288 Farmers^ Miscdlany. [April, 



for the meadows he is paid in money. Part of the tools also be- 

 long to the proprietor. The farmers are in general very poor. 

 The landed proprietors are rich. In the Appenines and a part of 

 the Genoese territories, the peasants are proprietors, but their 

 wealth consists in chesnuts, sheep, and olives. Wheat, maize, 

 and other grains, rice, beans, and tobacco, are cultivated. Ex- 

 cellent grasses are raised, but the making of wine is not well 

 understood. The olive is cultivated along the coast, and Genoa 

 is productive in oil. Piedmont raises annually 20,000 cwt. of 

 silk. 



LOMBARDY. 



Climate and Face of the CGuntry. — The country is for the 

 most part level, but towards the north is broken by spurs of the 

 Alps. To the west of Padua are the Euganean hills, from 1,500 

 to 1,800 feet high, of volcanic origin. The climate is mild and 

 healthy ; near the Alps it is cold, and even in the other parts the 

 rivers are sometimes frozen in w^inter, and the southern plants are 

 injured by frost. The heats of summer are tempered by refresh- 

 ing breezes from the Alps. 



Soil. — Lombardy is a level country and consists entirely of an 

 alluvial plain, with one of the richest soils in the world. Near 

 the mountains gravel is mixed with the earth, but almost the 

 whole tract is composed of a deep black mould. 



Agriculture. — Agriculture is the chief dependence of the in- 

 habitants, but the implements and operations of husbandry are 

 very imperfect. The artificial irrigation of lands is a striking 

 feature of agriculture in Lombardy; the canals for this purpose 

 are very numerous, and water is thus employed for grass and corn 

 lands and vineyards, and also to flood lands sown with rice. It 

 is also used, when charged with mud, for depositing a layer of 

 manure. The lands in Lombardy are generally farmed on the 

 metayer or half-profit system. The landlord pays the taxes and 

 keeps the buildings in repair, while the tenant provides the cattle, 

 implements and seeds, and cultivates the ground, and the produce 

 is equally divided. 



