New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-07-11
CHANCES AT EUROPE. No. XXI.
sARDINIA-ITALY-FREED
Editorial Correspond OF me IIlouhe'
genoa, 1taly,) June p, 1881.

GENOA. ltaly) June y, 1871
The Kingdom of Sardinia was formed,
after the overthrow Of Napoleon, by The UNION OF
Genoa and It's dependencies, and the island
If Sardinia. with the ancient Kingdom OF Pied
mont and Savoy, to whose long exlled Royal
house was restored dominion thus largely e1-
tended That dominion has since stood IN
changed. and NAV be roughly said to embrace
the North Western fourth of Italy, including Sa-
WOW. which belongs geographically ana naturally
10 Switzerland. but which forms very strong
barrier against invasion from the side OF France.
SAVOY is almost entirely watered by tributaries
of the Rhone, and so might be SAID to belong
naturally 10 France rather than 10 Italy, regard
ing the crests of the Alps as the proper line OF
demarcation between them. It's trade, small at
any rate, is OF necessity mainly with France,
very slightly, save on the immediate sea-coast,
with Genoa or Piedmont. Its language Is French.
Though peopled nearly to the limit OF Its capacl-
~. the whole number of us inhabitants can
hardly exceed Half Million, nine'tenths of Its
entire surface being covered with sterile, IN
tractable mountains. Savoy must always he a
moor country, with inconsiderablc commerce or
manufactures. (or though It's water-power Is IN
eShanstible its means of communication must
ever be among the worst,) and seems to nave
becn created mainly as a barrier against that
guilty ambition which impols rulers and Chief
tains to coyet and invade territories which reJect
and resist their sway. Alas that the Providen-
tial design, though so palpa5le, should be so
often disregarded Doubtless, the lives lost
from age to age by mere hardship, prlyatIon and
exposure during the passage OF invading armies
through SAVOY would Outnumber the whole pres
ent population of the country.
Descending the Alps to the east or south IN
70 PIEDMONT. a new world lies around and be-
fore YOU. You have passed in two hours from
the Arctic circle to the Tropics-from Lapland
10 Cuba. The snOw-cresed mountains are still
in sight, and seem in the clear atmosphere to be
very near you even when forty or fifty miles DIS
tant, but you are traveTSlng spacious pam
which slopes imperceptlbly to the Pc, and Is
matched by one nearly as level on the other side
This great central plain of Italy, with the 10 III
its center, commences at the foot OF the lower
Alps very near the Mediterranean, far west o
Turn and OF Genoa, and stretches across the
widest portion OF the peninsula TIL 1t Is lost III
the Adriatic. The western half of this great
valley is Piedmont the eastern Is Lombardy
Its fertility and facility of cultivation are such
that even Italian unthrift and ignorance OF Agrl-
culture are unable to destroy the former or null
Lfy the latter never saw better Wheat, Grass,
and Barley, than in my Journey OF hundred
miles across this noble valley OF the 20, or Ped
mont and the Indian Corn, Potatoes, &c are
Tess promising vny oooaueo "a si.s -...-------o
norance of their requirements evlncea Oy hlfle-
tenths of the cultivatorS. In the first place, the
land is not plowed half deep enough, next, most
of 1t is seldom or never MANFRED thirdly, 1t Is
planted too late; and fourthly, three or four
times as much seed is planted as should be.
should nudge that twenty seed potatoes. or ker
nels of corn TO each square yard Is about the
average, while five of either is quite enough.
Then both, hut especially Corn, are mlled up
sugar loaf fashion, until the hight of each hill Is
about equal TO its breadth at the base, so that
two DAYS hot sun dries the hill completely
through, while there is no soil a foot from each
stalk for its roots to run IN. From such perverse
cultivation, good yield is impossible There
has been no rain of consequence here for some
weeks, whence Wheat and Barley are ripening
too rapidly, while Corn, Potatoes and Vegetables
suffer severely from drouth, when with deeper
blowing and rational culture every thing would
have been verdanl and fourlShmg Yet TINS
great plain in some parts is and in most might be
easily and bountiiully irrigated from the immune
rable mountain streams which traverse II on
their way to the Pc never saw region
wherein a few Sub-soil Plows, with men quail
fed to use them and to set forth the nature and
advantages OF skillful cultivation generally, are
so much wanted as in Piedmont.
The Vine is OF course extensively cultivated IN
Piedmont, as everywhere in Italy, but not so
universally as in the hilly, rocky region extend
ing from the great valley to this city, (Some thirty
or forty mlles) This has warm though thin
soil, which must be highly favorable to the Vine
to induce so exclusive devotion to 1t. think
halt of the arabic soil saw between this AMI
Arquata, where the plain and Qor the present.
the Railroad stops, and the hills and the dill
gence begin, was devoted to the Grape, while
from the steeple of the Carlgnani Church, which
| assembled last evening, the semi.clrcle of tow
ering, receding hill-sideS which invests Genoa on
the land side seem covered with the Vine, and
even the Gardens within the town are nearly
gwen up tot. The Fig, the Orange, the Almond,
are also native here or IN the vicinity.
This Kingdom Is to-day after France, the
chief point of interest IN continental Europe for
lovers of Human Liberty Three years ago, un-
der the impulse OF the general uprising OF the
Il
cy in accordance with the wants and demands of
the age, and that policy Is still adhered to. though
meantime the general aspect of affairs has sadly
changed. and Sardinia herself has experienced
the sorest reverses The weak, unstable King