The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-08-29
THE ROMAN cAMPAoNA.
London Globe.l

v fs
 Italian statesmen. The existence of this
 anxiety is indeed the only bright spot on
 a very dark horizon. A few years ago a
 parliamentary commission of inquiry
 was appointed, with the Marquis Nobili
 Vitelleschi as its president, whose labors
 have brought to light a state of things
 that might we'll have seemed incredible.
 If, however, the nowledge of a disease
 is half the remedy, the Italians may take
 heart. There has evidently been no
 shirking of facts, and it now remains for
 the government and parliament to carry
 out such reforms as may be suggested,
 though foreigner may we'll be pardoned
 the opinion that while the country con.
 tinues to be taxed as it is for the mainte-
 nance of enormous military and naval
 armaments any great improvement is
 impossible. The president of the com.
 mission himself does not speak very hope
 fully. In summing up the results of his
 labors and those of his colleagues, he
 says that rural property suffers deplor-
 ably from malaria in its best regions: it
 is cut up into over-minute divisions, fet-
 tered on the one side by collective owner
 ship and yoked on the other to burden
 some privileges and dues; overwhelmed
 with taxes, debts and mortgages wanting
 in every means of intercommunication
 and afflicted by the insecurity of life and
 property. Nobody can wonder" he con- tinues, in these circumstances, at the
 barren aspect which presents itself, and
 ooe can only hope that the enigma of amelioration may be satisfactorily solved
 by the eminent men whose attention is now directed to it."
 The eleventh and final volume of the commissioners report deals at length with the condition of the Campagna, the desolate and pestiferous district which surrounds R,me, which in classic times was covered with fourishing cities, in- haoited by prosperous population The Marquis Vitelleschi's report, which has been admirably summarized by Mir. w. Beauclerk, second secretary to the em- bassy at Rome, gives graphic account of this dreary region, which, we are told, '' presents more evils to be cured than any other part of the entire kingdom" Its desolation IS strikingly shown by a few of the facts put on record. The country IS watered by the two rivers Fiber and Ombrone, but not a single bridge spans the one or the other outside the walls of the capital, so little attention has been paid to facilitie, of intercommuni- cation. There are soc, 900 acres of unre- soil in the country which once contained the Aourishing Volscian and towns that fell 10 waste when the em pire was transferred to Constanti- nople and when the popes removed from Rome to Avignon. The malaria hangs like blight over the whole region, and so far but little seems to have been done to get rid of the scourge. Cultivation and drainage are effectual remedies, as experience has abundantly proved. but abortive attempts at drainage may do more harm than good. In fact, it is stated that the populations of Sezze, Cori, oermoneta and Terracina are decimated every year. A third of the people fall ill | ID a single day with symptoms more vio- lent than were ever previously known. The result IS that many farms have gone put of cultivation, and the country goes from bad to worse, for where man disap- pears malaria takes his place. Houses ln the Campagna are few and far between. The necessary labor, which occupies eight months of the year, is done for the most part by immigrants, who live in huts or wigwams, when they are so happy as to possess such luxuries. A large pro- portion dwell in caves, grottoes and ruins, while many live and sleep in the open air. One reason, and perhaps the prin- cipal one, why houses are not built is the | desire to escape payment of the house tax. This impost is levied on farm build ngs, whether they are occupied or not. MT. Beauclerk states that Prince Torlonia has actually unroofed many of his tene- ments in the neighborhood of Rome that he may not have to pay house tax on un- let farm-houses. If this is a considera- ton to millionaire it is little wonder that small landed proprietors should de- cline to build on their estates. The Cam pagna has but one house to each four square miles of land.
 The conditions of agriculture, as it is at present carried on in the Campagna, are little favorable to improvement. The iocks are allowed to destroy shrubs and | young trees, and do so to an enormous extent, while the destruction of timber l goes on as if the importance of trees to the well-being of country had yet to be proved. The province of Rome has been | dlsafforested to the extent of some 60 900 | acres during the last fifty years. There are some 500 900 acres devoted to the grow ng ot corn, but manure is hardly ever used, and thus the soil is become ex- The use of machinery Tn agri- cultural operations is hardly known, and | he introduction of American wheat
 threatens to throw the corn fields of the ~ampagna out of cultivation. So much
 $ gardening neglected that the city of Rome depends for fruit and vegetables, not on its own suburbs, but chiefly upon Naples. Birds are ruthlessly destroyed n deference to the prejudice of the Re. mans against any approach to game preserving, and thus insects are enabled
 Q multiply to dangerous extent. Little is taken of the suitability of climate aud soil for the production of vine and oil The ravages of the phyl-
 oxera in France, which have given an