298 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



covered with pines that supply the kingdom with la lasting honor upon the Carrarefi, whose lives 

 turpentine, pitch, and rosin ; and, as these trees | would have been truly laudable, if they had not 

 are the property of the crown, they are preserved < been sullied by acts of cruelty towards their aub- 

 wiih the utTiost care, and renewed as occasion re- jects the Paduuns. At Bologna there is a canal 

 quires; so that the rivers, which rise in such abun- 1 that is formed out of the Reno, and goes to Fer- 

 dance in the Sila, are prevented from sweeping rara; and from this city another conducts us to 

 away the soil and the stones from the mountain?, the Po ; and it is the same in regard to Mantua 

 However, it is evident, that these rivers, as well and Modena. It is certain, that Lombardy, from 

 as most of those which fall from the Appennines, the nature of its situation, is admirably calcula- 

 are of singular detriment upon another account ; ted to promote the purposes of husbandry, as well 

 for if they overflow the plains in ever so small a as of trade ; and though so great conveniences 

 degree in the spring or summer-time, they render j are not to be (bund in other parts of Italy, yet 

 the air unwholesome in this sultry climate. In j they have not been negligent in this particular, 

 my journey through Magna Graecia, in the mid- , The Lucchese have done their utmost to improve 

 die of April, I found a great part of it so infested their scanty territory, by making a canal to carry 

 with noxious vapors, that 1 could not sleep with | their commodities to Viareggo, the only sea-port 

 safety in many places. The same may be obser- | of which they are possessed ; and it is their mis- 

 ved of the plain in Apulia. In the road between fortune, and not their fault, that the canal extends 

 Foggia and Manii-edonia, we cross no other river ' no farther than seven miles ; tor so very steep a 

 but'^the Candelaro, which infects the whole neigh- ' mountain comeS^n the way, that they are forced 

 borhood, whenever it expends itself a little more I to carry every thing upon mules lor five milea 

 than usual ; and the Cervaro and Sancinaro, ; from Lucca. The Tuscans have not been defi- 

 between Foggia and Cerignoal, produce the i cient in the making of canals ; and some are to 

 same effects. It is only by three contemptible j be met with in the Neapolitian dominions, and in 

 streams that this vast level is watered ; a circum- 1 the Poe's territories which it would be tedious to 

 stance which shoMSS^'the peculiar propriety of the recite. 



expression of Horace* : 



JEt qua pauper aqua Daunus agrestium 

 Hegnavit populorum 



11. Under this head I shall briefly mention the 

 benefits which result from the rivers in Italy, as 

 far as they enable the inhabitants to make canals 

 lor the sake of inland navigation, and to flood their 

 lands. 



Notwithstanding the rapidity of the Po, the 

 cities and towns, seated upon the banks of it. ship 

 off their goods and manufactures for distant mark- 

 ets ; and, as one mouth of the Po, called the Por/o 

 di Gero, is always navigable, a constant passage 

 is opened into the Adriatic. Beside this, there are 

 communications between the Po and the principal 

 rivers that fall into it ; by which means every pro- 

 vince enjoys, in some measure, the advantages of 

 a maritime situation. As early as the 12th cen- 

 tury, the canal called the Naviglio grande, was 

 conducted from the Tesin as li^r as Abbiate ; and 

 was carried to Milan in the following century. 

 The Naviglio della MarUf^ana was begun by 

 Francis Slbrza in the year 1457, being a cut from 

 the Adda ; and, not long atier, was brought to 

 Milan by the celebrated Lionardo da Vinci. 

 These canals are joined to a third which leads to 

 ^the Po ; so that Milan, though an inland city, is 

 'possessed of the chiefadvantage that can promote 

 commerce or agriculture. There is a canal made 

 out of the Serio m the province of Bergamo ; and 

 another likewise out of the Chiese in the Brescian, 

 which forms a communication with the Po. But 

 of all the provincial cities in Lombardy, Padua is 

 the most conveniently situate in this respect: there 

 are no less than seven canals that run through it ; 

 insomuch, that one may go by water to a great 

 part of the neighborhood ; and there is scarcely 

 a farm in the whole territory that is more than 

 four miles distant from a navigable stream; and it 

 is farther to be remarked, that the canals have a 

 communication with the Adriatic, as they are 

 joined to the Brenta. These noble works reflect 



' " Od. XXX. lib. 3 -v. xi. 



As to the flooding of lands, the second point 

 which I proposed to speak olj we have undoubted 

 reason to imagine, that it was practised by the an- 

 cient Romans ; lor, not to mention what has been 

 said by Virgil and Columella upon this head, we 

 have an opportunity of seeing two conduits near 

 Terni, which were evidently used for this purpose; 

 and of which the present inhabitants avail them- 

 selves to the singular benefit of that delicious vale. 

 It is impossible to determine the precise time 

 when this practice went into disuse; but it is pro- 

 bable, that it happened in the fourth century, 

 when most of the useful, as well as elegant arts, 

 were neglected and despised. Those who enter- 

 tain no other ideas of the Goths, but such as ex- 

 press horror and desolation, will be surprised to 

 find, that the revival of this branch of husbandry 

 is to be ascribed to a Goth alone. Theodoric, the 

 first of those Gothic princes wfto reigned in Italy, 

 shewed a remarkable attention to the establish- 

 ment of civil polity, and to the preservation of 

 Rqman buildings ; nor did lie disdain to turn his 

 thoughts towards improvements in agriculture. 

 1 The encouragement which he gave to drain the 

 Pontine marshes, indisputably evinces this /iict. 

 But we need no other proof than his letter to 

 Apronianus, wherein he orders, that a public sli- 

 I pend should be granted to an African, who had 

 I come to Rome to teach the method of watering 

 I lands.* The prosperity and reputation of Italy 

 sunk with Theodoric. The savage manners 'of 

 j the Lombards, and the series of rapine and devas- 



i * •'Masnitudinis vestrae relatione comperimus Aqui- 

 , legium lioraara venisse de partibus Africanis, ubi ars 

 I ipsa pro locorum siccitate magno studio semper exco- 

 fitiir, qui aridis locis aquas possit dare vernatiles, ut 

 beneficio sue habltari faciat loca, nimia sterilitate sic- 

 cata." Cassiod. Var. lib. iii. 53. Tfie whole letter 

 is very curious, though it enters too minutely into the 

 advantages of irrigations ; a proof, however, that they 

 were not practised in Italy. Cassiodorous was secie- 

 tary to Theodoric; and his twelve books, which con- 

 tain original letters and dispatches, respecting this 

 prince and his successord, are a most valuable body 

 of materials. 



