212 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



the pulmentarium of the frugal Romans, is no longer the food of 

 their degenerate sons. Some of these vegetables may occasion- 

 ally be found on the table of the wealthy, or the forlorn hope 

 of starving peasants. These simple lentiles are mostly consumed 

 by the domestic animals. 



We have said that Italy has great capacity to grow the different 

 classes of plants. Oleaginous seeds were introduced long before 

 the days of the Emperor Augustus, and they still constitute a 

 part of the crops of the country. Patches of colza, rape (Brassica 

 rapa) and poppy, are frequently to be met with here. .Hemp 

 grows well in the neighborhood of the Adriatic sea, and the sail- 

 cloth and cordage formed from it is justly esteemed for toughness 

 and durability. Flax, that which is reared in the vicinity of 

 Bologna, is of superior quality, fine and silky, and grown in the 

 same country, notwithstanding an ancient prejudice that it is a great 

 exhauster of land. It thrives well, and no crop raised by the 

 former is better to purge the soil of foul weeds, and make it mel- 

 low and porous. During the last half century, some attempts 

 have been made to introduce a better mode of raising both hemp 

 and flax, but on a very limited scale. It is a fact, the great 

 operations of rural economy are brought about in Italy by a sys- 

 tem of routine laid down by the old Roman writers, without any 

 knowledge of chemistry, and vegetable economy, and it is pleasing 

 to see in what veneration the philosophers and poets that once 

 lived in this land, are held by the present generation, notwith- 

 standing the darkness and ignorance that brood over this doomed 

 country. Their j)recepts are the oracles of the day, and will sur- 

 vive the monumental brass and solid marble that was no vain 

 boast of one of her elegant poets, that he should live so long as 

 man delights in the beauties of nature and monuments of art. 

 The grasses that grow after the rice, wliich you know must be on 

 moist ground, or where the dampness of summer compensates for 

 the moisture, but not here without irrigation, is long and coarse. 

 Lucerne, the medica Vorro, is a deep rooted perennial, and the 

 delight of neat cattle. Flesh-colored clover (trifolium incarna- 

 tum) grows quite common on this side of the Apennines. There 

 is another clover sown soon after taking oif the wheat crop, 

 which I believe is an annual. This yields a sweet bite for do- 

 mestic stock. Few grasses are better for milch cows. It is a 

 rapid grower, and meets with great favor among the Italian 

 graziers, who require so much green succulent food in the fore 



