56 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



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 

 pasture. On the two thousand three hundred rubbi, wliich remain in grass, I support 

 four thousand sheep, four hundred horses, and 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. 



810. Ml/ expenses " 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, superintendents, 

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

 and, in short, to the expense of moving the flocks, and to what, in large farms, are 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 cliiefs 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 prop " I average above five thousand piastres, besides five per cent 

 on the capital of my flocks. You see, then, that the 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.) 



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



312. Tlie farming on the volcanic soil, in the neighbourhood 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 Chateauvieux from a 

 Neapolitan metayer : 



3 1 3. 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 the 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 

 fertilise them. 



314. The 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 autumnal 

 crop, and serves to feed our cattle in the vrinter. We cultivate, in succession, melons, 

 between the rows of elms, wliich we carry to the city to sell ; after which we sow wheat. 

 When the wheat crop is taken oflT, 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, 

 interests 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. We often gather seven ears from one stalk of maize, and many of theni 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 neighbours, 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 wheat; after this second crop, we grow in the fields only vegetables of different 

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

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



