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48
or defective gi-owth of one species may have a chance of being compensated by the
growth of that or those adjoining ; so that, if a malady were to attack one sort of
tree, it might not lead to continuous defalcation. Most of those trees Avcre planted by
the late Villorcsi, avIio, before the political changes in 1 8 1 5 , had constantly under his
dh-Qction not fewer than three thousand men for public and royal improvements.
138. The timber trees o f the native forests of Italy are chiefly oak, chestnut, and beech ;
the undergrowths are of numerous species, including the A'rbutus, Quercus, i'le x , and
myrtle. This class of forests sku'ts tlie Alpine mountains, and covers, in many places,
the Apemiine hills. In higher regions the larch abounds, and in sheltered dells the
silver flr. The stone and cluster pine are confined to the lower regions, as the hills of
Tuscany, tiie vales of Arno, Tiber, &c.
139. Hedges are in general use m Italy, but are very imperfectly formed and managed.
In Lombardy the haivthorn is a good deal used ; but in Tuscany, the States of the
Church, and those paits of the Neapolitan ten-itory
, which are hedged, the Paliùriis vulgims { fg . 30.)
is the prevailing plant ; mixed, however, with the
Pyracaiitha, pomegranate, myitle, Asparagus retro-
fractus, wild roses, bramWes, hazels, reeds, &c. and
seldom without gaps and holes, open or filled up
with dead bxishes or reeds. The willow alone often
forms a hedge in Lombardy, where the shoots are
valuable for tying up the vine. Between Tema-
cina and Mola, Spence found the hedges mostly
composed of laurustinus, sweet bay, and myrtle;
while the banks were covered with P ric a arbòrea,
Asphódelus ramòsus, P 'c h ium itàlicum, Nònea
bulìàta. See,. Sec., all in fidi floAvcr, in the first week of Mai'ch, 1832. {Gard. Mag.,
vol. viii.) The hedges in Sicily are frequently
formed by Agave americana, whicli,
Wood informs us, makes an excellent
fence for one or two years before flowering
; yet, as the old plant dies immediately
afterwards, two or three years elapse before
the offsets are sufficiently advanced to supply
its place effectually. The cactus is also
employed as a fence ; but after some time the
lower parts of the stem lose their prickles,
and men and animals may creep through.
{Letters o f an Architect, vol. i. p. 354.)
140. The principal hardy trees for wliich Britain is indebted to Italy are the larch, the
stone pine (L?5'. 31.), and other pines, the evergreen oak, the sweet bay, the A 'rbutus, and
the Lombardy poplar, for though the last has been said to be a native of the east, and
only introduced into Italy about two centuries ago, there can be little doubt that it was
from Italy that it was first brought to Great Britain.
S u b s e c t . 5. Italian Gardening, as eiiipiricalhj practised.
141. Gardens in Italy areconimon to the rural class o f citizens. I t is a general remark
of travellers, and of acknowledged truth, that the state of cottage gai-dens indicates the
state of the cottagers ; and those of Ita ly confirm the justness of the observation. Almost
the only plants grown in them are gourds and Indian corn. In Tuscany and Lombardy
some of the cabbage tribe, the kidney-bean, and occasionally the potato, are to be seen,
but rarely any thing else. The gardens of the fai-mers are somewhat better, especially in
the northern districts, where they often contain patches of hemp, potatoes, parsneps, and
lettuce, witli some flowers, and fruit trees. The gardens of the small proprietors ai-e still
better stocked ; those of wealthy bankers and merchants are generally the best in Italy.
The gardens of the more wealthy nobles arc distinguished as such, by having more or
less of an accompanying pai-k ; but generally are only superior by their extent. The
gardens of the convents are, in general, well cultivated, and rich in ftnits and culinary
vegetables, with some flowers and evergi-eens for church decorations. The priests assist
in then- cultivation, and some of them are much attached to gai-dening.
142. For commercial purposes gardening is chiefly practised by market-gardeners, who
also grow flowers, act as orchardists, and often make wine. There are hardly any
nurseries for trees and shrubs in Italy, if we except those principally for orange trees at
Genoa, Leghorn, and Nervi, and two small ones for general pm-poses at Milan. Those
who form new gardens are chiefly supplied from France, or from their ft-iends, or from
the proprietors of private gardens ; most of whom sell whatever they have to spare.
143. Market gardens, of more or less extent, are to be found in the neighboui’hood of
all the large cities; and every farm is more or less an orchard. The gardens round
Genoa are celebrated for oranges and chestnuts; those round Florence for peaches and
chciTies ; round Naples for figs and tomatoes. There are several market gai-dens within
the waUs of ancient Rome ; and Galiffe informs us {Italy, See., p. 294.) that the man who
farms the Farnese Gardens, on Mount Palatine, has a yeai-ly crop of 30,000 artichokes,
and other vegetables in proportion. By far the larger portion of the market
gardens of Rome, Spence observes {Gard. Mag., vol. viii.), are within the walls
of the ancient city, which are twelve or fom-teen miles in circuit, without having more
than one third of the enclosed space covered with houses. On the Naples road, as
witliin the gates, they present the same general features: industi-ious though not very
neat cultivation, and the soil kept constantly cropped under great breadths of lettuces,
endive, leeks, broccoli, superb caulifloAvers; and especially two articles which occupy
more space than all the rest, riz. gobbo and fennel. Gobbo (hunchback) is the appellation
which the Italians, in their AveU-known love of nicknames, have given to the
gibbous footstalks of the first set of leaves, just as they branch from the ground, of a
variety of artichoke ; which are blanched by hoeing up the earth against them, and of
Avhich a far larger quantity is consumed than of the heads of the plants. A kind of
fennel called fnochio is cultivated to a great extent for precisely the same part of the
plant, namely, the blanched footstalks (and roots) of the first set of leaves ; and both it
and gobbo, when stewed in the Italian method, form excellent dishes. These finochio
roots and footstalks ai-e eaten also raw, as a salad, with oil and vinegar. What most
distinguish the Roman (and, indeed, Italian) gardens, fi-om those of Northern Europe,
are the shed, and wheel Avhich it covers for draAving uj) water, by means of an ass or ox,
from the adjoining well, for the piu-pose of irrigation; and the clumps of fine reeds
(Aruudo Donax), each fifteen or twenty feet high, and one inch in diameter, and as
strong as a bamboo of similar thickness (which they resemble), Avhich are employed as
props and trellises for vines, fences, garden-sticks, and various other uses. The vegetable
mai-kct of Naples, tlie same accurate observer found, in March, 1832, abounding Avith
the same vegetables which he had found in Rome, with an equal abundance of gobbo
and finochio roots, and green peas in greater plenty. Grapes, of several Am-ieties, kept
through the Avinter, were not much shriA’-eUed, and quite fr-ee from mouldiness. There
Avere tAvo or three sorts of apples, bnt only one of winter peai-s, as is tbe case also at
Florence, Pisa, and Rome, and apparently the same variety, Avhich is good, but hardly
so superexcell ent as to deserve to exclude all other kinds. Oranges, in glorious profusion
(chiefly fi-om SoiTento, fifteen miles distant), and so cheap, as to allow the poorest
of the poor to enjoy (what Dr. Johnson complained he had never had of peaches but
once) their fill of them, and that daily. The middle-sized ones (which are the best) sell
at four for a grano, which is at the rate of ten for a penny E n g lish ; and the poor get
twice as many of those b e ^ n n in g to decay. A brilliant display of flowers at the floAver-
stalls in the Toledo, consisting of roses, ranunculuses, anemones, cai-nations, stocks,
hjracinths, asphodels, &c. &e.
144. The operative p a rt o f gardening in Italy is perfoi-med more by labom-ers than by
regular apprentices and journeymen; and thus good practical gardeners are more the
result of accident than of design. The great defect of both is the want of a taste for
order and neatness. The Italians ai-e particularly unskilful in the management of plants
in p o ts ; and especially of such exotics as requii-e protection by glass. These are put into
houses with upright, or slightly inclining glass fi-onts, and opaque roofs; there they remain
during a Avinter of fi-om three to five months; want of light and air renders their
leaves yeUow and cadaverous; and Avhen they are taken out, they are placed in the
most exposed parts of the garden, often on parapets, benches, or stages. Here the
sudden excess of light soon causes them to lose then- leaves, which they have hardly time
to regain before the period arrives for replacing them in the conservatoi-y or hothouse.
We knoAv of few exceptions to tins censm-e, except at Monza and Caserta, where the
plants are kept in winter in glass-roofed houses, as in England, and placed out in summer
under the shade o f poplars, or liigh walls. Dr. Oct. Tozetti, professor of nu-al economy
a t Florence, who lectures in a garden, in which specimens are displayed of the leading
sorts of Italian field and garden culture, acknowledged to us, in 1819, the justness of this
remark.
145. The artists or professors are of two classes. First, the architects, who adopt the
rural branch of their art {architetti rustici), and who give plans for parks, chiefly or
almost entirely in the geometric style, to he executed under then- dfrection, and that of
the head gardener. Secondly, the artist-gardeners {artisti giardinieri), who are generally
the gardeners, or directors of gardens, of some great establishment, public or private,
and Avho give plans for gardens, chiefly in what is there considered the English manner,
also for kitchen-gardens; and, as in England, either dfrect by occasional visits, or un dertake
by contract, their execution and ftiture inspection.
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