Gbe IRatfonal IRurseryman 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
Copyrighted 1908 by the National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated. 
Vol. XVI. ROCHESTER, N. Y., AUGUST, 1908 No 
EDITORIAL WANDERINGS IV. 
In passing through the great plain of Lombardy in 
winter, the traveller’s eye is caught by the regularity of the 
fields as outlined with great uniformity by the rows of 
sheared mulberry and poplar trees. The shearing of the 
trees accomplished a two-fold purpose. The fuel which the 
twigs and branches furnish is an important item while the 
diminishing of the top lessens the amount of shade thrown 
upon the surrounding crops. This custom of shearing 
trees in streets, squares, parks and public places is very 
general in northern Italy and parts of contiguous Switzer¬ 
land. The same purpose holds in each case. In winter, 
the trees look 
curiously contor¬ 
ted and gnarled 
but, in summer, 
the shade provid¬ 
ed is dense and 
grateful. 
In the cities 
around Lake Gen¬ 
eva a considerable 
revenue is derived 
from the sale of 
this faggot wood. 
This is an import¬ 
ant matter in 
many of the toy 
villages along 
lake and on 
mountain. The 
amount of wood 
wasted in one year by some New York farmers would 
keep some of these villagers in heating material for 
that length of time—such is their economy and 
thrift. In the wood yards, one finds faggots in neat 
bundles, the larger sticks on the outside with the twigs 
(like small apples in the center of the barrel) for “filler” in 
the middle. Charcoal and coke are found almost every¬ 
where in northern Italy and Switzerland. Charcoal is 
burned by the mountain peasants in the more inaccessible 
parts of the hills. It is brought down to the villages in 
huge sacks either on donkey’s backs or on the backs of men 
and sometimes women. The murkish looking men one 
comes across are these charcoal burners of the Riviera and 
Apennines. The loads they carry down are incredible. 
They certainly possess strength and endurance to a remark¬ 
able degree. What do they eat? Their diet is certainly 
simple; corn and wheat bread baked as hard as a brick, 
olive oil, macaroni and native wine. They are not meat 
eaters but they can “show the goods” when it comes to 
manual labor. 
Farm Labor in Italy. 
It is only when the traveller strays from the beaten 
track of the tourists and out among the people that the real 
conditions of living are revealed. It is not surprising that 
the United States and the South American countries are 
receiving thousands of Italians every year. The life of the 
farm laborer is 
not a happy one 
in most sections. 
His hours are 
from “sun up to 
sun down his 
master is exacting 
and his pay small. 
Think of it, in 
many parts the 
laborer gets not 
more than thirty 
cents a day (one 
and one half 
lire)! The highest 
I heard anywhere 
was three lire, 60 
cents, and the lab¬ 
orer who gets that 
boards himself. 
When in the vicinity of Rome in the latter part of May, 
we saw hundreds of haymakers on the Campagna swinging 
the short, heavy Roman scythe, raking, stacking or pitch¬ 
ing at two lire (40 cents) a day. Some of these laborers 
live in caves or dugouts in the soft volcanic rock of the 
region. This is the section where malaria has worked so 
viciously from time to time. But the field work is not by 
any means, all done by the men. The women are as active 
and efficient as the men and are found in the field, vine¬ 
yard, but more especially in the vegetable gardens where 
their patience and skill bring splendid results. 
As the manufacturing industries of Italy increase, the 
drift from country to city will strengthen while emigration 
to America will probably weaken. After a careful examina¬ 
tion of the habits of these people, I am not prepared to 
endorse the term “lazy Italians.” It does not apply in 
A Ligurian peasant at the Italian Riviera. Note the slow, Primitive method of plowing. Photo by J. Craig. 
