The record-union., 1896-07-14

barley, gathered on the cliffside, where
the earth was very light" was found
TO contain seventy grains. Citrons,
delicate mandarine oranges, lemons,
pomegranates, almonds and yellow
fleshed peaches incomparably better to
eat than our house variety, flourish in
the open. Vines do well, and produce
excellent wine Figs are a wild growth.
Indian corn yields hundredtold;
wheat, in favored parts, sixtyfold. On
the cool nights chestnuts afford food for
thousands of the inhabitants. Mulber-
ry trees flourish, and some silk is now
exported The tropical-looking prick
ly pears fiat arms warn intruders off
miles and miles of rocky ledges by the
seaboard, and It's bright fruit-pea
green, golden, scarlet or crimson, ac-
cording to the stage of ripeness-tempts
newcomers to the torture of poisoned
thorns What the French expressively
call Penergie de la vegetation is here
so great that the branches of lemon
and citron trees, newly cut and driven
into the ground in August, will be,
three years later, almost in full bear
ing.
ton of the island, furnishes the best
and largest crops of the luscious citron.
From the tree, some years, they sell for
Sd per pound. Sometimes the pound
falls to a farthing. Just outside Bas-
tia hundreds of barrels of them may be
seen in process of rough picking. The
fruit is eventually either candied or
converted into a much esteemed Ii
quer. The "Moniteur' estimated the
Corsican share of the citron candied at
Leghorn at about / 800 ,000 pounds. The
island exports the raw material. Leg
horn prepares the fruit for Holland,
England and America, and it has been
calculated that the growers lose a
profit of f136, 600 a year by not making
their own preserves. But Corsicans de-
test and despise manual labor. (This
is not another way of calling Corsicans
lazy-their diligence in school is mar
velous, and they are model soldiers and
most hard-working public servants)
AS another instance of how Corsicans
neglect their opportunities, it may be
mentioned that the coral found off their
coast is finer than African coral. Corsi-
cans tell you so, with pride, and will
show indignation if you question the
fact. Do they profit by it? Well.
hardly! In, one year alone, Genoese,
Neapolitan and Ligurian coral fishers
carried off IL ,SO1 kilogrammes of coral,
valued at 664, ,645 francs
AS to the cost of land it may be said
| an acre of well situated macchi may be
about I'll. On the coteaux, from fS to
| EGO, and in the rich and cultivated plain
| up to t10O. To clear the land of scrub
costs from f2 to f6 per acre. Building
comes to about II shillings per square
yard Gf proper building lime be used)
| Plough oxen We're to be had, some time
ago, for 10 pence a day per pair, but
| for an occasional day lajborer, the hire
per day would be shillings The Ital-
| ians, who work for Corsicans, earn, per-
| haps, sixpence a day, with certain al
| lowances. Cattle are scarce in this is
| land, but the axiom-what is rare is
dear, does not hold good, for a good cow
| as cows go, in Corsica, costs but f1 or
| so, and the best OK you can find there
perhaps f12.
Foreigners of three nationalities tes-
titled to the advantages Corsica offers
to the immigrant. while admitting that
"all is not plain sailing" there. A phil
osophfcal German said: The advan-
tages are so obvious that there must be
| insuperable objections to foreign farm
ers settling here, or the island would
have been colonized long ago"
Objections there are. but not now "in-
superable.' and constantly decreasing
| Life and property are less secure, some
say, than in any other part of the French
Republic (others add, except in
Paris''). In a publication of the last
century, popularly called 'PAnti-guis-
tificatione," the recorded murders OF
thirty years are set down as 2S.115.
But Corsicans have a sense of hospi-
tanty to be matched only among the
Arabs and are brotherly to the stranger
while at feud with their fellow-country
men At present they would greatly
envy agricultural successes, though ii
is to be hoped that, by and by, they
would emulate them.
And what emigrant would compare
Corsican with African dangers from the
| natives?
Again, people say with TRUTH that
| the summer is feverish. But the dry
season is the dead season, when most
| farming operations cease. Northern res
| idents have stayed the whole year, in
| health and comfort, down by the hot
| seashore. simply by conforming tc