Novara the fields are all in rice, and now mostly under water. The
dams separating the several water-plats or ponds, are set in willow. At
Novara there are some figs in the gardens in situations well protected.
From Novara to the Ticino it is mostly stony and waste, grown up in
broom. From Ticino to Milan it is all in corn. Among the corn are
willows, principally, a good many mulberries, some walnuts, and here
and there an almond. The country still a plain, the soil black and rich,
except between Novara and the Ticino, as before mentioned. There is very
fine pasture round Vercelli and Novara to the distance of two miles,
within which rice is not permitted. We cross the Sisto on the same
kind of vibrating or pendulum boat as on the Po. The river is eighty
or ninety yards wide; the rope fastened to an island two hundred yards
above, and supported by five intermediate canoes. It is about one and a
half inches in diameter. On these rivers they use a short oar of twelve
feet long, the flat end of which is hooped with iron, shooting out
a prong at each corner, so that it may be used occasionally as a
setting-pole. There is snow on the Apennines, near Genoa. They have
still another method here of planting the vine. Along rows of trees,
they lash poles from tree to tree. Between the trees, are set vines,
which, passing over the pole, are carried on to the pole of the,
next tree, whose vines are in like manner brought to this, and twined
together; thus forming the intervals between the rows of trees,
alternately, into arbors and open space. They have another method also
of making quick-set hedges. Willows are planted from one to two feet
apart, and interlaced, so that every one is crossed by three or four
others.
April 21, 22. _Milan_. Figs and pomegranates grow here, unsheltered,
as I am told. I saw none, and therefore suppose them rare. They had
formerly olives; but a great cold, in 1709, killed them, and they have
not been replanted. Among a great many houses painted _al fresco_, the
Casa Roma and Casa Candiani, by Appiani, and Casa Belgioiosa, by Martin,
are superior. In the second, is a small cabinet, the ceiling of which
is in small hexagons, within which are cameos and heads painted
alternately, no two the same. The _salon_ of the Casa-Belgioiosa is
superior to any thing 1 have ever seen. The mixture called _scagliuola_,
of which they make their walls and floors, is so like the finest marble,
as to be scarcely distinguishable from it. The nights of the 20th and
21st instant, the rice ponds froze half an inch thick. Droughts of two
or three months are not uncommon here, in summer. About five years ago,
there was such a hail as to kill cats. The Count del Verme tells me of
a pendulum odometer for the wheel of a carriage. Leases here are mostly
for nine years. Wheat costs a louis d’or the one hundred and forty
pounds. A laboring man receives sixty livres, and is fed and lodged. The
trade of this country is principally rice, raw silk, and cheese.
April 23. _Casino_, five miles from Milan. I examined another
rice-beater of six pestles. They are eight feet nine inches long. Their
ends, instead of being a truncated cone, have nine teeth of iron, bound
closely together. Each tooth is a double pyramid, joined at the base.
When put together, they stand with the upper ends placed in contact, so
as to form them into one great cone, and the lower ends diverging. The
upper are socketed into the end of the pestle, and the lower, when a
little blunted by use, are not unlike the jaw-teeth of the mammoth, with
their studs. They say here, that pestles armed with these teeth, clean
the rice faster, and break it less. The mortar, too, is of stone, which
is supposed as good as wood, and more durable. One half of these
pestles are always up. They rise about twenty-one inches; and each makes
thirty-eight strokes in a minute; one hundred pounds of rough rice is
put into the six mortars, and beaten somewhat less than a quarter of
an hour. It is then taken out, put into a sifter of four feet diameter,
suspended horizontally; sifted there; shifted into another of the same
size; sifted there; returned to the mortars; beaten a little more than
a quarter of an hour; sifted again; and it is finished. The six pestles
will clear four thousand pounds in twenty-four hours. The pound here
is twenty-eight ounces: the ounce equal to that of Paris. The best rice
requires half an hour’s boiling; a more indifferent kind, somewhat less.
To sow the rice, they first plough the ground, then level it with a
drag-harrow, and let on the water; when the earth has become soft, they
smooth it with a shovel under the water, and then sow the rice in the
water.
_Rozzano_. Parmesan cheese. It is supposed this was formerly made at
Parma, and took its name thence; but none is made there now. It is made
through all the country extending from Milan, for one hundred and fifty
miles. The most is made about Lodi. The making of butter being connected
with that of making cheese, both must be described together. There are,
in the stables I saw, eighty-five cows, fed on hay and grass, not on
grain. They are milked twice in twenty-four hours, ten cows yielding
at the two milkings a _brenta_ of milk, which is twenty-four of our
gallons. The night’s milk is scummed in the morning at daybreak, when
the cows are milked again, and the new milk mixed with the old. In three
hours, the whole mass is scummed a second time, the milk remaining in
a kettle for cheese, and the cream being put into a cylindrical churn,
shaped like a grind-stone, eighteen inches radius, and fourteen inches
thick. In this churn, there are three staves pointing inwardly, endwise,
to break the current of the milk. Through its centre passes an iron
axis, with a handle at each end. It is turned, about an hour and an
half, by two men, till the butter is produced. Then they pour off the
butter-milk, and put in some water which they agitate backwards and
forwards about a minute, and pour it off. They take out the butter,
press it with their hands into loaves, and stamp it. It has no other
washing. Sixteen American gallons of milk yield fifteen pounds of
butter, which sell at twenty-four sous the pound.
The milk, which, after being scummed as before, had been put into
a copper kettle, receives its due quantity of rennet, and is gently
warmed, if the season requires it. In about four hours, it becomes a
slip. Then the whey begins to separate. A little, of it is taken out.
The curd is then thoroughly broken by a machine like a chocolate-mill. A
quarter of an ounce of saffron is put to seven brentas of milk, to
give color to the cheese. The kettle is then moved over the hearth, and
heated by a quick fire till the curd is hard enough, being broken into
small lumps by continued stirring. It is moved off the fire, most of the
whey taken out, the curd compressed into a globe by the hand, a linen
cloth slipped under it, and it is drawn out in that. A loose hoop is
then laid on a bench, and the curd, as wrapped in the linen, is put into
the hoop: it is a little pressed by the hand, the hoop drawn tight,
and made fast. A board, two inches thick, is laid on it, and a stone on
that, of about twenty pounds weight. In an hour, the whey is run off,
and the cheese finished. They sprinkle a little salt on it every other
day in summer, and every day in winter, for six weeks. Seven _brentas_
of milk make a cheese of fifty pounds, which requires six months to
ripen, and is then dried to forty-five pounds. It sells on the spot for
eighty-eight livres, the one hundred pounds. There are now one hundred
and fifty cheeses in this dairy. They are nineteen inches diameter, and
six inches thick. They make a cheese a day, in summer, and two in three
days, or one in two days, in winter.
The whey is put back into the kettle, the butter-milk poured into it,
and of this, they make a poor cheese for the country people. The whey of
this is given to the hogs. Eight men suffice to keep the cows, and to do
all the business of this dairy. _Mascarponi_, a kind of curd, is made
by pouring some butter-milk into cream, which is thereby curdled, and is
then pressed in a linen cloth.
The ice-houses at Rozzano are dug about fifteen feet deep, and twenty
feet diameter, and poles are driven down all round. A conical thatched
roof is then put over them, fifteen feet high, and pieces of wood are
laid at bottom, to keep the ice out of the water which drips from it,
and goes off by a sink. Straw is laid on this wood, and then the house
filled with ice, always putting straw between the ice and the walls, and
covering ultimately with straw. About a third is lost by melting. Snow
gives the most delicate flavor to creams; but ice is the most
powerful congealer, and lasts longest. A tuft of trees surrounds these
ice-houses.
Round Milan, to the distance of five miles, are corn, pasture, gardens,
mulberries, willows, and vines. For, in this state, rice ponds are not
permitted within five miles of the cities.
_Binasco. Pavia_. Near Casino the rice-ponds begin, and continue to
within five miles of Pavia, the whole ground being in rice, pasture, and
willows. The pasture is in the rice grounds which are resting. In the
neighborhood of Pavia, again, are corn, pasture, &c. as round Milan.
They gave me green pease at Pavia.
April 24. _Voghera. Tortona. Novi_. From Pavia to Novi corn, pasture,
vines, mulberries, willows; but no rice. The country continues plain,
except that the Apennines are approaching on the left. The soil, always
good, is dark till we approach Novi, and then red. We cross the Po where
it is three hundred yards wide, in a pendulum boat. The rope is fastened
on one side of the river, three hundred yards above, and supported by
eight intermediate canoes, with little masts in them to give a greater
elevation to the rope. We pass in eleven minutes. Women, girls, and boys
are working with the hoe, and breaking the clods with mauls.
April 25. _Voltaggio. Campo-Marone. Genoa_. At Novi, the Apennines begin
to rise. Their growth of timber is oak, tall, small, and knotty, and
chestnut. We soon lose the walnut, ascending, and find it again, about
one fourth of the way down, on the south side. About halfway down, we
find figs and vines, which continue fine and in great abundance. The
Apennines are mostly covered with soil, and are in corn, pasture,
mulberries and figs, in the parts before indicated. About half way from
their foot to Genoa, at Campo-Marone, we find again the olive tree.
Hence the produce becomes mixed, of all the kinds before mentioned. The
method of sowing the Indian corn at Campo-Marone, is as follows. With
a hoe shaped like the blade of a trowel, two feet long, and six inches
broad at its upper end, pointed below, and a little curved, they make
a trench. In that, they drop the grains six inches apart. Then two feet
from that, they make another trench, throwing the earth they take out of
that on the grain of the last one, with a singular slight and quickness;
and so through the whole piece. The last trench is filled with the earth
adjoining.
April 26. _Genoa_. Strawberries at Genoa. Scaffold poles for the upper
parts of a wall, as for the third story, rest on the window sills of the
story below. Slate is used here for paving, for steps, for stairs (the
rise as well as tread), and for fixed Venetian blinds. At the Palazzo
Marcello Durazzo, benches with straight legs, and bottoms of cane. At
the Palazzo del Prencipe Lomellino, at Sestri, a phaeton with a canopy.
At the former, tables folding into one plane. At Nervi they have pease,
strawberries, &c. all the year round. The gardens of the Count Durazzo
at Nervi, exhibit as rich a mixture of the _utile dulci_, as I ever
saw. All the environs in Genoa are in olives, figs, oranges, mulberries,
corn, and garden-stuff. Aloes in many places, but they never flower.
April 28. _Noli_. The Apennine and Alps appear to me to be one and the
same continued ridge of mountains, separating every where the waters
of the Adriatic Gulf from those of the Mediterranean. Where it forms an
elbow, touching the Mediterranean, as a smaller circle touches a larger,
within which it is inscribed, in the manner of a tangent, the name
changes from Alps to Apennine. It is the beginning of the Apennine which
constitutes the state of Genoa, the mountains there generally falling
down in barren, naked precipices into the sea. Wherever there is soil
on the lower parts, it is principally in olives and figs, in vines also,
mulberries, and corn. Where there are hollows well protected, there
are oranges. This is the case at Golfo della Spezia, Sestri, Bugiasco,
Nervi, Genoa, Pegli, Savona, Finale, Oneglia (where there are
abundance), St. Rerno, Ventimiglia, Mentone, and Monaco. Noli, into
which I was obliged to put, by a change of wind, is forty miles from
Genoa. There are twelve hundred inhabitants in the village, and many
separate houses round about. One of the precipices hanging over the sea,
is covered with aloes. But neither here, nor any where else I have been,
could I procure satisfactory information that they ever flower. The
current of testimony is to the contrary. Noli furnishes many fishermen.
Paths penetrate up into the mountains in several directions, about three
fourths of a mile; but these are practicable only for asses and mules. I
saw no cattle nor sheep in the settlement. The wine they make, is white
and indifferent. A curious cruet for oil and vinegar in one piece, I saw
here. A bishop resides here, whose revenue is two thousand livres, equal
to sixty-six guineas. I heard a nightingale here.
April 29. _Albenga_. In walking along the shore from Louano to this
place, I saw no appearance of shells. The tops of the mountains are
covered with snow, while there are olive trees, &c. on the lower parts.
I do not remember to have seen assigned any where, the cause of the
apparent color of the sea. Its water is generally clear and colorless,
if taken up and viewed in a glass. That of the Mediterranean is
remarkably so. Yet in the mass, it assumes, _by reflection_, the color
of the sky or atmosphere, black, green, blue, according to the state of
the weather. If any person wished to retire from his acquaintance, to
live absolutely unknown, and yet in the midst of physical enjoyments,
it should be in some of the little villages of this coast, where air,
water, and earth concur to offer what each has, most precious. Here are
nightingales, beccaficas, ortolans, pheasants, partridges, quails, a
superb climate, and the power of changing it from summer to winter at
any moment, by ascending the mountains. The earth furnishes wine, oil,
figs, oranges, and every production of the garden, in every season. The
sea yields lobsters, crabs, oysters, tunny, sardines, anchovies, &c.
Ortolans sell, at this time, at thirty sous, equal to one shilling
sterling, the dozen. At this season, they must be fattened. Through the
whole of my route from Marseilles, I observe they plant a great deal
of cane or reed, which is convenient while growing, as a cover from
the cold and boisterous winds, and when cut, it serves for espaliers to
vines, pease, &c. Through Piedmont, Lombardy, the Milanese, and Genoese,
the garden bean is a great article of culture; almost as much so as
corn. At Albenga, is a rich plain opening from between two ridges of
mountains, triangularly, to the sea, and of several miles extent. Its
growth is olives, figs, mulberries, vines, corn, and beans. There is
some pasture. A bishop resides here, whose revenue is forty thousand
livres. This place is said to be rendered unhealthy in summer, by the
river which passes through the valley.
April 30. _Oneglia_. The wind continuing contrary, I took mules at
Albenga for Oneglia. Along this tract are many of the tree called
_caroubier_, being a species of locust. It is the _ceratonia siliqua_
of Linnaeus. Its pods furnish food for horses, and also for the poor,
in time of scarcity. It abounds in Naples and Spain. Oneglia and Port
Maurice, which are within a mile of each other, are considerable places,
and in a rich country. At St. Remo, are abundance of oranges and lemons,
and some palm trees.
May 1. _Ventimiglia. Mentone. Monaco. Nice_. At Bordighera, between
Ventimiglia and Mentone, are extensive plantations of palms, on the
hill as well as in the plain. They bring fruit, but it does not ripen.
Something is made of the midrib which is in great demand at Rome, on the
Palm Sunday, and which renders this tree profitable here. From Mentone
to Monaco, there is more good land, and extensive groves of oranges and
lemons. Orange water sells here at forty sous, equal to sixteen pence
sterling, the American quart. The distances on this coast are, from
La Spezia, at the eastern end of the territories of Genoa, to Genoa,
fifty-five miles, geometrical; to Savona, thirty; Albenga, thirty;
Oneglia, twenty; Ventimiglia, twenty-five; Monaco, ten; Nice, ten; in
the whole, one hundred and eighty miles. A superb road might be made
along the margin of the sea from La Spezai, where the champaign country
of Italy opens, to Nice, where the Alps go off northwardly, and the post
roads of France begin; and it might even follow the margin of the sea
quite to Cette. By this road, travellers would enter Italy without
crossing the Alps, and all the little insulated villages of the Genoese
would communicate together, and in time, form one continued village
along that road.
May 3. _Luc, Brignoles. Tourves. Pourcieux. La Galiniere_. Long, small
mountains, very rocky, the soil reddish, from bad to middling; in
olives, grapes, mulberries, vines, and corn. Brignolles is an extensive
plain, between two ridges of mountains, and along a water-course which
continues to Tourves. Thence to Pourcieux we cross a mountain, low and
easy. The country is rocky and poor. To La Galiniere are waving grounds,
bounded by mountains of rock at a little distance. There are some
enclosures of dry wall from Luc to La Galiniere; also, sheep and hogs.
There is snow on the high mountains. I see no plums in the vicinities
of Brignoles; which makes me conjecture that the celebrated plum of that
name is not derived from this place.
May 8. _Orgon. Avignon. Vaucluse_. Orgon is on the Durance. From thence,
its plain opens till it becomes common with that of the Rhone; so that
from Orgon to Avignon is entirely a plain of rich dark loam, which is in
willows, mulberries, vines, corn, and pasture. A very few figs. I see no
olives in this plain. Probably the cold winds have too much power here.
From the Bac de Nova (where we cross the Durance) to Avignon, is about
nine American miles; and from the same Bac to Vaucluse, eleven miles.
In the valley of Vaucluse, and on the hills impending over it, are olive
trees. The stream issuing from the fountain of Vaucluse is about twenty
yards wide, four or five feet deep, and of such rapidity that it could
not be stemmed by a canoe. They are now mowing hay, and gathering
mulberry leaves. The high mountains just back of Vaucluse, are covered
with snow. Fine trout in the stream of Vaucluse, and the valley abounds
peculiarly with nightingales. The _vin blanc_ de M. de Rochequde of
Avignon, resembles dry Lisbon. He sells it, at six years old, for
twenty-two sous the bottle, the price of the bottle, &c. included.
_Avignon. Remoulins_. Some good plains, but generally hills, stony and
poor. In olives, mulberries, vines, and corn. Where it is waste the
growth is _chéne-vert_, box, furze, thyme, and rosemary.
May 10. _Lismes. Lunel_. Hills on the right, plains on the left. The
soil reddish, a little stony, and of middling quality. The produce,
olives, mulberries, vines, corn, saintfoin. No wood and few enclosures.
Lunel is famous for its _vin de muscat blanc_, thence called Lunel,
or _vin muscat de Lunel_. It is made from the raisin muscat, without
fermenting the grain in the hopper. When fermented, it makes a red
muscat, taking the tinge from the dissolution of the skin of the grape,
which injures the quality. When a red muscat is required, they prefer
coloring it with a little Alicant wine. But the white is best. The
_pièce_ of two hundred and forty bottles, after being properly drawn off
from its lees, and ready for bottling, costs from one hundred and twenty
to two hundred livres, the first, quality and last vintage. It cannot be
bought old, the demand being sufficient to take it all the first year.
There are not more than from fifty to one hundred _pièces_ a year, made
of this first quality. A _setterie_ yields about one _pièce_, and my
informer supposes there are about two _setteries_ in an arpent. Portage
to Paris, by land, is fifteen livres the quintal. The best _récoltes_
are those of M. Bouquet and M. Tremoulet. The vines are in rows four
feet apart, every way.
May 11. _Montpelier_. Snow on the Cevennes, still visible from here.
With respect to the muscat grape, of which the wine is made, there are
two kinds, the red and the white. The first has a red skin, but a white
juice. If it be fermented in the _cuve_, the coloring matter which
resides in the skin, is imparted to the wine. If not fermented in the
_cuve_, the wine is white. Of the white grape, only a white wine can
be made. The species of saintfoin cultivated here by the name of
_sparsette_, is the _hedysarum onobrychis_. They cultivate a great
deal of madder (_garance_) _rubia tinctorum_ here, which is said to
be immensely profitable. Monsieur de Gouan tells me, that the pine,
of which they use the burs for fuel, is the _pinus sativus_, being
two-leaved. They use-for an edging to the borders of their gardens, the
santolina, which they call _garderobe_. I find the yellow clover here,
in a garden, and the large pigeon succeeding well, confined in a house.