"íiij
HISTORY OP GARDENING.
29
Kernel fr u its in general, especially pears, are excellent in the north of Italy, but indifferent in the
warmer regions. Services, in considerable variety, abound m Piedmont, and part of Lombardy. In
Sardinia the quince attains a very large size ; many have been gathered m ore than two pounds, and some
more than three pounds in weight. T h e kernels of th e Plnus P in c a are produced generally a t the
dessert throughout Italy. They are much esteemed, and bear a high price. , , ,
Nuts. T h e chestnut is wild on the Apennines, and cultivated throughout th e central and northern
hilly regions of Italy. The best varieties in Tuscany and about Genoa and Savona are propagated by
budding. Chabrol de Volvic informs us that the varieties of tho sweet chestnut are between fifty and
sixty ill n um b er; and that the fruit about Savona, as in different parts of the Apennines, forms a
nriiicipal source of nourishment for the mountain population. T h e people eat the chestnuts either with
milk or water, fresh in autumn, or kiln-dried in winter and spring ^{fstaiisttqj^s des Provinces de Savona,
&c.) In many parts of Italy fiour is made from chestnuts ; and m the coffee-hou^s of Lucca, pates,
muffins, tarts, and other articles are made of this flour, and considered delicate. The walnut is cultivated
extensively in Savoy, where, as Bakewell informs us, in his very instructive Travels, it is crushed
for oil, which is much used by landscape painters. . . u-i j
The pine-apple is cultivated in a few places in Italy, but with little success, except at Florence and
Monza In 1819 there were a few in th e royal gardens a t Portici, but weak, yellow-leaved, and covered
with insects. The few grown in th e Pope’s garden, and in one or two other villas near Ifome, were
little better. By far the best and greatest quantity we found in th e viceroyal gardens of Monza. A
former king of Sardinia sent his gardener, Brochieri, to England, to study the culture of pme-apples. He
returned and in 1777 published a tract on them, with a plan of a p it for their re ception; and ni this way
they are universally grown in Italy. Such, however, is th e exhalation produced in this dry climate from
K f s o full of pm is as are those of th e pine, and such th e want of attention to supplying large pots
and plenty of water, th a t the plants are generally of a pale sickly hue, and th e fruit of a very small size.
Ofthe melon tribe th e variety in Italy is endless, of every degree of flavour, from the richness of the
cantaloupe, to the cool, icy, sub-acid taste of th e citrouille, or water-melon._ Too little care is bestowed
in selecting good fruits for seeds, and preventing hybridisni from the promiscuous intercourse with surrounding
v arieties; and hence, seeds sent from Italy to this coimtry are little to be depended on, and
generally produce varieties inferior to those of British growth. There are few sorts of cucumbers; and
though there is a great number of gourds and pompions cultivated, th e sorts, or conspicuous varieties, of
both are less numerous than in this country. W i a n cucumbers are never so succulent as those grown
in our humid frames by dung heat.
131 Want o f demand for the fru its o fth e northern climates precludes their production.
Were it otherwise, there can be no doubt means would soon be resorted to, for producing
them in as great perfection as we do the fmits of southern climates h e re ; all that is
necessary is to imitate our climate, by abstracting or excluding heat, and supplying
moisture; but luxury in Italy has not yet arrived to the degi*ee adequate to produce
this effect. , , „ , , ,
132. O f culinary vegetables, t\\o Italians began Avith those left them by the Romans,
and they added the potato to their number, not long after we did. They now possess
all the sorts known .in this country, and use some plants as salads, such as the succory,
oxeye daisy (Chrysánthemum leucánthemum), ruceóla or rocket (F ru c a sativa), which
arc little used hero. A t Rome, the roots of a kind of fennel, trliioh grow there to
a large size, are eaten as we do celery. (See § 143.) The turnip and caiTot tnhe, and
the cabbage, savoy, lettuce, and radish, thrive best in the northern parts ; but the potato
DTOws well every where, and the Italian autumn is favourable to the growth of cauliflowers
and broccolis, which are found of large size at Rome, Florence, and Bologna, in the
months of September and October ; and very large at Milan, aU the summer and autumn.
Evelyn mentions, th a t in his time the Itahans roasted the bulbs of Ormthogaliun,
especially the wild yellow sort, and ate them with oil, vinegar, and pepper. The tubers
of Cypenis csculéntus they both roast, and use in soups. Near Pavia, the fagiuoli, a
species of Dólichos, the lentU (FJ'rvum ié n s ) , and the Cicer arietinum are cidtiyated ;
the latter produces a saline exhalation from the stalks at the summer solstice, which is
used as a remedy iu cutaneous diseases. {Cadell’s Travels, &c., p. 125.) The Icgumiiious
tribe thrive every where ; but in some places the entire pod of the kidncy-bcan
is so dry and hai'd, as to prevent its use as a substitute for peas. In short, though the
Italians have the advantage oiær the rest of Euroiic in Ifiiits, that good is greatly counterbalanced
by the inferiority of then culinary vegetables. Much to remedy the defect
might be done by judicious inigation, Avhich in the south of Italy, and even in Lombardy,
is so far necessary as to enter into the arrangement of ci'ery kitchen-garden. Shading,
blanching, and change of seed would effect much ; but the value of good culinary
vegetables is not known to the greater part of the wealthy Italians.
The love apple, egg plant, and capsicum are extensively cultivated near Rome and Naples for the
kitchen; the truit of the first attaining a large size, and exhibiting the most grotesque forms. It is
singular that, in Sicily, this fruit, when ripe, becomes sour, and so unfit for use, that th e inhabitants arc
supplied with it from Naples.
The culture o f edible fu n g i in Italy is somewhat remarkable. At Naples, a stone called the pieira
is made use of to produce the jPolètus Tuberaster. At Brescia th e /im a n lta incarnàta is produced
from its own fragments bruised. The zigaricus ostreàtus is produced at pleasure from the husks
of the berries of the sweet bay, after they have been boiled in order to extract the oil. T h e husks arc
buried in a trench, firmly pressed down, and a layer of earth about six inches thick is placed over them,
and also firmly pressed. The bed is guarded from excessive rains. It will produce mushrooms during
the October, November, and December of that, and of the two succeeding years. About January, mushrooms
are produced in a similar manner, by using th e remains of olives which have been pressed for oil,
instead of the husks of sweet bay berries. In the north of Italy, and in the Landes in the south of
France, the gardeners water the earth under oak trees with water in which has been boiled the 5olètus
edùlis, and this is said to produce an abundant crop of that species. {Bull, des Sciences Agr., Oct. 1827.)
133. Bees arc kept in most parts of Italy in straw hives, similar to those in use in
Britain. They are also kept in wooden boxes of various kinds ; and in the neighbour-
liood of Placentia, Cadell informs us, the hives are ibrmed of the hollow trunk of a tree
one foot in diameter, and two feet high. These hives ai-e placed on a shelf fixed to the
outer wall of the house, high up, being eight or ten feet from the ground. ( Travels, &c.,
vol. ii. p. 144.) Sai-dinia has long been celebrated for its bees, one species of Avhich
produces a bitter honey. {Azuni, H is t, &c.)
134. Ice-houses are common in Italy, and in that country, as in Britain, are generally
under the care of the gardener. They ai’c usually sunk deep in dry ground or rock,
and their entrance protected from the exterior air by a quantity, of loose straw.
Besides the ordinary domestic piu-poses to wliich ice is applied in Britain, it is used in
Italy to preserve fish, meat, and vegetables, fresh. These arc caiTied to the ice-house in
appropriate vessels, and set down upon the ice.
135. Horticulture has made little progress in Italy. I t is not in Italy, Simond observes,
that horticulture is to be studied ; though nowhere is more produced from the soil by
culture, manm-e, and water : hut forcing or prolonging crops is unknown ; eveiy thing
is sown at a certain season, and grows up, ripens, and perishes together. The variety is
not great ; they have only tlu'cc or foim sorts of cabbage, not more of kidney-beans, and
one of pea ; the red and white beet, salsify, scorzonera, chervil, somel, onion, shallot,
and Jcrasalem artichoke, arc in many parts unknown ; hut they have the cocomcra, or
Avater-melon, every where. In Tuscany and Lombardy, it is raised on dung, and then
transplanted in the fields ; and its sugary, icy pulp fonns the delight of the Italians dm-ing
the whole month of August. Though they have ivaUs round some gai-dens, they ai-e
in many places ignorant of the mode of training trees on tlicm. {Tableau de VAgriculture
Toscane, 8vo, 1801.)
136. The horticultural articles ivitli whicli Italy supplies Britain are chiefly the seeds
of cauiifloAvers, of broccoli, of lettuce, and sometimes of onions. Orange trees have been
included under floricultural productions.
S u b s e c t . 4. Italian Gardening, in respect to the planting o f Timber Trees and Hedges.
137. The self-sown forests o f the Alps and Apennines are the chief resources of the
Italians for timber ; and timber trees are chiefly propagated for parks, public walks, and
lining the gi-eat roads. The vine is still, in many places, trained on the poplar and
elm ; but in Tuscany and Lombardy, where the cultiu-e is deemed superior, the
common maple (A'cer campestre) and flowering ash (O'rnus curopæ'a) are preferred.
(Sismondi, Tab. de I’Agr. Toscane; Chateauvieux, Lettres, &c., 1812.) In Sicily, plantations
of the manna tree are numerous and extensive : on the very worst of soils, even
mere beds of stones, each tree, Hoare informs us, produces manna to the value of an ounce
of gold. {Class. Tour, &c., p. 334.) The most common tree for eveiy other pm-pose is
the naiTOAA^-leaved elm, whieh lines the road fi-om Rome to Naples, for upAvai’ds oi
twenty miles together. Near Milan, the Lombardy poplar is a gi-eat deal used ; but a
late author, Gautieri {Dello Influsso delli Boschi, &c., 1817), ai-gues in favour of cutting
down, rather than planting, in the Milanese plains. The finest avenues and publié
equestrian promenades in Italy are those around Milan and at Monza ; the trees ai-e of
vai-ious sorts, as the tulip tree, Platanus, lime, Acacia, ilfolia Azedardcli, various oaks,
chestnuts, beeches, &c. The sorts are every where mixed, in order that tho failure