Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-10-02
ITALY.
A Land of Paradoxes-Sunny but
not Hot; Clean Yet Filthy; Re-
Iieious Yet Knavish.

What shall we write of Italyf From
the Alps TO Naples has filled many a
volume. has inspired many a song, and
its history has pointed morals and
adorned tales The kingdom of Victor
Emanuel Tor. more properly. of Carl
baldD is atonce garden and cess-pool;
long sweet song and a land of agonies;
the perfume of scented groves strug-
Cling with malodors of humanity. 1t
offers more room for specializing on the
incongruities of life than any country
we know. Intertwined with the ever
beautiful of Nature, debased human
morals and habits. So, while admiring
and extolling, we must be true and not
shut our eyes todisparagements.
Through the tunnels without number
that pierce the one-time impossible
Alps, few hours ushers the traveller in
to fairy land. With the snow and ice
of Switzerland's August high above and
at your back, you descend rapidly to the
beautiful Italian lake country, where
palms and figs are ever green. and the
vineclad hills are purple and white with
the ripened vintage. Physically, north
ern Italy resembles for all the world our
far Southern States, except that the soil
is more fertile, vine and leaf scarce to
be seen for the abundance of fruit.
The temperature seldom rises above
800, or falls below Coz. Beside
the clusters of grapes, which remind
one of the Biblical story of Caleb's spies,
and the apples, peaches, pears, figs
and mammoth plums. the fields are
titled and bearing corn, sugar cane, oats,
and all varieties of vegetables, even
Irish and sweet potatoes. The greater
area is devoted to beet culture, for
throughout Europe beet sugar predomi-
nates-and it takes just twice as much
to sweeten ones coffee as it does of
cane sugar. 1t may be guessed that
buckwheat also is grown in abundance,
for the Italian bee is noted the world
over. Acres upon acres are devoted to
mulberry orchards, for here the silk
industry is at its height and the cocoon
is numbered by myriads throughout the
orchards.
Germany, France and Switzerland
cultivate their varieties of grape
upon stobs. or posts, leaving little of
the vine. In northern Italy the vine is
a greater runner and most of the vine
yards are trellices, one walking beneath
and gathering the pendant punches,
an ordinary bunch filling hat-crown
Here for the first time we saw corn
(maiZe) cultivated to any extent, and
here was the first fodder pulling. Fod-
der had been stripped, tops cut and
shucking time almost at hand the middle
of August! They were making way for
another rotating crop. Alfalfa and clover
appear to be the leading grasses, and
not till here had we seen any over eight
inches high at moving time. Rows of
Lombardy poplars and cotton-woods
(our North Carolina poplar) are seen
on every hand. The linden and elm
also have their admirers. but the poplar
seems to have possessed all Italy. We
cannot intelligibly portray the wonder
full growth of vegetation here. On all
sides is nothing but fruit-fruit the
most enticing and for song. Ten
centimes e cents) will buy all one
would eat Of the most luscious grapes,
figs. peaches. pears. etc. The only sur
prising thing was the inferiority of
melons. Watermelons and cantaloupes
were numerous, but they were small
the watermelon as large only as a
good-sized musk-melon, and the can.
taloupe nearly as large, but yellow and