Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/472

452 I T A L Y [STATISTICS. districts there is a stock quite distinct from the Poiloliau, generally ealled raxza montanina. These animals are much smaller in stature and more regular in form than their Podolian cousins ; and they an* mainly kept for dairy purposes. Another stock, with DO close allies nearer than the south of France, is found in the plain of Kacconigi and Carmagnola ; the mouse-coloured Swiss breed occurs in the neighbourhood of Milan ; the Tyrolese breed stretches south to Padua Mid Modena ; and a red-coated breed named of Eeggio or Friuli, is familiar both in what were the duchies of Parma and Modena, and iu the provinces of Udine and Treviso. Other less important types exist in the southern parts of the peninsula ; iu Sicily the so-called Modica race is of note ; and in Sardinia there is a very distinct stock which seldom exceeds the weight of 700 fi>. BufMoes are kept in several districts, more particularly of Southern Italy. Their total number is estimated at 15,190. Sheep are not reared in any considerable numbers by the agriculturists of Italy ; but enormous flocks are possessed by professional sheep-farmers, who pasture them in the mountains in the summer, and bring them down to the plains in the winter. The breeds vary from region to region. At Saluzzo in Piedmont there is a stock with hanging ears, arched face, and tall stature, kept for its dairy qualities ; and in the Biellese the merino breed is maintained by some of the larger pro prietors. In the upper valleys of the Alps there are many local varieties, one of which at Ossola is like the Scotch blackface. Liguria is not much adapted for sheep-farming on a large scale ; but a. number of small flocks come down to the plain of Tuscany in the winter. With the exception of a few sub-Alpine districts near Bergamo and Brescia, the great Lombard plain is decidedly unpastoral. The Bergamo sheep is the largest breed in the country ; and that of Cadore and Belluno approaches it in size. In the Venetian districts the farmers often have small stationary flocks. Throughout the Roman province, and Uinbria, Apulia, the Ca|jitan- ata, and the Calabrias, we find in its full development a remarkable system of pastoral migration which has been iu existence from the most ancient times, and which has attracted attention as much by its picturesqueuess as by its industrial importance. Merino sheep have been acclimatized in the Abruzzi, the Capitanata, and the Basilicata. The total number of sheep in the kingdom is estimated at nearly 7,000,000, and that of goats at more than 1,500,000. According to returns for 1876 (the figures of which are almost certainly below the mark) the cattle amount to 3,489,125. the horses to 657,544, the asses to 498,766, the mules to 293,868, and the pigs to 1,553, 582. 1 The north of Italy has long been known for its great dairy dis tricts. Parmesan cheese, otherwise called Lodigiano(from Lodi) or grana, was presented to King Louis XII. as early as 1509. In 1878 there were in the province of Parma alone one hundred and sixty- seven caselli or dairies, manipulating about l,830,554gallonsof milk, and manufacturing 2*5,091 Parmesan cheeses of aggregate weight of 927,315 lb, besides 6963 tb of the variety of Stracchino, 2318 Ib of Gorgonzola, 324,062 lt> of butter, and 497,442 of ricolta^ (compare Aiiiiali di Ayricoltura, No. 9). Between 1864 and 1873 the value of the cheese increased from 1 66 lire to 2 7o lire per tb. Parmesan is not confined to the province from which it derives its name ; it is manufactured in all that part of Emilia which is in the neighbour hood of the Po, and in the provinces of Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia, Novara, and Alessandria. Gorgonzola, which takes its name from a town in the province, has become general throughout the whole of Lombardy, in the eastern parts of the ancient provinces," and in the province of Cuneo. The cheese known as the caccio-cavallo, which when tvo or three years old is worth three or four lire the kilogramme, is produced in regions extending from 37 to 43 N". liit. Gruyere, so extensively manufactured in Switzerland and France, is also produced in Italy in the Alpine regions and in Sicily. With the exception of Parmesan, Gorgouzola, La Fontina, .and Gruyere, most of the Italian cheese is consumed in the locality of its production. It is estimated that in 1879 England imported upwards of 3000 Parmesans and 5000 Gorgonzolas. The institution known as the lattcria socialc or co-operative dairy-farm has been in use in Parma for centuries, and is a familiar arrangement in many districts. For further details on this interesting industry the reader may consult Cautoni a L industrin del lattc, and the account of the cuonzioiic di caseificio, held at Portici in 1877, in the Annali di Agricoltura, 1879. The extent of the butter exportation is seen from Table XXII. , p. 456. France is the great market for the fresh butter ; but it appears that England is rapidly becoming a customer of some importance; instead of 10 tons, as in 1875, it received 500 tons in 1879-80. Among the various methods by which the relation of the land holder to the tiller of the soil is regulated, the more noteworthy are the mezzadria (mezzeria or metayer) system, the boaria or schiaven- 1 Most of the facts in this survey of Italian agriculture are borrowed from L Italia <i<f,irta e fore-stale, prepared i>y the Italian Board of Agriculture for the Paris Uxhib tion, 1878. - Ricotta means " recooked." It is the residue of cream separated from butter-milk by boiling. deria, the economic, and the afh ttanza or affittamento. This last is practically the same as the ordinary renting system in England and Scotland, the rent sometimes being paid in money (offitto a daiiart), sometimes in kind (ajfitto a grano), sometimes partly in money and partly in kind, and the periods varying from one year to leasesof six or nim; years. In the typical mezzadria the owner receives frequently one half of the produce of the soil, and the mezzadro or farmer the other; but of course there are many minor modifications in the terms of the contract." The live stock is usually the property of the mezzadro, who. pays a fixed rent for the use of the pasturage. By the terzeria system, on the other hand, the animals and plant are the property of the landholder, or two-thirds his and one-third the tenant s. Under the schiavenderia or boaria system, the boario (so called from his care of the cattle) receives such a quantity of the produce of the soil or of money as pays for his labour, and the land lord remains practically his own farmer. The live stock of course is the landlord s property, but the boario has a right to certain per quisites connected with this department of his labour. Economia is the name given to a system by which " the holder of the land, whether landlord or tenant, pays certain families who perform under his direction, with his capital and at his risk, the various labours of cultivation." The peculiar conditions of certain parts of the country produce peculiar arrangements : the Roman Campagna. for example, which could not be permanently inhabited owing to the malaria, used to be cultivated in the following fashion. Com panies of peasants from the Abruzzi, the Marches, &.C., under the direction of chiefs or " corporals," performed the work of sowing the fields in the autumn, and returned in June to gather in the harvest, the tenants of the farms usually making considerable profits from the undertaking. For further details on this subject the reader may consult the Reports respecting the Tenure of Land in the several Countries of Europe (1869-1870) presented to the English parliament in 1870, and the Monograjic agricolc, published by Professor Luigi Bodio, whose name has so frequently to be mentioned with honour in connexion with the statistics of his country. Table X11I., which is collected from the reports on the ContnMi ayrari in TABLK XIII. Varieties of Land Tenure. Province. Circonduriu. Tenure. Turin ! Turin and Pineroloj : M ,^ i 1 , ia teiz:a kl ;iffltt nz ". Ivrea Mezzadria. Aosta Affittanza. c c J Mezzadria (for smaller holdings), 00 ( 1 affittanza (for larger). Alessandria Asti { ! r ^ x S; riet Sl ip boaria Acqui Peasant-proprietorship. Casale Affittanza, mezzadria (rare), boaria. | Bielhi i Colonia, mezz-tdria. j Vercelli Affittanza (almost exclusively). Porto Maurizio Taggiu (territory) ... Afflttanza. . ( i Affittanza (for fields), mc/zadria A1UcnK 1 j (for olive gi omuls). Savona Mezzadria, affitianza. Como { M ^] 10 (C um - } Affitfmza (in kind). Mil - 1! A SS^IJ C " - Pavia Lomellina - ; Afflttanza (mezzadria has almost ( j disappeareil). Bobbio i Mezzadria (few cases of affittanza) Sondrio Sondrio j Peasant -proprietorship, mezzadria. Bergamo i Bergamo Mezzadria. Brescia ^ Brcno { Pe ^S riet0rSh!p; afflttanzu Kudisno (territory).. Quartirolo. Verolauuova Affittanza. Crcmonn, Mantua j ! Afflttanza. Verona Legnago Afflttanza. , T . ,r , , | Peasant-proprietorship (two-thirds ^ lcenza ^Wagno } of .^ .^zzadria, afflttanza. Thiene ! Peasant-proprietorship, afflttanza. ,, ( Affittanza (almost no peasaiit-pro- ica t prietoiship). Arzignano : Afflttanza. Vicenza | A ffittan/.a(mezzHdria disappearing) Venice Affittanza (in kind). | i Affittanza (for large farms), mez- Ke gR 10 zadria (for lesser) Modena ! Mezzadria and boiulu. Ferrara Boaria. Bologna, Ka- venna,Perugia, J- Me/zadria. Ancona Aquila . Affittanza (four, six. or eight years) Casorta, Avel-( j ffi(f .,, 17q lino, Basiliciita) j , Affitt lliza - 3 Caruso, for instance, in his work on Sixtemi d amministrazione. describes a variety in use at Galileo, in Keggio Calabria. In order to establish new agru- meti, or orange orchards, advantage is taken of the following arrangements. The peasant undertakes to dig the holes, to furnish and place the cuttings, and to watch and take care of the plants up to the seventh year. The magoli, or interspaces between the rows, he cultivates as a garden, and pays for this a rent of about 229 lire per hectare. The produce of the orchard is divided equally between contadino and landlord, and at the end of the seventh year, the value of the garden bc.ing estimated, the former receives a third of the amount, and the landlord remains in full possession of the vest.