Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1860-08-02

every one pronounced to be excellent, | sup
posed my friends were joking, SO insipid
and watery did the fruit seem to me by
comparison with that of Sicily There are,
of course, many varieties of grapes as well
as Of wines made from them, in the island
but that best known is Marsala, which,
. when really unadultcratcd, is little inferior
to Madeira. The disease has been very
prevalent amongst the vines of late years.
Sulphur is perseveringly and successfully
used in their cure. l have seen the fruit
three times attacked, and as many times re-
stored by this means during the same spring.
People are employed to go about and dredge
the bunches with the sulphur powder. This
remedy was, [ believe, discovered by the
Silicians, and the antidote to the malady
>being ready at hand, it is not surprising
they were the first to apply it.
In vain the eye seeks, in Sicily, to repose
itself on our English forest-trces. How
often have gazed out on its tropical vcgc-
tation, and longed for the spreading oak,
the noble elm, and graceful ash of my ma
tive land Here they are unknown. The
evergreen cork and pepper tree, groves of
olives Of a whitish-gray tint, intermixed
twith the lemon, the orange and fg-tree, Of
a deep rich green, cover the land. The
quantity Of oil produced from these olives is
immense, and it is well it is so, in country
where there is little pasture-land, and where
no sort of care is or ever has been bestowed
on the rearing of cattle consequently, the
meat is very bad-almost unwholesome; and
there is little or no butter or milk except
that given by the numerous herds of goats
which seek their scanty meals high up
tamongst the rocks. The COWS and oxen
subslst, in great measure, on the rind Of
the Indian fig, and the dried leaves of the
maize or Indian corn AT a certain season
of the year, the sheep are fed on the rind Of
oranges and lemons, from which the juice
and spirit has been extracted, chiefly for the
English market.
The manner Of living and eating of the
Sicllans forms as great contrast to our
English ideas as can well be imagined the
>people, rich and poor, eat of things as far
removed from our notions of what is fit fer
table, as would be the diet of the cows and
sheep from the ideas of any we'll bred Eng
lish animal of those species. In walking
one day through the streets Of Palermo, l
came upon some people surrounded by q
number of bushel- baskets, piled high up,
with what appeared to me at distance
round white pebbles. approaching near
ter, found they were common garden-snails.
[ asked for what purpose they were intend
ed, and was informed they were favorite
article of food with the Silicians. Close by
was fire made between four stones, and
large iron croch or pot set thereon full Of
this aliment, hitherto unappreciated by me,
but which was in process of preparation for,
sale for the benefit of the public, by being
boiled with some green herbs and tomatoes,
[ afterwards had the advantage of partaking
tof this dish at the table of Silician noble,
who, with his family, sucked the snaIs out
of their shells with delight [ forced my
self to eat two of them out of politcness, of
course, as it is considered want Of good
breeding to refuse eng dish in Sicily. The
entrails of fowls are carefully washed, cook
ed and served up. The polypus we call
starfish, which attains, in these seas, pro-
dlglous size, also serves as an article of food
| have seen some, full five feet across from
bne point of the star to another it is eaten
boiled, and resembles hard salt gristle coy
cred with slime.
In the spring, broad beans are eaten, raw,
after dinner; also a kind of turnip, raw like
| wise; in the winter these are replaced by
large uncooked fenncl roots. Asparagus
grows wild in the fields and gardens, none
taking the trouble to cultivate it it is ex-
/. ceedingly bitter this remark applies to
many other vegetables, but the bitterness is
J in some degree disguised by the manner in
which they are served up; for the water in
, which they have been boiled being squeezed
out, is replaced by plentiful supply of
lemon juice and olive-oil.
Some families who have Travelled, live in
the French style; but [ have heard of a
French cook, that was brought out by a
Sicilian gentleman, who, when he saw the
scanty manner in which the Palermo market
Was supplied, and the quality of the viands'
exposed for sale, threw up his arms in wild
despair, and declared he had nothing left
to do but to hang himself. [ one day saw
an English bottle-iack, which~had been
offered for sale in the palace in which I re-
sided; it was being exhibited everywhere as
a curiosity. They called it cloch, and
were lost in amazement at the perfection to
which the arts and sciences were carried in
England, which they pronounced to be
wonderful country. [ merely remarked
that it would be useless to purchase the
clock, as it would be next to impossible to
procure the joints it was its duty to roast.
People seemed to agree with me, and the
machine remained unsold
During the winter months, good veal
from Sorrento is brought over by the steam
foats from Naples to Palermo, and is bought
Up at high price by the gentry The ma
tive beef is always eaten stewed, or in the
torn OF sausage meat; otherwise it would
be too hard for any teeth or any Digestion
The slcliians are, however, even greater
Imaccaronl-eaters than the lazzaroni of Ma
pies, and in this way console themselves for
the want of meat. Every one begins din
ner by eating large plateful piled as high
up as it can be handed to him and as it is
| I