ITALY. 



365 



H..-. 



Sutit;. during summer to take shelter within the walls from 

 - .-^ the noxious atmosphere of the adjoining country. The 

 city itself N not free from the evil, ami even its more 

 elevated situations have begun to experience the influ- 

 ence of this spreading insalubrity. To this increasing 

 action of the mal-aria, the diminished population of 

 Rome during the last '20 years is, in the opinion of 

 Chateauvieux, to be in a great measure ascribed ; and 

 the most fatal consequences must attend its farther pro- 

 gress. The real cause of this evil has hitherto escaped 

 all research, and has been ascribed to the pestilential 

 air of the stagnant marshes, or the exhalations of a vol- 

 canic soil But it is not confined to the places more 

 immediately exposed to such influences ; and is found 

 to increase with the diminution of the population, and 

 the decay of cultivation. It appears to have been felt 

 in the times of the Roman republic, but to have been 

 limited to a few inconsiderable spots. The destruction 

 of the Roman empire, the abolition of slavery by the 

 influence of Christianity, the translation nf the seat of 

 government to Constantinople, by diminishing the cul- 

 tivation of the surrounding country, are supposed to 

 have occasioned that neglected state of the soil which 

 produces the mal-aria ; while the influence of the evil 

 itself is gradually augmenting the cause, depopulating 

 the fields, and leaving the soil to fall back into its na- 

 turally rank and humid state. It has, at the same 

 time, been observed, Hurt much of the sickness is occa- 

 sioned by the peasantry, employed in these regions, 

 lsmJM on the ground during the night season, and 

 neglecting to protect themselves from the sudden tran- 

 sition of the atmosphere, from the heat of the day to 

 the chill of the evening ; and that, if the lands were 

 portioned out in small farms, proper houses built for 

 the cultivator*, ami prudent precautions used during 

 the unwholsome season, the Maremma might again be 

 brought into tillage, and covered with inhabitant*. 



Soil and Agriculture. 



In describing the soil and agriculture of Italy, it has 

 been divided into three regions, each of which is distin- 

 guished by some prevailing features of husbandry ; and 

 which respectively excel in grain, fruits, or pasturage. 

 J* *" The first, or principal com-countrv, is that of Lombardy, 

 or the great plain traversed by thePo. and already descri- 

 bed, as to it* boundaries, in the account of the different 

 climates nf Italy. This tract is, without doubt, one of 

 <>-t fertile on the face of the earth ; but not more 

 in consequence of natural advantages than of human 

 industry. The soil, which reaches to an unknown 

 depth, is entirely allu . ; il, and consists of a black fer- 

 tile mould, which is gradually more mixed with gravel, 

 and that of larger rise, a* it approaches the moun- 

 tains. The principal labour of the cultivators consist* 

 in the use of irrigation, a practice which the number 

 of rivers flowing with great regularity from the lakes 

 at th foot of the Alps renders peculiarly applicable, 

 and which the inhabitant* have j> ipiul 



nor skill in carrying into -effect. Where the fields are 

 of considerable extent, two principal canals m 

 opened on different levels ; the first of which, called 

 the (inn, or canal nf irrigxtion, receives thr wati-r from 

 the river, so as to rrach the liighert of the fit-Ids, and 

 distributes its contents on all sides by a multii 

 inferior branche* ; HIV I the second, called the Scolo, or 

 canal of discharge, beginning from the level of the 

 lowest grounds, Carrie* off the water after it has passed 

 through the fields, and conduct* it into the river at a 



lower part of its course. The country between Lodi StatistiM. 

 and Cremona is the richest part of these beautiful plains, V "~""Y~'^ 

 where the soil is peculiarly fertile, and the irrigation 

 most perfect. This fertility admits of the land being 

 greatly subdivided ; and a farm of sixty English acres 

 is accounted large. These farms are laid out in fields 

 of two or three acres, by rows of poplars, which gives 

 the appearance of a wooded country ; and in most of 

 them pasturage is preferred to the culture of grain. 

 The grass is chiefly clover, which is cut four times a- 

 year, and serves for the food of the cows, from whose 

 milk is prepared the celebrated Parmesan cheese. The 

 cows are fed in the house with tv.-o of the crops cut 

 green in summer, and the other two in winter made 

 into hay. It is only during a few weeks in autumn 

 that they are turned out to eat up the last shoots of the 

 pasture. As it requires the milk of at least fifty cows 

 to make the Parmesan cheese, the farmers of a district 

 frequently unite their dairies for this purpose, and af- 

 terwards divide the profits in proportion to the quanti- 

 ty of milk supplied by their respective herds. Upon a 

 farm of 100 acres, SO of which are ploughed and 70 

 under grass, a farmer will maintain 100 cows, besides 

 a few cattle for, draught, and generally values his pas- 

 ture lands at double the rate of those under corn. In 

 these pastures the soil receives a top-dressing of dung 

 every three years, as the irrigation would otherwise 

 injure the quality of the grass ; but, in the course of 

 fifteen yenrs, it becomes necessary to rer.ew the herb- 

 age. The sluices are then shut, the ground ploughed 

 in the autumn, and sown with hemp in the following 

 spring. A course of cropping next succeeds, in the 

 following order, forming a rotation of twenty years. 



1 st year, Hemp, followed by legumes. 



8d . . . Oats, which grow to the height of six or 



seven feet 



3d ... Wheat, followed by legume*. 

 4th ... Maize. 

 . r .th . . . Wheat. 



6th, and 14 following years, grass dunged every 

 three years, and the grass cut four times a-year. 



But with all this fertility of soil, ease of cropping, 

 and favourable climate, the land of this finest district 

 of Italy, according to a computation by M. Chateau- 

 vieux, with every allowance for the relative value of 

 money, does not seem to yield above 3, 18s. an acre ; 

 which would imply considerable deficiency in the agri- 

 cultural management. A greater produce is raised by Rice fields. 

 the culture of rice in the more level plains, where there 

 is not a sufficient declivity to admit the ordinary pro- 

 ceas of irrigation. The ground, after receiving, a single 

 furrow, is -own with the rice, and when the plant is a 

 few inches above the surface, the fields are laid entirely 

 under water to the depth of several inches; in which 

 state they remain till the crop be nearly ripe. After 

 uccessive crops without any manure, the ground 

 is left without culture, and dung is spread upon the 

 crop of plants which naturally spring from the soil. 

 '1 hi- produces an abundant, but infenor kind of grass, 

 which is cut for two successive years, when the 

 ground is ploughed, and the rice crops succeed as 

 before. The profit of these rice crops is so great, be- 

 ing three times that of corn, that the proprietors let 

 them at separate rent, about 5, 6s. per acre, and 

 the f.::mers nevertheless usually acquire large for- 

 tunes. But the stagnation of so much water in a hot 

 climate, renders this specie* of husbandry so fatal to the 



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