The implements of husbandry in Italy are every where of a rude consti uction. Elvp in Lombardy, the waggon is one of the clumsiest vehicles possible, being raised like a high scaffold above four small wheels, and drawn by means of an elevated pole, under which the oxen are yoked in a very uneasy manner. The plough is in a very awkward style, and in despite of all the known principles of mechanics. The handles are of unequal lengths, and boJi so very short, that the ploughman, having no lever to assist him, is forced to bend much forwards, and to use all his weight to keep the share from entering too deep into the ground. Oxen are uniformly employed by the farmers, both in the plough and waggon; and horses used only for riding to market and church, or for drawing a small pro vision cart, or other family conveyance. Li. many places, especially in small inclosures, most of the work is done by the spade and hoe. The grain is separated from the straw in many places by the trampling of cattle, which are tied in a string, and whipped round and round till the operation he finished. In the Terra di Otranto, it is done by two oxen dragging between them a heavy rough stone, which breaks the sheaves and shakes out the corn.
The operations and productions of agriculture are so va rious in different parts of Italy, that no general description can be given, which would be nearly applicable to the whole country, especially to the southern districts. A few of the prevailing objects and modes of culture may, however, be cursorily mentioned, in addition to those already detailed.
Rice is cultivated in many of the marshy districts of the south, especially around Salerno, and in the fertile vale of Diano ; but its cultivation always adds to the insalubrity of the place ; and, while it enriches the trading inhabitant of the city, usually shortens the life of the industrious pea sant. • Rye is sown in many grounds of Calabria, whose elevated situation renders them too cold for wheat. Its introduc tion is ascribed to Charles V. who observed in his progress through the province so many lands lying waste from the want of a crop suitable to their temperature, and ordered a more hardy species of grain to be imported from the north: Hence the natives distinguish it by the name of Germano.
Millet grows to great perfection in the more humid soils, and particularly in the vicinity of Nocera.
Flax and hemp, which grow to a great height in tile a soil, are cultivated in many parts of Italy, but espe cially at Bologna, Reggio, and Cape Lena ; mentioned place the seed appears to be the principal object of the cultivator, and is a principal article of exportation to Venice and Trieste.
Cotton is very generally raised, and with great profit, through the whole province of Otranto, but particularly around the city of Taranto, where the soil, light and some what swampy, appears to be peculiarly favourable for its cultivation. It is the shrubby kind that is cultivated, which, when fully grown, resembles the raspberry plant.* When the ground is designed for cotton, it is carefully ploughed, and sometimes dug with the spade, after harvest, or re peatedly tilled between January and April, and the more it is treated like garden ground, the surer is its produce. It is well mutinied before the seed is sown in the end of March, or beginning of April, and neatly dressed in flat narrow ridges. As soon as the plants are four fingers high, they are thinned to the width of eight inches, and the ground carefully hoed, to eradicate the weeds. Witco they are eight or nine inches high, two inches are broken off from the tops, that the growth of the leaves and stalks may be checked, and a greater portion of blossoms produced. Abut the end of September the pods begin to burst, and from that time the cotton harvest continues to the end of October, the women being daily employed in breaking off the ripe capsules, and carrying them home in sacks. The cotton is then separated front the seed, by means of two cylinders, and is afterwards drawn through a comb or heckle. On account of the direful tillage of the land in raising the cotton, it is followed by an abundant crop of wheat or barley next year ; and the produce of the cotton itself is the most profitable of all crops, surpassing even the vine and the olive. A tomolata of land, that would be adapted to the cultivation of cotton, bears a higher price, but still yields a greater profit, than what is employed either in vineyards or olive plantations, according to the following statement by M. de Sails.
The proprietor and tenant usually cultivate the cotton fields in partnership. The latter generally furnishes the seed ; but the trouble of tillage, the expense of the harvest, and the profits of the crop, arc equally shared by both parties.
Tobacco is cultivated successfully in many of the south ern districts ; 'but the best is produced near Cape Leuca. It is transplanted in April, and the leaves gradually stripped off. These are dried in the shade, and placed in a heap, but never moistened. The points of the leaves, dried in Ovens, and then ground, are considered as yielding the best sort of snuff. This article forms also a considerable branch of interior trade in the Ecclesiastical territory.