122 ITALY 



bers of the Musee Social commission do not 

 hesitate in their report to speak of the agricul- 

 tural revival in Italy as a "resurrection," and 

 there is, indeed, abundant evidence that from 

 both a material and a moral standpoint the 

 outcome of the movement has already had a 

 most powerful influence for good. 



Materially, that decentralization of capital 

 which has saved the Italian agriculturist from 

 the money-lender, and placed an easy credit 

 within his reach, has, in the first place, led to a 

 greater amount of land being bought under 

 cultivation, as shown by the town of Sansevero, 

 near Foggia, where, in a little over ten years, 

 thanks to the People's Bank, no fewer than 

 8,000 acres have been converted into vineyards. 

 Then the increase in the extent of the land 

 cultivated has been followed by an increase per 

 acre in the yield therefrom, owing to the greater 

 use of fertilisers, machinery, etc., as encouraged 

 alike by the spread of agricultural instruction 

 and by the facilities offered, in regard to pur- 

 chase, by the agricultural societies. The quality 

 of the stock has improved ; farm buildings that 

 were once neglected, from lack of means, are 

 now kept in good order ; agricultural industries, 

 and especially co-operative dairies, are affording 

 new openings to energy and enterprise, and the 



