Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1875 — Italian Cultivators. [ARTICLE]

Italian Cultivators.

An Italian Correspondent, writing from the fertile region -between Piacenza and Rimini, known under the name of Emilia, says: The people of the Emilia, like those of Piedmont, Lombardy and Tuscany, are diligent and indefatigable cultivators. The husbandry in the plain is almost every where the same; the main produce is wheat and other grain, maize, or, ■as they call it, “Turkish corn,” or mdica or melfja, wine and silk. The most approved method hitherto has been to bring all these products out of the same ground, in the same season, relying an the unmatched fertility of the soil and on the most unsparing use of manure.' The same field is phinted with rows of young mulberry trees for the silk; every tree Wears its’ vine hanging on festoons from tree to tree for the wine, and between the jows the ground is plowed deeply and carefully to receive the seeds of winter and spring grains. Of late some prejudices have arisen against this system of cultivation, and some of the farmers, contending that “ the sun hlone isthe creator of all things,” are cutting down and tearing up all trees and laying the ground bare for miles and miles around, thinking that a good grain crop is worth more than the little dribbling of products of all other kinds, little heeding how sadly their improvements may interfere with the loveliness of that luxuriant vegetation made ot the plain of North Italy a garden, and without which it would soon , become as dreary a region as the wilds of Castile. Many of the old-fashionechpeo-ple, however, and especially the sriiall proprietors, stick to their forefathers’ trsu ditions, and it will, perhaps, be long _be\ fore they give up a mode of cultivation which makes one and the same land supply nearly all their wants. All the tilling of the ground and all farm and road work is here done by auction. Immense immense importance is therefore attached to the cattle, which attain here the very highest degree of beauty and usefulness, and command very high prices. I saw a yoke of first-rate oxen soid yesterday for ninety gold napoleons, and another of very sec-ond-rate quality for forty nine gold napoleons. The care and love with which these creatures are tended are about the same as are bestowed in England on the best horses in a hunting ’Squire’s stables. Out come these tall, bulky, shorthorned, short-legged, straw or pearlcolored steers from their sheds as clean and glossy and in as good condition as the most unremitting attention and liberality can well make them. They are stall-fed almost from their birth to their last journey to the shambles, for out-door grazing is unknown here, the meadow's, which are mown four times in the year, supplying green grass in spring and hay in abundance for the rest of the year. A thrifty country gentleman will tell you that his stable yields more than either his cornfield or vineyard; for the custom is to be perpetually breeding, rearing, selling, buying and exchanging cattle, and by watching the seasons and consulting the chances of supply and demand the practice of selling in the highest and buying in the lowest market is soon turned to profit. Together with the cattle a large quantity of swine, poultry, rabbits, etc', also contribute to the income of the farm. It seems easy in England to laugh at the greyhound-shape of Italian pigs, but attempts have been made to introduce the short-legged English breed here, and the experiment has turned out a failure, everything being in this country sacrificed to size. I saw yesterday at a friend’s house a sow, a venerable mother of several generations, which can hardly have measured less than eight feet from the muzzle to the tip of her curly tail, can hardly stand less than three feet on her trotters, and might be ridden by a child as easily as a reasonablysized donkey. The proud mistress of the house assured me that the creature’s long and meritorious services were at last entitled to their reward; that she should henceforth live on the best the farm afforded ; and after three or tour months’ feeding her lank ribs would next January or February fill up so w'ondrously that her legs would be no more visible, when she would attain a 300-pound weight and fetch as many lire, or say £l2, at the porkbutcher’s. Be it remembered that we are here in the Emilia, where the flavor ot pork is so exquisite that its various manufactures —the Salami of Parma, Zamponi of Modena, Mortadella of Bologna, Spallo of St. Secondo, and other delicacies—are highly valued throughout Italy, and find their way as great luxuries to foreign markets.