1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



295 



fatal as the plague. Laborers residing but one 

 night on the spot newly turned in gummer, invari- 

 ably die. 



These causes I think serve in a great measure to 

 account for the greater production and propagation 

 of malaria in our own country now, than many 

 years ago ; for localities once the seat of sickness 

 and death, have been rendered prefectly healthy, 

 by removing the causes of production of malaria, 

 of which we have spoken. Many situations in 

 Italy and India, may be cited at exemplifying this 

 fact, but let us take an example nearer home. 

 During my residence in Philadelphia, a few years 

 ago, ditterent parts of the suburbs of the city were 

 pointed out to me, as being but a few years pre- 

 vious, as unhealthy as any part of our low country, 

 which now is as healthy as any part of that beau- 

 tiful city. This beneficial change has been effect- 

 ed by draining, filling up, and building, to the en- 

 tire extinction of bilious fever. Dr. Caldwell, in 

 his treatise on malaria, remarks, "that the large 

 body of land adjoining Philadelphia, on the south, 

 called the Neck, half a century ago, was but little 

 better than a great morass. Nor did the Pontine 

 Marshes surpass it much in the extent and vio- 

 lence of hs autumnal diseases. But time and labor 

 have converted it into meadows, fields and gar- 

 dens, rich in the products of several kinds of cul- 

 tivation. Nor does it flourish more in vegetation 

 than in health. Its population is now dense. Such 

 is the happy result of draining, banking and plan- 

 ting." 1 am fully persuaded that our own city 

 may be extended, by pursuing the same process 

 on the neck, which in many places is so liable to 

 fever, owing almost entirely to their being so per- 

 fectly neglected, especially as regards draining. 



Hoping that these remarks may be interesting 

 to many of your readers, 



1 remain yours, truly, 



W. G. Ramsay, M. D. 



ON THE EFFECT OF WATER IN THE AGRICUL- 

 TURE OF ITAI^Y. 



By John Symoixds, L. L. D. Professor of Mo- 

 dern Hisiory in the University of Cambridge. 



Fioni the Annals of Agriculture. 



The favorable reception which my former paper 

 has met with among those to whose judgment I 

 pay the highest deference, has encouraged me to 

 range in order my observations upon the agricul- 

 ture of Italy, and to offer the result of them to the 

 public. As the subject of this inquiry has not 

 professedly been treated by any of our voyage- 

 . writers, it may fairly be presumed, that the reader 

 will be disposed to examine it with candor. Every 

 man who has investigated the course of husban- 

 dry in the country in which he resides, must ne- 

 cessarily have found himself often embarrassed ; 

 not only on account of the different modes of cul- 

 ture which prevail in different parts, but because 

 the very persons upon whose inlbrmation he relies, 

 are frequently induced to disguise the truth, out of 

 crafty and interested views. But, beside these 

 circumstances, which are common to the Italians 

 as well as to the English, there is a peculiar ob- 

 stacle with which a foreigner hns to struggle, in 

 searching into the husbandry of Italy ; ririean, 



the difficulty in understanding the language of the" 

 middle and lower classes of people, from whom 

 he must chiefly derive his knowledge. The rude 

 dialects in Italy do not var}' more in difl'erent go- 

 vernments, than in the provinces which belong to 

 the same government ; insomuch, that a man 

 may have acquired a competent knowledge of the 

 language in general, and yet be almost an utter 

 stranger to the terms, and to the jargon, which 

 are in common use among the peasants. It is 

 highly probable, that, notwithstanding my long 

 residence in Italy, I have frequently been deceived 

 myself; and, as I should be sorry to deceive 

 others by pledging the truth of facts which may 

 admit of doubt, it behooves me to declare, that I 

 do not take upon me to write a system of Italian 

 agriculture, but only an essay upon it; or rather 

 a series of remarks made upon the spot, and dis- 

 posed with all the exactness of which I am capa- 

 ble ; and, should they not meet with that approba- 

 tion to which an author naturally aspires, they 

 may, at least, be of use towards inciting others, 

 who have more leisure and experience, to enlarge 

 and improve the design. 



In order to explain myself wiih clearness and 

 precision, which is all that the reader can be prp- 

 pared to expect upon a subject of this kind, it will 

 be proper to point out the method which I intend 

 to observe. 



I. To examine the physical causes that facili- 

 tate or obstruct agriculture ; by which are to be 

 understood the rivers and torrents, the soil, the 

 climate, and the general face of ihe country. 



H. To consider the moral causes that in any 

 degree afl'ect it; by which, I mean, the nature of 

 the government, the distribution of justice, the 

 modes of taxation, and many other material cir- 

 cumstances that will offer themselves to our dis- 

 cussion under this head. 



II. To inquire into the price of labor, the course 

 of crops, the general system relating to manures, 

 and the culture of pariiculur plants ; in short, to 

 take a view of what properly constitutes the prac- 

 tice of the art. 



IV. To see what inferences may be drawn from 

 the facts above-mentioned, so as to enable us to 

 form a comparison between the ancient and mo- 

 dern agriculture. 



Were I to speak of the physical causes which 

 operate upon agriculture in other countries that 

 lie out of the neighborhood of high mountains, 1 

 should begin with examining the nature of the soil, 

 upon which the quality and value of the produce 

 almost entirely depend. But the case is diflerent 

 with several parts of Italy, where the soil itself 

 owes its existence to water, having been lurmed 

 by numberless particles of earth brought down 

 li-om time to time by streams and torrents. Thus, 

 in tlie Bolognese, one can scarcely dig lo the depth • 

 of !i ji'w (eet, without meeting with such kinds of 

 stones as are commonly found in torrents; which 

 naturally leads us to conclude, that the soil has 

 been brought to its present state by the gradual in- 

 crease of successive ages. The same, indeed, 

 may be observed of the whole plain of Lombardy, 

 which may properly be called the gift of rivers ; 

 just as Egypt was denominated, in ancient times, 

 the gift of the Nile. It is also manili^st, that the 

 vallies in Tuscany have either been entirely formed, 

 or greatly altered, by the iniindations of rivers and 

 torrents. Add to this, that the constant supply of 



