The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-10-20
The Tuscan Marshes.

Italy has long been celebrated almost as
much for it's marshes as it's mountains. If
one of the latter has been distinguished
for its destructive volcanic discharges,
many of the former have also been for their
deadly miasmatic calculations. Among
the different States Tuscany has had y bad
pre- eminence in this respect, though for the
iueace for the remarkable works she has
undertaken for draining and improving her
marsh lands.
One of the most famous regions of this
Improvement was the Val Di Chiana; an
extensive valley of low marshes and lakes
stretching from the river Arno Southwark
toward the Paglia, one of the tributaries OF
the Tiber. The Arno in the upper part
of it's course flows in q South Easterly
direction till, coming near the town of
Arezzo, it makes an abrupt turn flowing
thence in a North w esterly direction.
From this point the valley, whose surface
10 scarcely above the river bed, sets in, and
upper course of the Arno. Undoubtedly at
one time this was the bed of the river,
which must have been a tributary OF the
Tiber bat at some remote period it here
cut through its high bank, leaving only o
part of its water to run in the old channel.
Indeed, both of these outlets existed down
to the days of the Roman Empire but
gradually, by the accumulation of matter
brought down by the river, the old channel
was filled and all the water was forced into
the new. In the sixteenth century the bed
of the valley had been raised st a point ten
miles south of the bend of the Arno, No less
than one hundred and thirty feet; then
followed level of ten miles, and afterward
O regular descent to the Paglia. At this
period various schemes were entertained
for draining the valley, but the attempt to
carry any of them into execution was pre-
vented not only by the magnitude of the
work, but also the fear that il the water
were drained into either river it would 80
swell its floods as to produce the most
engineer gave the opinion that the only
safe way was to pierce the contiguous hills
with tunnel, aud so make an entirely
new channel to the sea-a work regarded
too formidable to be undertaken. About
this time the Roman Government, to protect
it's territory from foods coming at certain
seasons from this valley, constructed break
waters across it upon the line of boundary
between them and Tuscany. The effect OF
this was so to change the various currents
as to fill up new pieces with the deposits
and within less than fifty years the high
est ground was not ten miles South of the
Arno, as before, but thirty miles. Thii
gested by Turriceili for raising the bed O
the entire valley by controlling the flow
of the lateral streams and compelling then
| by means of dams and breakwaters, t.
leave their mud and sand in such places a.
the engineer might wish. This was a move
means of "carting sand" and secuted a
first, but it gradually came into favo
through smaller experiments as well as thi
larger accidental one, which the Roman
| Government, with entirely another end il
view, had made. The fear of increasin,
dangerously the foods of the Arno b.
draining these marshes into it, having beer
removed by better knowledge of by
draulic laws, the work was undertaken OF
the plan proposed by Torricelli. The resul
moro than confirmed the expectations o
the most sanguine of the eminent men VIII
had projected the plan. In 1885 inner
than four hundred and fifty square mile
of pond, marsh, and damp sickly Low
grounds had been converted into fertile
healthy and we'll drained soil !" and this i
| now among the most valuable of all tn
| agricultural lands of Tuscany.
Along the shores of Tuscany were othe
marshes still more extensive ard unhealthy
The region known as the Maremma i
cluded about three hundred and tweut
thousand acres of low marsh, and NOR
than forty ave thousand of pond, in whic
both fresh and salt water were commiDgled
producing, as this usually does, extrem
uuhealthfulness in all the region around
One reason of this result Of mingliug sal
| water and fresh very probably is that sal