Variation in the Price and Supply of Wheat. 
229 
from some of the hitjli villnses on the slopes of Mount Etna, and it was thought 
that by securing such for this season of 18G7 a decent crop of cocoons might 
be obtained. From practical attempts made, however, at Gazzi to rear some 
worms from these eijgs, there is much cause to doubt the I'uture success of 
those who purchased cocoons in those villages, at fabulous prices, for the pur- 
pose of securing eggs to be produced under their own surveillance. 
A retrospective view of tlie gradual falling off of the silk culture in this 
island amidst the difficult substitution of other races, is far from offering a fair 
jirospcct for the future, and especially so when it is considered that the black 
mulberry leaf is so little adapted as food for the Japan and China races of 
worms. The cultivation of the white mulberry -tree may be considered an 
exceptional one in Sicily, but, as the black mulberr}' is liable to disease, it is 
to be hoped it will be replaced by the white, or, still better, by the Chinese, 
which is easily propagated, does not require grafting, and is soon productive 
after the cuttings are planted. 
SICILY. Report by Mk. Consul Goodwin, May 20th, 1862.— The * 
computed area of Sicily (six and a half millions of acres) contains one 
and a half million of arable land, one and a half million of wastes and pas- 
tures, besides one and a half million of vineyards, olive-grounds, orchards, 
and gardens. The annual crop of corn is estimated at above two millions of 
quarters, and the produce of the vine at two hundred thousand pipes. The 
oil crop yields twelve thousand tuns of oil, and the produce of the shumac leaf 
comes to thirty thousand tuns a year. The net rental of the surface is valued 
at about 2,750,000?. sterling. Population taken at 2,250,000. The agri- 
culturists consist of yeomen and peasants ; the former are mostly middle men 
between the landlord and tenant, the latter are either quit-renters or co- partners 
with the landlord. The middle-man farms a piece of land, the greater part of 
which he keeps in hand ; the quit-renters hold small patches of ground on 
heritable leases, renewable for ever. Servants in husbandry are hired by the 
day, the month, and the year. The day labourer earns about a shilling a day, 
receiving fourpence in money and eightpcnce in food. From April until June 
the labourers work from 4 a.m. until 8 a.m., from 9 a.m. until noon, and from 
3 P.M. until simset. During the harvest months of July and August they 
work about twelve hours a day, and from September until March about ten. 
The miners, amounting to thirty thousand men, work six or seven hours a day 
during 250 days in the year, and earn from Is. %d. to 2s. a day. The 
ordinary wages of coopers, masons, and riggers of vessels, are from 10?. to 40?. 
a year. 
The provisions of the working classes are whcaten bread of the coarser kind, 
which costs about a penny a pound ; flat beans or onions, which cost about a 
halfpenny a pound ; and olive oil, which costs about 4s. a gallon. Unbrandied 
wine, which costs about Is. 4'i. a gallon, is too dear for common use. Instead 
of butchers' meat, the price of which is high, salt fish is largely consumed ; 
and for salt fish itself, the common sirbstitutes, chiefly in towns, are maccaroni 
and toasted cheese. 
To conclude, the King of Italy possesses, in the position of Sicily, the 
fertility of its soil and the richness of its veins, a permanent source of wealth, 
which, wisely administered, would not fail to raise Sicily shortly to un- 
exampled prosperity. It rests with Victor Emmanuel to make Sicily the 
greatest exporter in Southern Europe of raw and prepared produce, by canying 
out the already adopted principles of free-trade to their full extent in all 
branches of industry. 
1864. — The progress of the western provinces, those of Palermo, Trapani, 
and Girgenti, has been checked by local disturbance. Travellers have been 
stopped and robbed, and horses and cattle, and produce of all kinds, have 
been carried oft' by liberated convicts and fugitives from the conscription. 
