In describing the soil and agriculture of Italy, it has been divided into three regions, each of which is distin guished by some prevailing features of husbandry ; and which respectively excel in grain, fruits, or pasturage. The first, or principal corn-country, is that of Lombardy, or the great plain traversed by the Po, and already de scribed, as to its boundaries, in the account of the differ ent climates of Italy. This tract is, without doubt, one of the most fertile on the face of the earth; but not more in consequence of natural advantages than of human indus try. The soil, which reaches to an unknown depth, is en tirely alluvial, and consists of a black fertile mould, which is gradually more mixed with gravel, and that of a larger size, as it approaches the mountains. The principal labour of the cultivators consists in the use of irrigation, a practice which the number of rivers flowing with great regularity from the lakes at the foot of the Alps renders peculiarly applicable, and which the inhabitants have spared neither capital nor skill in carrying into effect. Where the fields are of considerable extent, two principal canals must he opened on different levels ; the first of which, called the Cora, or canal of irrigation, receives the water from the river, so as to reach the highest of the fields, and distributes its contents on all sides by a multi tude of inferior branches ; and the second, called the Scolo, or canal of discharge, beginning from the level of the lowest grounds, carries off the water after it has passed through the fields, and conducts it into the river at a lower part of its course. The country between Lodi and Cre mona is the richest part of these beautiful plains, where the soil is peculiarly fertile, and the irrigation most per fect. This fertility admits of the land being greatly sub divided; and a farm of sixty English acres is accounted large. These farms are laid out in fields of two or three acres, by rows of poplars, which gives the appearance of a wooded country ; and in most of them pasturage is pre ferred to the culture of grain. The grass is chiefly clover, which is cut four times a•ear, and serves for the food of the cows, from whose milk is prepared the cele brated Parmesan cheese. The cows arc fed in the house with two of the crops cut green in summer, and the other two in winter made into hay. It is only during a few weeks in autumn that they are turned out to eat up the last shoots of the pasture. As it requires the milk of at least fifty cows to make the Parmesan cheese, the farmers of a district frequently unite their dairies for this purpose, and afterwards divide the profits in proportion to the quan tity of milk supplied by their respective herds. Upon a farm of 100 acres, 30 of which are ploughed and 70 under grass, a farmer will maintain 100 cows, besides a few cat tle for draught, and generally values his pasture lands at double the rate of those under corn. In these pas tures the soil receives a top-dressing of dung every three years, as the irrigation would otherwise injure the quality of the grass ; but, in the course of fifteen years, it becomes necessary to renew the herbage. The sluices are then shut, the ground ploughed in the autumn, and sown with hemp in the following spring. A course of cropping next succeeds, in the following order, forming a rotation of twenty years.
1st year, Ilemp, followed by legumes.
2d . . . Oats, which grow to the height of six or seven feet.
3d . . . Wheat, followed by legumes.
4th . . Maize.
5th .. Wheat.
Gth, and 14 following years, grass lunged every three years, and the grass cut four times a-year.
But with all this fertility of soil, case of cropping, and favourable climate, the land of this finest district of Italy, according to a computation by M. Chateauvieux, with every allowance for the relative value of money, does not seem to yield above 3/. 18s. an acre ; which would imply considerable deficiency in the agricultural management. A greater produce is raised by the culture of t ice in the more level plains, where there is not a sufficient declivity to admit the ordinary process of irrigation. The ground,
after receiving a single furrow, is sown with the rice, and when the plant is a few inches above the surface, the fields are laid entirely under water to the depth of several in ches; in which state they remain till the crop be nearly ripe. After three successive crops without any manure, the ground is left without culture, and dung is spread upon the crop of plants which naturally spring from the soil. This produces an abundant, but inferior kind of grass, which is cut for two successive years, when the ground is ploughed, and the rice crops succeed as before. The profit of these rice crops is so great, being three times that of corn, that the proprietors let them at a separate rent, about 5/. Gs. per acre, and the farmers nevertheless usually acquire large fortunes. But the stagnation of so much water in a hot climate renders this species of hus bandry so fatal to the health of the labourers and reapers, that the Milanese government has prohibited its extension beyond the limits to which it had reached at the time of the enactment.
The second region, where the culture of fruits, espe cially of the olive, predominates over that of grain, ex tends along the south declivity of the Appenines, from the frontiers of France to the borders of Calabria. In this district, particularly in Tuscany, the alluvial soil prevails, and is so deep and rich as to require manure only once in five years. The property is extremely subdivided, and the farms also so very small, that a single pair of oxen is sufficient to serve ten or twelve of them for ploughing the ground. The greater part of the tillage, indeed, is per formed by a triangular spade, which the tenant is often bound to use, as supposed to be more favourable for the produce ;and the corn fields are so much intersected by rows of vines and olive-trees, that a plough can with diffi culty work between them. The most common rotation of crops is the following : In this country, the utmost care and skill are exerted in the cultivation of the soil ; and every spot presents the appearance of a garden. The produce is abundant, and the population immense; but the cultivators are always poor, and rather to be regarded as peasantry than as farmers. No leases are granted to the metayers, or te nants, who are, however, scarcely ever known to be eject ed ; but the terms of rent are highly unfavourable to in dustry or saving on the part of the labourer. The farmer engages to perform all the labour of the field at his own expence—to furnish the wood for the support of the vines —to bear half the cost of seed and dung—to pay the pro prietor half the produce, or, if required, to sell it for his benefit—and to divide equally with him all the profit of the stock, even of the poultry and pigeons. On the other hand, the landlord lays out all other expenses, and provides all other things. nut mentioned in the preceding articles. Thus the farmer has little inducement to im prove his possession, to repair his house, or to add to the stock, which belongs to the landlord, or to take in more ground, which should be done at the expellee of his pro prietor ; and having thus no direct or profitable mode of laying out his savings, he generally spends every year on himself and family all the gains of the season. Being too poor also to hire labourers, and having to attend alone to the labours of the seed-time and harvest, the pruning of the vines, and the culture of the olives, he.is often too late in the most essential operations, and loses much time in the irresolution and indifference which his hurry creates. Hence, in the midst of a country, where every spot is co vered with valuable produce, and every individual actively employed, there is nevertheless an entire absence of the conveniences of life, and an appearance even of the greatest penury.