RURAL ITALY.*
Ma. BEADCLERIC is a writer who has the courage of his con- victions. He begins by quoting in his preface a pessimistic
view of the state of Italy—he does not say from what authority —and entering an objection to the statements contained therein ; things are bad, he admits, in Italy just now, but he thinks they might be a little worse, and probably will become rather better some day. Then follow, as the body of the work, some two hundred pages of the most melancholy statistics conceivable, at the end of which he returns to the charge with a demonstration that, in spite of all he has said, the prospects of Italy are by no means hopeless ; that improvements are going on in the midst of all the destitution and misery he has
told us of ; and that Italy will yet take her proper place among other nations in agricultural prosperity as she has done in other respects. We are inclined to agree with him. Like Boccaccio's Jew, who became a Christian because he felt that the faith which still held its own, in spite of the open display of luxury and immorality at the Court of its supposed head, must be the true one, we can believe with Mr. Beauclerk in the. future of agricultural Italy, because after reading his account of the enormous burden of taxes and encumbrances which weigh upon the land,. the absence of capital, the poverty of crops, and the ignorance of cultivators, our only wonder is that the country continues to exist at all. We have heard of Irish landlords whose rent-rolls were cut down by successive abate- ments, till they foresaw that they would soon be paying the tenants to remain on the land ; but the Italian rustic appears to be worsp off still. A man who can pay two-thirds of his income away in taxes, and another quarter in interest on mort- gages, and yet live, is undoubtedly a remarkable man, and his life should be carefully preserved as an example to the com- munity.
In the first place, Mr. Beauclerk protests against the statement that Italy is by nature one of the most fertile of countries. " On the contrary," he argues, " with the excep- tion of the valley of the Po and a few lesser plains, the country is mountainous, unproductive, and inhospitable. The Alpine and Apennine regions are stony or wooded ; the scanty hill pasturages are incapable of improvement; and the centre of the peninsula is occupied with extensive marshes, which prevail . also in the South and in the islands, producing constant malaria." Those who have heard of the fabulous fertility of the province of Lombardy will be surprised to find it described as " a country of which one-half is occupied by arid mountains," while even of the remaining half—though a full account is given of the extraordinary produce of the famous water- meadows and trefoil fields—our author comes to the deliberate conclusion that "the soil is not naturally fertile; prolonged summer drought is the prevailing feature ; and an immense expenditure of capital and labour has alone produced the -richness of the land." Centuries of misgovernment under the old regime have led up to the difficulties of the present day. The wholesale destruction of forests has not only taken away a valuable industry in many parts of Italy, but has also brought fresh difficulties to the agri- culturist in the way of inundations and malaria. The enor- mous prevalence of unhealthy marshes in central Italy is another legacy of the good old days which not only paralyses attempts at cultivation, but sweeps off a quarter of a million able-bodied inhabitants every year by the fevers it breeds. Surely even the most fervent detractors of the modem Italian Government must admit that it is not only their own sins that are visited upon the heads of the children of Italy.
Yet with all these disadvantages, the country is not really behindhand with her own particular produce. It is easy to show that other nations are far ahead of her in the production of corn ; but this is not a fair standard to judge by. Corn is often not grown, because more profitable produce can be put in its stead ; or where a less lucrative crop is grown, the fields are intersected by olives and other fruit-trees of a rich yield which makes the balance quite equal, while their presence would interfere with the growth of cereals. Rice, wine, • Rural Italy an Account of the Present Agricultural Condition of the Kingdom. By-William Neltliorpe Beanderk. LL.D.. Secretary in her Majesty's Diplomatic Service. London : Richard Bentley and Bon. 1868.
oil, and fruit are produced in a quantity quite propor- tionate to the extent and natural capabilities of the soil. Undoubtedly there is a great deal more that might be done ; indeed, Mr. Beauclerk makes a number of suggestions as to experiments that have not yet been tried in Italy, or, at least, have never had a fair chance. Tobacco might be a very profitable crop, but the Government monopoly places- so many restrictions on its cultivation, that in Sicily and other parts where it was once grown with great success, it has almost been abandoned. In Venetia, indeed, it is still cultivated to a considerable extent, growers being in this case apparently protected by privileges dating from the times of the old Republic of Venice, but even here the profits are much im- paired by Government taxes and regulations. " All the tobacco must be sold to the Government monopoly, which takes no proper account of the quality, -but pays by weight, so that the growers are discouraged from experimenting with the lighter and finer sorts, which are worth two or three times as much as they can obtain for them." It is difficult to imagine a more absurd or more detrimental system. Then we are told Government pays 60 lire per quintal for this tobacco, but " smugglers who know its value will pay 300 lire per quintal for it." If it is worth anything like that, the Government must subsequently subject it to some diabolical process of their own to enable them to elaborate the abominable cigars that one is expected to smoke in Italy.
Another industry which Mr. Beauclerk thinks would be likely to succeed, and which has certainly not yet been tried, is hop-growing. As a nation progresses in intelligence and civilisation, it becomes imperative that it should have a sufficient supply of beer. The Italians are perfectly aware of this fact, but at present they get most of theirs from Austria. Why should they not brew it themselves P Mr. Beauclerk has seen hops in the Northern provinces " growing luxuriantly wild in hedges," but the country people laughed at him 'when he told them that it was a valuable plant. The manufacture of sugar from beetroot, and even from maize, has also been attempted in Piedmont, but was soon given up. There seems, however, no reason why it should not succeed if taken up again with sufficient energy and capital. Cattle-breeding, which has been carried on with signal success in Tuscany and Romagna, might be very much extended ; and horse-breeding, which has hardly yet been tried, might also be made very profitable. Even the most familiar processes, such as the making of 'wine and oil, require a great deal of improvement, and the prehistoric style of farming adopted in many districts must be completely reformed. Agricultural machinery, Mr. Beauclerk says, is almost un- known in the rural districts, and where it is known, is regarded with suspicion and very reluctantly employed. This is the more strange as Italians, of the North of Italy especially, generally seem to have a kind of natural taste for machinery. We have rarely seen anything more curious than the intense interest with which the peasant visitors to the Turin Exhibition of 1884 stood and gazed at the machines in motion. To them the machinery-room was obviously the greatest attraction, much more interesting than the gardens, or the many pretty sights in which we might have ex- pected them to take greater pleasure. Yet Mr. Beauclerk tells us that even in Piedmont " agricultural instruments in general are of a primeval type," and that though " sowing and threshing machines have been partially adopted on large holdings since the Turin Exhibition was held under the auspices of the Agricultural Committee of that city, other machinery has as yet scarcely been introduced at all." In other provinces, the state of things is still less favourable, though the threshing-machine seems to possess some parti- cularly insinuating qualities, as we occasionally find it in use when all other machinery is sternly rejected. In Sicily we are told that, "in the few cases where they [the district Agrarian Committees] have tried to introduce agricultural machinery, their efforts have been condemned in advance, means of transport have failed or been forthcoming only at exorbitant rates ; the muleteers purposely upset the engines into the nearest ditch, and they remain for years inoperative and unsheltered." We have a kind of recollection of having read an account of a somewhat similar incident in Mr. Robert Dennis's instructive work on Industrial Ireland.
The profound ignorance of the cultivators of the soil is often quoted as the principal source of the backward condi-
Lion of agriculture in Italy, just as the wholesale establish- ment of agricultural professorships and technical schools is often suggested as the grand panacea for all its troubles. This instruction. is one of those comparatively easy remedies which the Government is ready enough to, provide, but, in Mr. Beauclerk's opinion, education by itself—or rather, instruction —can do little. There are a few cases where capital is needed less than technical knowledge; but, as a general rule, the peasants do not care to listen to suggestions from agricultural professors, which they have neither means nor energy to carry out. The actual example of one of the large landlords carrying out an improved system of cultivation on his estate they would be inclined to imitate, but mere lecturing can do little good.. Of the condition of the poorer agriculturists, Mr. Beauclerk gives a very dismal account :—" Wretched habita- tions, unwholesome food, bad drinking-water, low wages, fevers, pellagra, illness, and pauperism are the characteristics of many districts." The first of these evils is almost the most serious, and it is one with which the State must deal at once. It has been already proposed to free farm buildings from the present heavy taxation, without which the landlords, in the present condition of affairs, cannot be expected to do anything in this way. The statistics given of the housing of labourers in the neighbourhood of Rome are indeed "well-nigh incredible. In one commune there are 456 houses to 3,127 persons, in another 316 houses to 1,604 inhabitants, and in a third 704 peasants without a single dwelling." The labourers in the Campagna are for the most part strangers from other districts, "who for the eight months of their sojourn dwell in huts or wigwams, of which there are 4694 the remainder live in caves and grottoes, or in the rains of ancient buildings and tombs, while many have no roof but the heavens, and no bed but the grass." In many other parts matters are almost as bad. Travellers on the Riviera who admire the picturesque little groups of houses, clustering round some medieval castle for protection against the marauders of a former date, would be indeed horrified at the description-of the "squalid filth and misery" which characterise the interior of those romantic scenes. Here, however, the mild- ness of the weather, even in winter, relieves the peasants from the necessity of always sleeping in the wretched hovels, and in point of fact, they are not nearly so badly off as many of their countrymen. In other districts, it is common for the country-people to sleep in the cattle-sheds for warmth in winter. In the sulphur-mines of Sicily, the miners " sleep in summer in the open, and in winter in the mines, themselves, where they are exposed to a thousand perils."
Food and drink are also very bad. Wine is unknown to the poorer classes in a great part of Italy, and the water drunk is not usually of good quality. Venetia shows most favourably in this last respect, but, on the contrary,- comes almost lowest in the scale of good food. " Bread is generally bad, and even such as it is, is looked upon as a luxury to be reserved for the sick." The staple food is polenta, an admirable thing in its way when well made; but when badly prepared from inferior or mildewed maize, it is found to lead to the terrible disease of pellagra, the scourge of Northern Italy. Wages in these parts descend to an almost impossible level. "In the district of Friuli, labourers are bound by contract for fifty centimes a day, without food !" These are the mere casual labourers ; those who axe stationary and paid by the year are better off. But we are sorry to find that throughout Italy " the peasant- proprietor is often found to be worse fed, clothed, and lodged, than the hired labourer." Tenants who hold under the metayage system—paying the landlord a certain proportion of the produce—are apparently the most prosperous.
Proprietors of all kinds are terribly hampered by the mort- gages on their estates. Where subdivision among the various heirs is not practised, it is the custom to encumber the land which goes to one person with charges in favour of all the remaining heirs, and the interest upon these charges is often found to exceed the per-centage which the farmer is able to get out of the soil, so that he becomes practically a mere manager in the interests of his creditors. It has been calculated that the whole amount of rural property in Italy comes to some twenty-four milliards of francs, and the amount of mortgage debts on this property to twenty milliards. The taxation, too, is terribly heavy, and falls very unequally upon. different districts. " Some departments pay 17 per cent. on the nominal value of their acres, others have to give as much as 79 per cent.," and one instance is even quoted from the province of Genoa where the land-tax actually rises to 88 per cent. " The impossibility of farming under these conditions is daily proved by the quantity of small holdings sold up by the tax-collectors, or falling into the hands of the Government." An additional burden is supplied by the communal and pro- vincial surtaxes; which, we are told, " already exceed the Exchequer taxation, and have a constant tendency to increase ;" these now fall exclusively upon the land.
The reform of the land-tax is a matter in which steps will no doubt be taken at once ; the oppressive grist-tax has for some time been a thing of the past; expenditure of the com- munes will be kept down as much as possible ; and the excessive cost of registration reduced. But any serious diminution of the general taxation at the present moment is, we fear, past . hoping for. The great armaments of Italy are, in the present condition of Europe, an absolute necessity. It is easy to say that the " war-tithe " should be removed, or that " had Italy devoted one-fourth of the energy expended in sustaining the role of a great Power to the amelioration of her material condition," all kinds of things might have happened ; but remarks of this sort are of as little practical value as the touching sugges- tion of a remote country village, at the time of the Government inquiry into possible remedies for the pellagra, that prayer should be made to God to send manna on earth again. Much can and will be done by the State for the struggling agricul- turists. The Department of Agriculture, Industry, and Com- • merce is hard-working and intelligent, as Mr. Beauclerk is ready to admit ; the Government is most anxious to carry out the reforms suggested to it, and the Parliament is always ready to assist. Italy has made so great an advance in other ways in the last thirty years, that though agriculture is served last, there is no reason for despairing of it on that account Many of the necessary reforms mentioned by Mr. Beauclerk involve no great difficulty, and though he admits that they "will require a long period to work with efficiency," he can see no reason why they should not meet with complete success in due time.
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