NOTES  OF  TRAVEL  IN  EUROPE. 
27 
When  at  the  crater  of  Vesuvius  a  number  of  men  were  engaged  just  within 
the  southern  edge,  gathering  sulphur  into  bags,  which,  when  filled,  are 
strung  across  a  pole  and  carried  by  two  men  to  the  place  of  descent  on 
the  northern  edge  ;  there  they  are  dragged  down  on  the  volcanic  ashes  and, 
at  the  base  of  the  cone,  are  loaded  on  mules,  panier  fashion,  and  transported 
to  the  coast.  On  inquiry  it  proved  to  be  very  impure,  and  used  only  for 
the  vine  disease,  Oidium  Tuckeri,  for  which  sulphur  appears  to  be  the  best 
remedy.  The  best  sulphur  used  here  comes  from  Sicily,  Olive  oil  is  made 
at  Sorrento  and  other  places  near,  but  the  greatest  production  is  atOtranto 
and  Bari,  to  the  south-east,  and  especially  near  Gallipoli.  The  annual 
product  of  Southern  Italy  is  about  35,000  tuns.  It  is  said  that  about 
two-thirds  of  the  soil  in  the  previous  named  districts  is  devoted  to  the  olive. 
It  is  propagated  several  ways,  but  most  successfully  by  slips  grafted  on  the 
wild  olive,  requiring  ten  years  to  come  in  bearing,  and  then,  with  cave,  lives 
centuries.  The  tree  blooms  in  June,  and  ripens  from  October  to  Decem- 
ber. Mr.  Kernot  gave  me  a  specimen  of  very  good  fat  manna,  produced 
at  Salerno,  within  fifty  miles  of  Naples,  and  says  that  flake  manna,  small 
and  large,  comes  from  Sicily,  but  large  quantities  of  inferior  grades  are 
produced  in  Southern  Calabria,  and  probably  enters  commerce  through 
Messina  as  Sicilian.  The  finest  is  obtained  on  the  mountain  side  near 
Corigliano.  Oil  of  oranges  and  lemons,  I  was  informed,  is  made  in 
Calabria  and  Sicily,  in  three  ways  :  1st,  by  scraping  off  the  exterior  cel- 
lular tissue,  and  expressing  the  pulpy  mass.  2d,  by  grating  off  the  rind, 
pouring  on  it  hot  water,  which  causes  the  oil  to  separate  and  rise.  The 
pulp  is  then  depressed  beneath  the  surface,  and  the  oil,  after  it  collects, 
is  skimmed  off.  3d,  by  distillation.  When  at  Cork,  Mr.  Frank  Jennings 
informed  me,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  John  A.  Dix,  of  New  York,  that  the 
best  Sicily  oil  is  obtained  by  dextrously  wringing  the  rind  of  the  orange  so 
as  to  rupture  its  oil  cells  and  cause  their  contents  to  spirt  out,  the  operator 
holding  the  orange  within  a  cask.  As  the  drops  accumulate  they  run  down 
the  sides,  and  gather  at  the  bottom,  unmixed  with  any  foreign  matters. 
At  Naples  this  new  process  was  wholly  unknown.  Liquorice  is  not 
grown  for  commerce  near  Naples,  but  80  miles  south,  in  Calabria.  Mr. 
Kernot  says  that  the  brand  most  esteemed  there  is  Corigliano,  some  of 
which,  of  superior  quality,  he  gave  me  ;  then  Campagna,  Sallugra  and 
Barraco.  These  are  the  family  names  of  the  large  proprietors.  Perhaps 
the  most  is  grown  on  the  east  coast  of  Calabria,  as  at  Cotorne  Baron  Cam- 
pagna  alone  is  said  to  make  liquorice  paste  to  the  value  of  two  millions  of 
ducats  annually,  whilst  the  estates  of  the  Barraco  family  are  said  to  yield 
$750,000  annually.  I  have  observed  the  fact  in  New  Jersey,  that  the 
horizontal  roots  of  liquorice  keep  below  ordinary  garden  cultivation,  and 
after  the  ground  is  laid  out  for  vegetables  the  annual  shoots  appear  at 
random  in  the  beds.  In  Calabria  the  ground  is  given  at  the  same  time  to 
wheat  and  other  grains.  The  liquorice,  being  below  the  plow,  is  not 
injured,  and,  as  it  requires  several  years  to  attain  its  proper  magnitude, 
