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able for many months of the year. The and that some parts of it, where it would stranger who comes to spend a few weeks now be impossible to live without catchof the winter in Rome and enjoys its de-jing fever, were considered by the Romans lightful climate, making excursions en as delightful country places. Besides touriste in the environs of the town, can- this, both history and archæology let us not conceive the desolation of the country know that a great number of large and when the season of fever begins. Unfor- populous towns existed in Latium. Ostia tunately, in many parts of the Roman ter- had about eighty thousand inhabitants; ritory this season lasts nearly the whole Ardea, Stabia, Cere, Fidenae, twenty or summer and autumn, so that the day- twenty-five thousand. It is not easy to laborers who come from the neighboring conceive how such towns should have provinces, especially for the corn harvest been founded in places where the "malaand for the hay-time, suffer very much, ria " was as strong as it is at present. and some of them die of the consequences But Strabo tells us it was not so: "Totum of the fever. This state of things began Latium felix est, et omnium rerum ferax, to draw the government's attention to the demptis paucis locis maritimis, quæ palusquestion, and in the last ten years many tria sunt, et morbosa" (lib. v.). Under remedies have been proposed; but, as the reign of Septimius Severus, Minucius generally happens in such circumstances, Felix tells us that Ostia was a capital when theoretic agriculturists are called to place for sea-bathing, and the most resolve such an intricate problem, the im- markable thing is that autumn was conprovements which have been suggested, sidered as the best season for going to though excellent in themselves, are not to Ostia, whereas now it is extremely danthe purpose, because the particular con- gerous. Pliny, who was such an accurate ditions of the country have not been taken observer, never speaks of malaria; on into consideration. Some persons_think the contrary, he lets us know that he had it would be very profitable to introduce in a villa, the Villa Laurentina, in a place the Roman territory the systems of culti- called Tor Paterno, where he generally vation adopted in other parts of Italy, and lived in summer, because, as he says, it to have a good number of peasant families was very pleasant in winter, but more in settled down on it. Their favorite dream summer: "hæc jucunditas ejus in hieme, is to see the vast meadows changed into major æstate.' Now, Tor Paterno is fields where all sorts of crops should be abandoned, and the fever forces everycultivated. But, if even this change were body to leave the place during the sumpossible, would it be desirable at present? mer. But at that time thick forests were Those who have thorough practical knowl- to be seen not only near the seashore but edge of the situation would immediately on nearly all the hills of the Campagna answer that it would not, and that the Romana, and these forests have been cut only way of obtaining a good result is to down in the last three or four centuries, improve the actual system of cultivation. so that it is at present impossible to I am certainly not one of those who think find one single tree in those regions. that the general state of the Roman terri- Time and man have destroyed that vegetory can be easily changed, but we must tation with which nature preserved the acknowledge that in many parts of it a country from miasmatic exhalations and great improvement has taken place, as we this is certainly one of the principal reamay ascertain without going very far from sons of the great change which has taken place. We are now using every endeavor to restore those places and make them wholesome by planting trees of rapid growth, as the eucalyptus are; but it is easy to see that a long time is required for such an undertaking.

Rome.

We shall find, at ten or twelve kilometers distance from the capital, in one of the most unhealthy places of the country, a luminous example of improvement obtained by a skilful application of the principles of agriculture and rural economy. But we will first give a general idea of the conditions of the "Campagna Romana," on which so many illusory theories have been published without any practical result.

The Roman territory has not always been in the state in which it is at present. If we read the Latin authors we are astonished to find that it was not unhealthy,

However, I have the fullest conviction that the first thing to do is to promote the restoration of the forests, especially on the seashore, because this is the only way of sheltering the country from the parching south winds which carry deleterious materials from the African deserts. The forests of half-grown trees which are to be found in many places of the Campagna cannot have any good influence on the

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salubrity of the air; far from that, they it would be better to leave those marshes. intercept the sun's beams, and prevent as they are now, and as they have always the soil from drying, so that the putrefac- been, only surrounding them with vast tion of vegetable detritus takes place plantations of forest trees, as the Romans more easily. For these reasons, forests had done. As for those marshes which of lofty trees are the only useful ones. are not very deep, they certainly can be Rome itself was full of sacred woods dried up; but it is necessary to secure (luci) which had been planted evidently the course of water by a regular system for reasons of public health, and it is very of ditches and canals, otherwise no durainteresting to take an accurate note of the ble effect could be obtained. places where these woods were to be found. We will only mention the principal ones, but there is a plan of ancient Rome, taken by an engineer from Perugia, whose name was Agretti, from which we may learn that there were not less than forty-four luci in the interior of the town. A copy of this plan is to be seen in Perugia, and it is considered one of the most remarkable works on the subject. These luci are: the Vatican lucus of which Pliny speaks; the Aventine lucus; the lucus of Vesta, on both sides of the Velabrian Marsh; the Mavortian lucus, around the Palus Capræa, near the Pantheon; the Esquilian lucus, near the Flavian amphitheatre; the lucus of Bellona; and the lucus Tarpeius on the Cap-ing-table, to imagine a new distribution of itol; and many others, which are to be seen in the above-mentioned plan.

All these woods, of a religious character, had been certainly planted in order to render more healthy the different parts of the town. We must notice that the Romans, instead of draining the marshes, surrounded them with trees, because they thought that vegetation would absorb every miasma. The fact proved they were right; and we really do not know of any Latin author speaking about malaria in Rome.

The plantation of trees is, as we may infer from all the arguments we have given, the most efficacious remedy to the insalubrity of the Roman territory; so that, if even it alone were applied, without draining the soil, and without drying up the marshes, the most salutary effects would certainly be obtained. But we must avail ourselves of all the resources of modern science taken together, to get on more rapidly. Some of the marshes which exist in the Campagna are very difficult to dry up; others, on the contrary, are not deep, and the draining of them can be performed very easily. As regards the first of these marshes, it is well known that enormous sums have been thrown into them without any results; so that we really could not encourage government to spend more money in such an undertaking; and, in our opinion,

By a sagacious application of the three methods we have spoken of- that is, before all, large plantations of trees, and, after this, a general drainage of the soil, and particularly of the marshes. we may well hope that those who live in the twentieth century will be able to say with Strabo, that the Campagna Romana "felix est, et omnium rerum ferax." It is said that the twentieth century will be the century of electricity; may it be also that of the regeneration of that desolated territory! But, in its present state, it is quite useless to spend time and money in improved ploughs and new systems of cultivation. It is very easy indeed for a theoretic agriculturist, sitting at his writ

crops, and to say that Roman farmers ought to sow trefoil and other plants fit for making artificial meadows; that they ought to spread on their farms the enormous quantity of manure that is produced by the capital and lost in the Tiber; that the old Virgilian ploughs ought to disappear before the modern ploughs; that to let land lie fallow is against agricultural progress; and that the surface of the fields ought to be arranged in a regular way, so as to prevent the stagnation of waters on one side, and their too rapid course on the other. We advise these persons, who are full of good intentions, to leave off writing for a few weeks, and before resuming their work, make some excursions in the Campagna Romana. They will see what it really is, and when they go back to their writing-table, we are sure they will change what they have written before.

Now, while these authors find nothing easier than to introduce new systems of agriculture without sufficient preparation, there are still many agriculturists and economists who do not think a thorough change in the conditions of the Roman territory possible. As generally happens, both these opinions are exaggerated, because the principles of rural economy show on one side that every country must follow agricultural improvements, and that there is no place where a perpetual

status quo can be admitted; on the other The reader will now easily understand side, that every system of farming prac- of what interest it is to show a practical tised in a country for many centuries has example of what we have so far said; always its reason for existence, and is so and we have one ready at hand. Every intimately connected with the general stranger who comes to Rome goes to see conditions of soil, climate, and population, the Basilica called "San Paolo fuori le that it cannot be changed without time Mura; " if he goes on a little farther, he and capital. Capital alone would do noth- will find a church called "San Paolo alle ing, and would be lost without bringing Tre Fontane," because we may see there any interest. An example of this occurred three fountains which, according to an a few years ago in the Campagna Romana, old tradition, sprang up at the place where and proved that the laws of rural economy St. Paul's head fell when he was beheaded cannot be transgressed without disadvan- as a Christian. This was one of the most tage. One of the richest land-owners of unhealthy places of the environs of Rome; the Campagna, after having travelled it could be inhabited only during the much through Italy and foreign countries, winter, because in summer the danger of and having examined the agricultural tertian ague drove away every living soul. systems of the most fertile parts of the In 1866 a few Trappists, with their usual peninsula, thought it possible to intro- self-denial, went to settle on that place, duce the same systems all at once in the and began to clear the grounds that had Roman territory, and that the only thing been allotted to them by government. It to do was to employ a sufficient amount is well known that the Trappists are of capital. Accordingly, houses for peas- monks who spend their life in praying, ants were built; entire families of labor-and tilling the ground. When they first were imported from Tuscany and Umbria; the fields were cultivated with improved ploughs, the stables were filled with oxen, and the intensive culture applied to the whole property. But, after two or three years, the impossibility of going on came out very clearly, so that the new system was given up, and the buildings were abandoned by the peasants, who could not stand the unwholesome climate, and were decimated by the malaria. The extensive culture is the only one that can be practised in the Campagna Romana in its present state; immense fields cultivated with corn, sown without any manure and with a rough dressing, and pasture lands, are the only things to be seen in the Roman system of agriculture. The principal reason is that in summer, especially in the months of August and September, the malaria fevers are very dangerous; so that, after thrashing the corn, every one leaves those unhealthy places and goes up to the mountains, not to come down till the time is come for sowing corn again.

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went to the Tre Fontane they could not stand the unhealthiness of the air, and they all died except one; but their labor was not lost, because others immediately took their place and continued the cultivation, though many of them still died of the fever. Little by little a large extent of ground was cleared, till at last, a few years ago, the Agricultural Society of the Tre Fontane was founded, and, under this name, by which they were assured of the protection of the law, the Trappists continue their work of regeneration.

The Italian government has given to this society four hundred hectares of land in perpetual emphyteutic lease, but on condition of planting a hundred thousand eucalyptus in ten years; besides that, all the remaining ground was to be cultivated according to the best agricultural systems. The Trappists well understood that the first thing to do was to purify the air, and to defend their plantations from the unwholesome south winds. The eucalyptus trees are very useful for this object, and accordingly a great number of them was Now, we must say that, however back-planted in the first year. The eucalyptus ward and imperfect this cultivation may are first sown in a well-prepared soil, and, seem to those who are accustomed to the after two or three years, are planted in beauty and opulence of intensive culture, regular rows, leaving a distance of ten it gives a net rent not inferior to that metres from one plant to the other on which is generally allotted to landed prop every side, so that the interval between erty in the rest of Italy, except in those them may be cultivated with other crops. parts where the rearing of manufacturing The principal varieties of eucalyptus are: materials is carried on. The gross prod- Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus populi uct is small, but, as there are very small folia, Eucalyptus viminalis, Eucalyptus expenses to take off, the net produce re-resinifera. The first samples of euca mains high enough. lyptus were brought to Rome in 1854 by

We have already said that the Roman territory could be improved by large plantations of trees, by the general drainage of the soil and especially of the marshes; two of these methods are connected more particularly with agriculture, the third is connected with hydraulics. At the Tre Fontane the gradual diminution of fever proves that these methods are really efficacious; but if the Agricultural Society has obtained such a good result, the reason, in our opinion, is that they have been employed together; otherwise they might cost eno. mous sums without improving the state of the country. saw ourselves at the Tre Fontane with what sagacity the works were directed, and that is why we say that the Agricultural Society has set to work in the right way; and are able to foretell, if we judge from the first trial, that in the lapse of a comparatively short time, the place will be wholesome and well cultivated.

an Australian bishop, who very much ex-| dug up with dynamite at m. 1'10 depth. tolled their regenerating virtue; but, This operation, which was necessary to though these samples were planted with the plantation of the vines, has been very some success in one of the principal gar- helpful to the salubrity of the air; bedens of Rome, nobody thought they could cause, in its natural state, the soil, very ever be cultivated on a vast scale, because muddy during the rainy season, breaks they were not believed able to stand the during the summer into large and deep Roman climate, although so mild. Expe- crevices, from which miasmatic exhalarience has shown that this is not so, and tions of sulphydric acid come forth. that even the Eucalyptus globulus, which This sulphydric acid probably results. is certainly more delicate than the others, from the decomposition of the organic can live at a temperature of -5° Celsius. substances existing in the ground, but We should however think it more advis- when .the ground has been dug up and able to cultivate other varieties of euca- cleared, these emanations disappear, at lyptus, especially the viminalis and resini- least to a great extent. fera, the last of which can bear -9° Celsius. This tree has been a very useful importation for the Roman territory, and, as it is now clearly proved that it may grow rapidly and have a splendid vegetation in our climate, there is nothing to do but to extend its cultivation as much as possible. Moreover, besides its good influence on the healthiness of the air, a plantation of eucalyptus is a first-rate drainage. Every one knows the good effects of drainage on cultivated land, and this operation is practised to a great extent, especially in England and Belgium; many attempts to drain the soil had been made at the Tre Fontaine, but they had not proved very successful, on account of the great tenacity of the soil, which did not allow the water to reach the drains. The eucalyptus has solved the problem; before they were planted water was to be found at twelve centimetres under the surface of the fields, whereas now it has fallen to the depth of m. 1'95, so that it Some years ago, the Italian government can have no bad effect upon the vegeta- established at the Tre Fontane a peni. tion of crops. It seems that by the nu- tentiary house, which contains a certain merous roots with which it penetrates number of convicts. As the work they into the ground, the eucalyptus absorbs have to do is not very hard, they are genan enormous quantity of humidity which erally sent there after they have passed is required for its luxuriant vegetation, some years of good behavior in the galand so dries up the soil in a short time. leys; and thus they spend the last years Whatever may be the explanation of this of their penalty under the good influence phenomenon, it is certain that at the of the Trappists, who treat them with Tre Fontane the effect has been very re- great kindness, and render them gradumarkable. The greatest number of eu-ally worthy of returning to civil society. calyptus has been planted at the south end of the property, so as to shelter the cultivated lands from the scirocco and the miasms it carries over the country.

It will not be difficult, from what we have now said, to foresee what a change will have taken place in a few years in a country where only damp meadows and feverish swamps were to be found. Thousands of eucalyptus are now growing everywhere, and the neighboring hills are covered with vines; the ground has been

We

The greater part of the works we have spoken of are done by the convicts, and the Agricultural Society pays a fixed sum (eighty centimes a head) to government for their services. They generally have six hours' work every day: as one sees, this is not very hard, and every convict is happy to be removed from the galleys to this establishment.

In short, a visit to the Abbey of the Tre Fontane leaves a very favorable impression upon those who like to see moral

COUNT CONESTABILE.

From Macmillan's Magazine.
THE WIZARD'S SON.

CHAPTER XXIV.

and material improvement go on together. | house, Katie, though with in every way a Though the owners of this property are pronounced yet not unrefined Scotch acperhaps in a somewhat different condi- cent (as indeed in the wife of a Scotch tion from the other land-owners in the lord was very appropriate), would be territory, because they have plenty of quite equal to the position. And peace workmen, who could not be found for would come with her: no young man the whole year without great difficulty, could do more for his family than bring we may certainly put them forward as such an accession of fortune into it. It an example to show that the Campagna would probably save him from further Romana can and will be improved by vexation about small matters of the estime, perseverance, and capital. tate, and those persecutions about leases and investments to which he was now subject. This had been the one draw. back of his life since he had known Katie. He had been asked to decide on one side and another: he had concluded against Peter Thomson the sheep farmer, in sheer vexation with Shaw's importunity. He had thought more than once THINGS went on in this way till nearly that he saw old Milnathort shake his the end of July, when the parks were head, and was subject to the factor's outbrown like heather, and a great many peo- spoken blame. But if he brought Katie ple already had gone out of town. Those into the family, what would it matter who remained kept up their gayeties with about these small things? One or two a sort of desperation of energy, intent unsatisfactory tenants would be little in upon getting as much as possible out of comparison with that large addition of the limited time. And what with the fortune. And he liked Katie. In herself drawing closer of the bonds of society, she was very agreeable to him—a comand the additional fervor of the pace at panion whom he by no means wished to which everything went on, Walter spent lose. There was something in her inalmost his entire time in Katie's society, dependence, her almost boyishness, her meeting her everywhere, and being, by philosophies and questionings, which universal consent, constituted her partner made her unlike any other girl with whom and escort wherever they did meet. She he had ever been brought into contact. had half begun to wonder herself that The thing was not that they were in love nothing further came of it, and that he with each other, but that they could get did not speak the words which would set- on quite well together. Notwithstanding, tle every question, so far at least as he Walter, being quite content with the cirwas concerned. Miss Williamson, for cumstances as they were, took no new her own part, reserved her personal free-step, but let the course of events run on dom. She would not say even to herself day by day. that she had finally made up her mind. They had gone together to one of the She would see what he had to say for last celebrations of the waning season — himself and then- But Katie was the evening reception at the Royal Acadvery prudent, and would not be prema- emy. Everybody who was in town was ture. Walter, too, rather wondered at there; and Walter, who had now an himself that he did nothing conclusive. abundance of acquaintances, went from He perceived for the first time in his life one group to another, paying his respects that the position was not one which could to the ladies, but always keeping somebe glided over, which he could terminate where within reach of the Williamsons, simply by going away. He had come to with whom he had come. Katie expected that, that Katie must cut the knot, not he: him to be within reach. It had come to or else, which was most likely, bind it be a habit with her to look round for Lord closer. She was a girl of whom nobody Erradeen, to beg him to get her what could think lightly — not a good girl only, she wanted, to take her to this or that. but a little personage, of distinct impor- Her father always most dutiful in attendtance. No doubt she would make such a ance, yet naturally found persons of his wife as a man might be very well satisfied own age to talk with; and he was apt to with, and even proud of in his way. She say foolish things about the pictures, and was even pretty. enough: she was clever, say them at the top of his voice, which and very well able to hold her own. At made Katie cautious not to direct his atthe head of a table, at the head of a great |

tention to them more than was necessary;

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