lairy, half the land in the neighborhood of Milan is continually in grass. On 

 the 1st day of February l.ist I saw, on a farm two miles from that city, men mowing 

 grass which was about a foot high, and which was being carted to the stable and fed 

 to the cows fresh. Nine crops of grass are cut from the same ground in a year! This 

 system of overflowing, by which such re.sults are obtained, and which has contributed 

 so nnich to the wealth denoted by such splendid cities as Turin and Milan, has been iu 

 use in the valley of the Po ever since the art was brought by the Crusaders from the 

 East. A thorough system of overflow exists for a radius of abont 10 miles southward 

 and eastward of Milan. I visited the stable and dairy-rooms of this farm. There were 

 seventy-four milch-cows, all of Swiss breed, which were fed with fresh grass twice 

 and with hay once a day. The men tending the cows and having care of the milk 

 wore nothing but sandals, and a garment around the middle of the body, such as 

 might answer for swimmers. The brick floors of the cheese and milk rooms were not 

 iu the strictest order as to cleanliness. The large copper kettles for heating the milk 

 were, however, well polished. The cheeses are sold in Milan for 3 francs a kilogram. 



While in Northern Italy the large Swiss breed of cows is used for the dairy, the native 



