ISBN: 9780217299497

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1869. Not illustrat… More...

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1869. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... variousas to have given rise to a greater diversity of culture than is to be found in the whole of Europe besides. Corn, grass, cattle, cheese, butter, rice, silk, cotton, wine, oil, and fruits of all kinds are found in perfection in this fertile country. Only one-fifth of the surface of Italy is considered sterile, and its population is greater, in proportion to its surface, than that of either France or Great Britain. In Lombardy, it is quite common for the owner to furnish the farm with buildings, and keep them in repair, the tenant to provide cattle, implements and seeds, and to divide the produce equally. The feature of land irrigation is probably carried further in Lombardy than in any other country in Europe. Canals are taken from rivers and conducted through land to conduct the water to distant places.1 It is principally employed for grass lands, and these, when fully watered, yield four and sometimes five successive crops in a year, the first sometimes as early as the month of March. It is conducted between the narrow ridges of corn lands, in the hollows between drilled crops, among vines, or to flood lands, to the depth of a foot or more, which are sown with rice. Water is also used for depositing a surface of mud, in some places where it is charged with that material. In general watered lands let at one third higher price than those not irrigated. In regard both to the implements and operations of agriculture in Lombardy, both are extremely imperfect. The plough is nothing more than a very rude contrivance, with a handle thirteen or fourteen feet long. Another branch of agricultural industry which is cultivated very considerably among the Italians, especially the 1 Entyriopedia Americana, Agriculture, I, 108. Lombards, is that of raising cattle. They ... Amos Dean, Books, History, The History Of Civilization (volume 4) Books>History <

ISBN: 9780217299497

The History of Civilization Vol. 4 Author :Amos Dean 9780217299497 0217299490