AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 211 



worn out lands. The farmers on the Rliine and in tlie dells of 

 Tyroll make much compost from leaves of leguminous plants. 

 The rich and broad leaves of many leguminous plants seem to 

 have been formed for a country opened to the rays of a burning 

 sun, and where a crowded population and clear soil require a 

 rapid rotation of crops, there cannot be a more available store to 

 enrich land. Here again, reader, we have another exhibition of 

 the untiring efforts of man to pay that debt which he owes to the 

 most generous benefactress. 



Maize is a favorite grain among the laboring population. It 

 grows well even at the foot of the Alps, and contributes the 

 great article of human food. It is not usual to plant it as we do 

 in the United States, but it is sown in drills, and kept clear of 

 weeds and highly manured. The harvest of this noble crop 

 causes as much joy to the peasant, as the harvest home among the 

 Forth American Indians. The Neapolitan olfers prayers to the 

 Virgin, who is thought to be the peculiar protectress of the Indian 

 corn, as the goddess Ceres was the patroness of Roman tillage, 

 whose altars smoked with the fruits of the field. At this yearly 

 festival the whole family group gather under the shade of a 

 venerable elm, from which hangs clusters of the grape mingled 

 with sweet viands and delicious fruits, wliich give a repast that 

 kings might envy ! This joyous occasion ends in a dance, in 

 which the young and old join in treading the lightsome maze. 

 But the Italian does not know the worth of this valuable cereal 

 in domestic cookery, or as food for animals. The blades and silk 

 afford a sweet fodder for the milch cow, and when the earth is 

 parched up by the summer heat, it is in a green state, and ex- 

 ceedingly sought after by all neat cattle and otlier domestic ani- 

 mals. Barley, and the various kinds of millets, often have a 

 place in the course of husbandry, and have from time immemorial 

 been reckoned a great staple. They only constitute a part of the 

 food of the lowest classes, such as the starved beggar, but are 

 largely consumed by poultry and other domestic animals. Malt- 

 ing is unknown. The Italians consume but little beer. 



Rice grows abundantly in Lombardy. It is alternated by cer- 

 tain coarse grasses. The grain is not equal to that which is raised 

 on the Western continent, still it finds way into domestic use, 

 and is not disliked by the agricultural population. The rice crop 

 in Northern Italy surpasses every thing of the kind found in the 

 basin of the Mediterranean. Leguminous plants, which, under 

 different names, such as fabea, bean, pisum, pea, lens, lentil, or 



