Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-08-12

scape, however. is very different.
There are no large fields or open
spaces. The mulberry trees, whose
leaves are used to feed silk worms,
are everywhere In evidence, while
avenues of Lombardy poplars and
rows of elms are kept pruned to
small heads, and crops OF corn, wheat
and clover are grown right up to
their roots. Every foot Of land is
utilized.
A Fruit Region.
I'VE had seen comparatively little
Indian corn till we reached this fer
tile region. and considering the In
telltgence of the people, 1t is a very
striking commentary on their lack
of experimentation and initiative
that they are such poor farmers In
corn culture. The corn is absolutely
broadcast. and when you can see any
rows at all they are from twelve to
fifteen inches wide, with just room
for one furrow with plow. The
corn. must be cultivated mainly with
hoe, but as 1t Is in full silk and
tassel now no work Is being done in
1t. AS it averages about one foot in
the drill there must be from 10000
to 10000 stalks to the acre.
However rich the land or however
perfect the cultivation, the light and
air are shut ont by this method Of
culture. While have no statistics
as to the yield in grain, it must be
relatively small, and there is no won
der that the disease pellegra prevails
to such an alarming extent in this
country. We were told by the gov
eminent official at Rome, who CORE
spends to the head of the United
States marine hospital service, and
who has good use of the English
language, and evidently Is man of
scientific attainment, that there is
no doubt that this terrible disease Is
due entirely to the using Of unsound
Indian corn as food, and this must
be due entirely to crowding, as the
climate of Milan is about the same
as that Of Charlotte, N. c.; If any
thing, warmer, with full opportunity
for the corn to mature thoroughly.
Poor Farming Methods.
We bought some corn at the Place
St. Mark, in Venice, to feed the
pigeons with, and the grains were
nearly round, az though coming from
nubbins. Ard, of course, with tho
corn crowded, as they grow it in
Italy; nothing but nubbins are posi-
BILE. AS the peasants depend largely
on corn for food In Northern Italy,
and their poverty suggests or com
pels eating whatever grain they can
get, the good and bad are ground to-
get ther. hence the disease pelleSra.
Venice Too Much for an Invalid.
Venice is little too much for an
invalid to attempt to describe. 1t
has no streets, only alleys from six
to ten feet wide and canals from ten
to thirty feet wide. The alleys cross
the canals when necessary on bridges,
always high arched for the passage
of gondolas and lighters. And every
thing, including the people, trans
ported in the city Is either carried on
the back or In a boat by water. We
did not see single vehicle Of any
kind, nor horse. rr,.
The paying problem is relatively
unimportant in Venice and there is
no necessity for lodging street cars,
automobiles, cabs or trucks, all of
which we found to be very necessary
when We reached Milan.
Undoubtedly there Is nothing in
the way Of contrast greater than that
which exists between these two Ita-
Ian cities-Venice and Milan.
Decay and former grandeur are
written all over Yer ce, and the ST.
lence which one finds there is typical
of the grave. Milan, with its half
million people, the commercial and
manufacturing metropolis of the
kingdom OF Italy, is in every respect,
barring the narrowness of some Of its
streets, a hustling, progressive, mo-
dern city, and one can easily imagine
himself in st. Louis, Cincinnati or
Pittsburg, barring the smoke. "a
The cathedral is, to my mind, even
more pleasing than st. Peters at
Rome. While that is stupendous and
magnificent. there is something gar
ish about it, and such a studied effort
to substitute some pontiff's maxims
as an idol to be worshipped instead
of Christ that the simple majesty