Italian Lrigation. 
189 
water may claim the same right of passage through a neighbour- 
ing estate for a second or third application, as it originally enjoyed 
when issuing from the canal. 
XI. — The Tenure of Land, and the " Consegna,^'' or Lease. 
Improved farming has found in Italy its natural, if not neces- 
sary attendant, in the improved tenure of the land. On irrigated 
farms, requiring tenants of capital and intelligence, a money rent 
and a lease for nine to eighteen years has generally superseded 
the older affitto a mczzadria, under which the produce was 
divided between landlord and tenant. 
Under the older tenure the proprietor is bound to deliver over 
the farm in a good state for culture, to bear the expense of 
breaking up uncultivated lands, and to prune and keep up the 
plantations of mulberry, &c. The cultivator does all the labour ; 
pays for half the wood required for vineyards ; provides half the 
silkworm seed ; furnishes straw in small quantities ; gives his 
labour, when required, at a rate fixed in the contract ; and pays a 
rent for the dwelling. As the cattle are generally his property, 
he receives the whole profit derived from them, as well as the 
manure; the procseds of the poultry-yard and kitchen garden 
are likewise his. He is bound to deliver the whole of the other 
products of the farm into the granaries of the proprietor, receiving 
credit for the half of their value, or whatever different proportion 
may have been agreed upon. 
The complications and disagreements arising out of this tenure 
have led to a modification of it, termed affitto a grano, " by 
which the cultivator is bound to deliver into the granaries of the 
proprietor a fixed quantity of wheat, varying from 14 to 20 
bushels for each acre under cultivation, all the other products of 
the soil remaining at his disposal. The produce of the planta- 
tions, whether vines or mulberries, belongs to the proprietor, who 
gives the cultivator credit for half their value ; the minor arrange- 
ments are generally the same as in the affitto a mezzadria^ 
This change is attended by the serious drawback that the 
tenant is thus constrained to have nearly two-thirds of his farm 
in wheat. But the more modern affitto a denaro — money-rent — 
with its attendant consegna, or valuation, is now preferred in irri- 
gated districts, and on the larger estates belonging to the Church, 
the hospitals, or the communes, or to private landowners, espe- 
cially minors ; and of this improvement the Lombards are justly 
proud. The tenant, besides paying his rent, generally covenants 
to add to the plantations, make certain improvements, and furnish 
some small supplies, such as rice, poultry, &c., in kind. Of 
the consegna, Colonel Baird Smith writes as follows : " Prepa- 
