190 
Italian Irrigation. 
ratory to tlie entrance of the tenant, the proprietor appoints an 
engineer to make a most elaborate statistical survey and valua- 
tion of the farm, with all its fixtures and stock. This document, 
of which I have seen many examples, is a perfect record of the 
condition of the farm when the tenant receives it, and is locally 
termed the consegna. The tenant is at perfect liberty to associate 
an engineer of his own nomination with the party employed by 
the proprietor — a right which is frequently exercised. On my 
asking a friend, who had much experience in such matters, how 
possible disputes between the engineers were adjusted, his reply 
was, that the system had been so long established, and was now 
so thoroughly understood, that disputes were very rare indeed ; 
but that, when they did occur, the universal feeling in the pro- 
fession was to give the tenant the benefit of any doubts that 
might arise." In the consegna the engineer describes every field 
separately, indicating its position, form, size, cultivation, en- 
closures, living and dead, the canals, sluices, bridges, roads, 
paths, buildings, with all their furniture and fittings. The 
plantations of mulberry, &c,, are numbered tree by tree, and are 
divided into separate classes according to their quality and 
dimensions, each class having an established value. If at the 
termination of the lease, which varies from nine to eighteen 
years, the plantations have decreased, the tenant is debited with 
the value of the difference ; while, on the other hand, if they 
have increased, the value of this increase is placed to his 
credit. 
" When the period of this lease expires, the engineers are again 
summoned to frame another survey, which is termed the recon- 
segna. In this the same minute details are entered into as in the 
consegna. A comparison is then instituted between these two 
documents, and a hilancio, or balance-sheet, showing the differ- 
ences between them, is prepared. In this balance-sheet every 
deterioration and every amelioration are exibited, with the 
money-value placed upon them by the engineer : the tenant 
finds himself debited with the first and credited with the second, 
and has either to pay to or receive from his landlord certain 
sums, according to the results of his own administration of the 
farm he has held. The system works admirably. I found all 
parties, landlords and tenants, alike contented with it, and indeed 
proud of its existence among them. It maintains a very satis- 
factory state of feeling between the two classes ; for the tenant is 
encouraged to invest any capital he may have in improving the 
farm, being sure of receiving a just return for it, while the land- 
lord has his property permanently benefited by the labours of an 
intelligent and interested man. It constantly happens that leases 
are renewed term after term for successive generations." 
