210 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



different sorts of grain are sown in succession, and occasionally a 

 meadow or pasture grassed makes up the fifth kind of production 

 in the order of succession. The land is tilled in many places 

 very neatly and a naked fallow is almost unknown. Where this 

 kind of husbandry is resorted to in order to restore an impover- 

 ished soil, you may know that the land has been cultivated by a 

 bad course of husbandry. 



Rest is often useful to land that has become foul with noxious 

 weeds, or worn out by a slovenly and cruel master. Time will 

 affect in a few years a great change in the condition of the soil, 

 and at least give it strength to grow a good crop. 



The soil, climate and market of Italy cannot invite the judi- 

 cious farmer to imitate the same kind of husbandry as that which 

 obtains in the British isles. 



Butcher's meat on the table of an Italian peasant is a luxury. 

 Butter will never be considered an indispensable dish when man 

 can find a purer and more healthful food in the berry of the 

 olive. The turnip and potato obtain no size, and it is in vain to 

 look for the success of root crops in that warm climate. 



Wheat is here sown in March and harvested in June. The pre- 

 paration of the ground for the crops is much better than could 

 be expected from the poor farming utensils. The soil is highly 

 enriched by manures scraped from every quarter and husbanded 

 with the greatest care. Warping or letting water deposit its mud, 

 rich in mold, impregnated with lime, or holding in solution 

 salts on alluvial lands, has been practiced from time immemorial 

 in Northern Italy. Liquid manures are in common use in the best 

 cultivated part of Italy. And it is to be hoped a false delicacy 

 will be laid aside among the enlightened American farmers, and this 

 much esteemed fertilizer take its place among oui- most valuable 

 manures. 



White Lupine or clover follows the wheat. This grass is very 

 valuable food for cattle. When the ground is very poor it is 

 turned under by the plow, and makes a very cheap manure 

 for the impoverished ground. 



Search the whole vegetable kingdom and you cannot find any- 

 thing that will compare with the white Lupine to restore an ex- 

 hausted soil. It will grow in any but calcarious and marly 

 ground. It strikes its root deep, far beyond the reach of other 

 plants, and hence it will thrive where most grasses have a sickly 

 growth, and unfetter the most stubborn soil. Where manure is 

 scarce and dear, it is the cheapest fertilizer to improve poor and 



