Omaha daily bee., 1899-07-02

olive groves and Vineyards the scenery be-
ing very beautiful. The fruit trees were in
fuli bloom (Apru 81 aud the olives we're a
rich. silvery color Women dressed IN
bright colorcd costumes were working IN the
soil. the men we're looping the trees. to
which the vines are tied with willow withes'
Others were plcwinE the rich, brown earth
with teams OF large pure white oxen.
Trees in Italy are planted for vine props.
The clippings they yield serve for fuel and
the leaves are used for fodder The tWigs
take the place OF twine. Italian agriculture
is partly arborlculturc Almost every held
yields grapes, nuts, figs. olives, wood, fodder
and grain.
We passed through a Copiye Of chestnut
and oak viii large mother trees ON the
steep mountainside. The ground was car
peted with broom gorsc and many other wild
flowers. among which we could hear the
busy honey bees humming The woods
were filled with song birds, something un-
usual for Italy, where formerly birds OF
every kind were captured for the pot in a
wholesale fashion, by means Of ingenious
nets A few sheep were visible, rambling
among the herbage. Here and there chop
pers were cutting the young chestnut trees
for vine props stripping OF the bark, DIP
plrg the ends In tar and binding up the
tagots.
In season many peasants are occupied In
picking the wild strawberries and raspeer-
ries and gathering mushrooms. large IN
come is yielded by the chestnuts, from the
-four OF which the bread Of the peasants Is
made
In the course of an hour the train reaches
Saltino, the terminus. Below one, stretch
ing for miles is the well titled valley of the
Arno: all about one the bare mountain tops
of the Apennines and plainly in the distance
the famous city of Florence, with its eX-
tensive gardens and treasures of art,
About half mile from the station of
Saltino the beautiful silver fir forests of
Vallombrosa begin. The trees are large,
with tall, straight boes and dense, dark
green canopy. The air is fragrant with tho
orange perfume exhaled by the leaves in the
sunshine. One could easily imagine himself
in the midst OF the Black Forest at Herren-
wies or st. Blasien.
The trees are in lines, betraying the fact
that they had been planted. In truth tho
whole of the forests of NallombrOsa were
planted by the patient and industrious Bene-
dictine monks, who were arduous agricul-
tursts and foresters during the Dark Ages.
| 1t is to them, in fact. that civilization owes
much, and 1t was often with much injustice
| that their properties were confiscated and
! their treasures of art and science injured
or destroyed. Some beautiful stems, fit
| for the masts of ships, were piled by the
| wayside They seemed almost out of place
| in a land where twgs and fuel are often
sold by weight and where decent hre Is
| the greatest of luXuries,
Soon one reaches an open meadow, sur
| rounded on all but one of its sides by the
amphitheater of green, forost-clad hills. II
was here, in about the year 1915, that San
Giovanni Gualberto founded the famou.
monastery OF Vallombrosa, under peculiar
circumstances too lengthy to describe.
Above the silver fir on the mountain sidd
a fine forest of old beech is visible. The
silver fir being more hardy, is usually above
the beech. In order of hardness there
comes first the spruce, then the silver fir,
then the red beech, and then the chest
nut. The monks, no doubt, had some spe
cial purpose in placing the beech above the
fir. They raised many pigs, which fed upon
the mast.
In front of The thick walled monastery
is the Albergo della Fsresta, which is large
and comfortable Nearby there is an old
sawmill and ponds built by the monks for
the collection of ice. The water here is
excellent, coming from famous spring
which was long supposed to have great
curative properties. several Stuuents
dressed in uniform were working in the
nurseries. They are called to their work
by bugle blasts.
We presented our cards and were most
cordially received by the director, Commits
sioner +. Piccoo and his accomplished
daughter, both of whom speak German and
French Director Piccioli was sent by his
government to France to study the re-
forestaton of mountains, and his report, en-
titled "Sui Rimboschimenu Eseguiti in
Francia," appeared in 1887.
We were shown the museum, the library,
the dormitory, the queer old kitchen and
the refectory with many portraits on the
walls, including one OF Gualberto, the
founder of the monastery. The institution
has eight professors and about thirty five
students. These students are of two classes
those who expect government work and
|, those who do not The Italian government
possesses only about 10000 hectares of forest.
so that the number of foresters needed is
not large and their pay is small. The
, students have four months vacation in
winter. From the prospectus, the regula-
tions seem rather strict. The course covers
four years and seems quite like the work
of a German forest academy
, Italy could not have a better object les
/ son. She has had it many years and II
seems to have little effect, Were all her
mountains forested as at Vallombrosa she
would be rich instead of poor. If she had
them 1t is doubtful, though, whether they
/ would be properly managed.