16 AGRICULTURE. 



ken and pulverized, into four-feet ridges or beds, 

 on which the crop is sown. The furrows answer a 

 threefold purpose ; they drain the beds of excessive 

 moisture, ventilate the growing crops, and supply 

 paths for the weeders. 



The rotation of crops employs two periods of dif- 

 ferent length ; the one of three, the other of five 

 years. In the rotation of three years the ground 

 is sown five times, and in that of four years seven 

 times, as follows : 



1st year, wheat, and, after wheat, lupines : 

 2d do. wheat, and, after wheat, turnips : 

 3d do. Indian corn or millet. 

 1st year, wheat, and, after wheat, beans : 

 2d do. wheat, and, after wheat, lupines : 

 3d do. wheat, and, after wheat, lupinella : [an- 

 nual clover]. 

 4th do. Indian corn or millet. 



In the Syanese Maremna, where the lands want 

 neither repose nor manure, the constant alternation 

 is hemp and wheat, and the produce of the latter is 

 often twenty-four bushels threshed for one sown. 



It will be seen from this course of crops, that the 

 principal object of Tuscan agriculture is wheat ; of 

 which they have two species, the one bald, the other 

 bearded ; both larger than the corresponding species 

 in other countries of Europe ; convertible into ex- 

 cellent bread and pastes, and probably but varieties 

 of that Sicilian family which Pliny describes as 

 yielding " most flour and least bran, and suffering no 

 degradation from time." It is harvested about the 

 middle of June, and, when the grain crop is secured, 

 the ploughing for the second or forage crop begins ; 

 which, besides lupines, lupinella, and beans, often 

 consists of a mixture of lupines, turnips, and flax. 

 The lupines ripen first, and are gathered in autumn ; 



that one third of the ground shall be actually worked with a 

 epade. 



