ITALY. 



367 



!..- rtssi 

 of afrricul- 

 Sue in the 



.0-.... 



* shepherds, who remove to the hilly or level districts 

 < ""~i-^' according to the seasons ; and a few sickly labourers, 

 who remain only as long as the sowing an 1 r.-apiii of 

 the crops require their presence. In the '. 



;., 400,000 sheep, 30,000 horses, and a vast num- 

 ber of cows and goats are annually reared for the sup- 

 ply of the Valdamo, and other vales of Tuscany, where 

 no cattle are bred. 



In the south of Italy the state of agriculture is as 

 low as can well be conceived, and even the wealthiest 

 proprietors are both ignorant of the subject, and in- 

 different about any attempts fur its improvement 

 Throughout the whole realm of Naples, every kind of 

 agricultural production is indebted to the ffiildncss of 

 tile climate, and the fertility of the soil, rather than to 

 the industry and skill of the inhabitants. They have 

 no idea of the proper management of land, especially 

 in the application of manure, and the sowing of artifi- 

 cial grasses ; and, except in the districts, where wine, 

 oil, and almonds are produced, the uniform round of 

 husbandry consists in sowing corn, as long as the land 

 will yield a .crop, and then letting it lie tallow, or ra- 

 ther in natural grass, to recover its exhausted powers. 

 Even the most ordinary attention to the nature of the 

 soil is often omitted .in laying it under crop ; and in 

 many towns and villages, the usual order of cultiva- 

 tion, namely, gardens in the nearest grounds, then or- 

 chards, then olive-grounds, then vineyards, then na- 

 tural pastures, is pertinaciously followed, though it 

 should even happen that the nature of the soil was 

 such, as to require the very reverse of such an arrange- 

 ment. The grains most frequently sown are wheat, 

 barley, Indian corn, and pulse ; but not one half of 

 what might easily be raised ; and for every ten persons 

 employed in the culture of corn, it is calculated that 

 twenty are occupied in that of the grape. These two 

 kinds of produce also are greatly mixed together, 

 nnd poplin are planted in rows for the .support 

 of the vines, and between these rows are sown corn 

 and pule, without any fallow ; but lometimes, to pre- 

 :.'ie land from being exhaiifted, early crops of lu- 

 pins and beans are put in, which are hoed up before 

 coming to fruit, and buried under the surface by 

 of manure. Yet, though the husbandry is so slovenly, 

 and the horticulture almost equally superficial, every 

 production is found in the highest perfection, mid 

 greatest abundance ; and, in >ome places, the fields 

 are so fertile as to yield three crops in one year; 

 namely, beans, Turkey-wheat, and brocoli, or some 

 nimilar vegetable, which grows through the winter. 



nnent to agricultural improve- 

 territorie*, that every kind of 



ive animal*, and even the sheep, 

 'red still more 



foe mode in which it is col- 



r i r 



It is no small 

 ment in r 

 stock and produc 

 are subj*< 

 injurious by the 

 lee - 



nu The implements of husbandry in Italy are every 

 where of a rude construction. Even in I-ombardy, 

 the waggon is one of the clumiet vehicles possible, 

 being raised like a high scaffold above four small 

 wheels and drawn by means of an elevated pole, un- 

 der which the oxen are yoked in a very uneasy man- 

 ner. The ploujfh is constructed in a very awkward 

 style, *nd in despite of all the known principles of 

 mechanics. The Handles are of unequal lengths, and 

 both so very short, that the ploughman, having no 



lever to assist him, is forced to bend much forwards, Statistics. 



and to use all his weight to keep the share from enter- v v""*' 



ing too deep into the ground. Oxen are uniformly 



employed by the farmers, both in the plough and 



waggon; and horses used only for riding to market 



and church, or for drawing a small provision cart, or 



other family conveyance. In many places, especially 



in small inclosures, most of the work is done by the 



spade and hoe. The grain is separated from the straw 



in many places, by the trampling of cattle, which are 



tied in a string, and whipped round and round till the 



operation be finished. In the Terra di Otranto, it is 



done by two oxen dragging between them a heavy 



rough stone, which breaks the sheaves and shakes out 



the com. 



The operations and productions of agriculture are ARricultu- 

 so various in different parts of Italy, that no general ral P toduce ' 

 description can be given, which would be nearly ap- 

 plicable to (he whole country, especially to the south- 

 ern districts. A few of the prevailing objects and 

 modes of culture may, however, be cursorily mention- 

 ed, in addition to those already detailed. 



Rice is cultivated in man}' of the marshy districts of Rice, 

 the south, especially around Salerno, and in the fertile 

 vale of Diano; l>ut its cultivation always adds to the 

 insalubrity of the place ; and, while it enriches the 

 trading inhabitant of the city, usually shortens the life 

 of the industrious peasant. 



Rye is sown in many grounds of Calabria, whose Rye. 

 elevated situation renders them too cold for wheat. Its 

 introduction is ascribed to Charles V., who observed in 

 his progress through the province so many lands lying 

 waste from the want of a crop suitable to their tem- 

 perature, and ordered a more hardy species of grain to 

 be imported from the north : I Icnce the natives dis- 

 tinguish it by the name of Germano. 



Slillet grows to great perfection in the more humid Millet. 

 soils, and particularly in the vicinity of Nocera. 



. and hemp, which grow to a great height in so Flax, 

 fertile a soil, are cultivated in many parts of Italy, 

 but especially at Bologna, Reggio, ancf Cape Leuca ; 

 at which last mentioned place appears to be 



the principal object of the cultivator, and is a principal 

 article of exjwrtation to Venice and Trieste. 



Cotton is very generally ru^ed, and with great profit, Cotton. 

 through the whole province of Otranto, Dot particu- 

 larly around the city of Taranto, where the soil, light 

 and somewhat swampy, appears to be peculiarly fa- 

 vourable for its cultivation. It is the shrubby kind 

 that is cultivated, which, when fully grown, resembles 

 the raspberry plant.' When the ground is designed 

 tor cotton, it is carefully ploughed, and sometimes dug 

 with the spade, after harvest, or repeatedly tilled be- 

 tween January and April, and the more it is treated 

 like garden ground, the surer is its produce. It is well 

 manured before the seed is sown in the end of March, 

 or beginning of April, and neatly dressed in flat narrow 

 ridges. As soon as the plants arc four fingers high, 

 thry are thinned to the width of eight inches, and the 

 ground carefully howl, to eradicate the weeds. When 

 they are eight or nine inches high, two inches are 

 broken off from the tops, that the growth of the leaves and 

 stalks may be checked, and a greater portion of blossoms 

 produced. About the end of September the pods begin to 

 l>nr-t, and from that time the cotton harvest continues 

 to the end of October, the women being daily employ- 



TbMrac rauoo tret, CnufptaN tbortum, gwwi alto around Tvuto, u>d bean much larger pod* than the cotton plant, which fur- 

 milk dtubk dw qwMitr of cotion ; but it i* of * cotncr qualii jr, and bring* a very inferior price. 



