68 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, 



which affords a trifling export, and of Wallachia and 

 Moldavia that supply the Turkish fleet with cord- 

 age, none of these countries produce it in sufficient 

 abundance for their own consumption. Among the 

 Italian states the kingdom of Naples is very pro~ 

 ductive of this useful vegetable substance. 



A very considerable quantity is grown in the Terra 

 di Lavoro and the districts in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the capital of that kingdom. In 1827 

 there were many fields of immense extent lying a 

 little in the rear of the swampy shore, that expends 

 between the mouth of the river Volturnus and Cape 

 Misenum, devoted to this produce. On account of 

 the very disagreeable effluvia proceeding from the 

 hemp while macerating, and from an idea that it is 

 noxious both to the water and the atmosphere, the 

 Neapolitan government has appointed the Lago 

 d'Agnano (a small lake beautifully situated, about a 

 mile in circumference, and between three and four 

 miles from the city of Naples) for this purpose; nor 

 are the growers allowed to steep their hemp in any 

 other place. Those who happen to raise the plant 

 in thinly inhabited places where there is water at 

 hand, as near the swampy shore we have mentioned, 

 put it through the process of maceration on the spot; 

 but the prohibition by law extends to all places 

 within a circuit of many miles, except the Lago 

 d'Agnano. To reach that lake the greater part of 

 the hemp has to pass through the city of Naples, and 

 as the cars on which it is transported are of great 

 magnitude, and many streets of the capital are 

 narrow, and all of them crowded, the cars are not 

 permitted to enter the town until one or two hours 

 after midnight. Every person who has resided at 

 Naples during the summer must have been made 

 sensible of the very considerable quantity of hemp 

 grown in the neighbourhood, by seeing, day after 



