Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ITALY. 57 



much that is not fit for the plough, and it is there my pigs and my cows principally feed. 

 My three thousand rubbi are divided into nearly nine equal parts of three hundred and 

 thirty rubbi each : one of these is in fallow, another in corn, and the seven others in pas- 

 ture. On the two thousand three hundred rubbi, which remain in grass, I support four 

 thousand sheep, four hundred horses, two hundred oxen, and I reserve a portion for hay. 

 In the macchie (bushy places, woody wastes) I have seven hundred cows, and sometimes 

 nearly two thousand pigs. 



310. My exigences " are limited to paying the rent of the farm, to purchasing bread for 

 the workmen, and to the entire maintenance of my army of shepherds, superintendants, 

 and the fattore ; to paying for the work of the day-laborers, of the harvest-men, &c. ; and, 

 in short, to the expense of moving the flocks, and to what, in large farms, is called the 

 extra charges, the amount of which is always very high. There must also be deducted from, 

 the gross profits of the flock about one-tenth, which belongs, in different proportions, to 

 my chiefs and to my shepherds, because I support this tenth at my expense. We have 

 also, in this mode of culture, to sustain great losses on our cattle, notwithstanding which 

 I must acknowledge that our farming is profitable. 



311. Of annual profit., " I average about five thousand piastres, besides five per cent, 

 on the capital of my flocks. You see, then, that t\^Q lands in the Campagna of Rome, so 

 despised, and in such a state of wildness, let at the rate of eighteen francs (fifteen shillings) 

 the Paris acre : there is an immense quantity in France, which does not let for so much. 

 They would, doubtlessly, let for more if they were divided and peopled, but not in the 

 proportion supposed, for the secret in large farms consists in their economy ; and nothing 

 on the subject of agricultural profit is so deceptive as the appearance they present to our 

 view, for the profit depends solely on the amount of the economical combinations, and 

 not on the richness of the productions displayed to the eye. " {Letters on Italy y &c. ) 



SuBSECT. 4. Farming in the Neapolitan Territory ^ or the Land of Ashes. 



312. The farming on the volcanic soil, in the neighborhood of Vesuvius, belongs to 

 the valley farming of Tuscany ; but as it varies a little, and as the farmers are much 

 more wretched, we shall give the following relation, as received by Chateau vieux, from 

 a Neapolitan metayer : 



313. We, poor metayers, he said, " occupy only so much land as we can cultivate by 

 our own families, that is to say, four or five acres. Our condition is not a good one, 

 since we get for our trouble only a third of tlie produce, two-thirds belonging to the 

 owner, which we pay in kind into the hands of the steward. We have no ploughs, and 

 the whole is cultivated by the spade. It is true that the soil, being mixed with ashes, 

 is easily stirred ; and even our children assist us in this work. At times the mountain, 

 hence named Vesuvius, pours forth showers of ashes, which spread over our fields and 

 fertilize them. 



314. T/ie trees which you see on the land, " are not without their use ; they support 

 the vine, and give us fruit ; we also carefully gather their leaves : it is the last autum- 

 nal crop, and serves to feed our cattle in the winter. We cultivate, in succession, 

 melons, between the rows of elms, which we carry to the city to sell ; after which we 

 sow wheat. When the wheat crop is taken off, we dig in the stubble, which is done by 

 our families, to sow beans or purple clover. During six months, our children go every 

 morning to cut a quantity of it with the sickle, to feed the cows. We prefer the females 

 of the buffaloes, as they give most milk. We have also goats, and sometimes an ass, or 

 a small horse, to go to the city and carry our burthens ; but this advantage belongs only 

 to the richer metayers. 



315. We plant the maize " the following spring, after clover or beans. We manure the 

 land at this time, because this plant is to support our families ; this crop, therefore, in- 

 terests us more than all the others, and the day in which it is harvested is a day of festivity 

 in our country. All the villagers assemble together, the young women dance, and the 

 rest of us walk slowly, being laden with our tools : arrived at our dwellings, each family 

 goes into its own ; but they are so near each other, that we can still converse together. 



316. IVe often gather seven ears from one stalk of maize, " and many of them are three 

 palms long. When the sun is high, the father of the family goes into the adjoining field 

 to get some melons, while the children gather fruit from the surrounding fig-trees. 

 The fruit is brought under an elm-tree, round which the whole family sits ; after this 

 repast the work begins again, and does not cease until the close of day. Each family 

 then visits its neighbors, and tells of the rich crop the season has bestowed upon them. 



317. We have no sooner gotten in the maize than the earth is again dug, to be sown once 

 more with ivheat ; after this second crop, we grow in the fields only vegetables of dif- 

 ferent kinds. Our lands thus produce wine and fruit, corn and vegetables, leaves and 

 grass for the cattle. We have no reason to complain of their fertility ; but our conditions 

 are hard, little being left for our pains ; and if the season is not propitious, the metayer 

 has much to complain of. " {Letters, &c.) 



