You Must Therefore Be Contented With Such
Imperfect Intelligence As My Opportunities Can Afford.
The useful arts practised at Nice, are these, gardening and
agriculture, with their consequences, the making of wine, oil,
and cordage; the rearing of silk-worms, with the subsequent
management and manufacture of that production; and the fishing,
which I have already described.
Nothing can be more unpromising than the natural soil of this
territory, except in a very few narrow bottoms, where there is a
stiff clay, which when carefully watered, yields tolerable
pasturage. In every other part, the soil consists of a light sand
mingled with pebbles, which serves well enough for the culture of
vines and olives: but the ground laid out for kitchen herbs, as
well as for other fruit must be manured with great care and
attention. They have no black cattle to afford such compost as
our farmers use in England. The dung of mules and asses, which
are their only beasts of burthen, is of very little value for
this purpose; and the natural sterility of their ground requires
something highly impregnated with nitre and volatile salts. They
have recourse therefore to pigeons' dung and ordure, which fully
answer their expectations. Every peasant opens, at one corner of
his wall, a public house of office for the reception of
passengers; and in the town of Nice, every tenement is provided
with one of these receptacles, the contents of which are
carefully preserved for sale. The peasant comes with his asses
and casks to carry it off before day, and pays for it according
to its quality, which he examines and investigates, by the taste
and flavour. The jakes of a protestant family, who eat gras every
day, bears a much higher price than the privy of a good catholic
who lives maigre one half of the year. The vaults belonging to the
convent of Minims are not worth emptying.
The ground here is not delved with spades as in England, but
laboured with a broad, sharp hough, having a short horizontal
handle; and the climate is so hot and dry in the summer, that the
plants must be watered every morning and evening, especially
where it is not shaded by trees. It is surprising to see how the
productions of the earth are crouded together. One would imagine
they would rob one another of nourishment; and moreover be
stifled for want of air; and doubtless this is in some measure
the case. Olive and other fruit trees are planted in rows very
close to each other. These are connected by vines, and the
interstices, between the rows, are filled with corn. The gardens
that supply the town with sallad and pot-herbs, lye all on the
side of Provence, by the highway. They are surrounded with high
stone-walls, or ditches, planted with a kind of cane or large
reed, which answers many purposes in this country. The leaves of
it afford sustenance to the asses, and the canes not only serve
as fences to the inclosures; but are used to prop the vines and
pease, and to build habitations for the silkworms: they are
formed into arbours, and wore as walking-staves. All these
gardens are watered by little rills that come from the mountains,
particularly, by the small branches of the two sources which I
have described in a former letter, as issuing from the two sides
of a mountain, under the names of Fontaine de Muraille, and
Fontaine du Temple.
In the neighbourhood of Nice, they raise a considerable quantity
of hemp, the largest and strongest I ever saw. Part of this, when
dressed, is exported to other countries; and part is manufactured
into cordage. However profitable it may be to the grower, it is
certainly a great nuisance in the summer. When taken out of the
pits, where it has been put to rot, the stench it raises is quite
insupportable; and must undoubtedly be unwholesome.
There is such a want of land in this neighbourhood, that terraces
are built over one another with loose stones, on the faces of
bare rocks, and these being covered with earth and manured, are
planted with olives, vines, and corn. The same shift was
practised all over Palestine, which was rocky and barren, and
much more populous than the county of Nice.
Notwithstanding the small extent of this territory, there are
some pleasant meadows in the skirts of Nice, that produce
excellent clover; and the corn which is sown in open fields,
where it has the full benefit of the soil, sun, and air, grows to
a surprizing height. I have seen rye seven or eight feet high.
All vegetables have a wonderful growth in this climate. Besides
wheat, rye, barley, and oats, this country produces a good deal
of Meliga, or Turkish wheat, which is what we call Indian corn. I
have, in a former letter, observed that the meal of this grain
goes by the name polenta, and makes excellent hasty-pudding,
being very nourishing, and counted an admirable pectoral. The
pods and stalks are used for fuel: and the leaves are much
preferable to common straw, for making paillasses.
The pease and beans in the garden appear in the winter like
beautiful plantations of young trees in blossom; and perfume the
air. Myrtle, sweet-briar, sweet-marjoram, sage, thyme, lavender,
rosemary, with many other aromatic herbs and flowers, which with
us require the most careful cultivation, are here found wild in
the mountains.
It is not many years since the Nissards learned the culture of
silk-worms, of their neighbours the Piedmontese; and hitherto the
progress they have made is not very considerable: the whole
county of Nice produces about one hundred and thirty-three bales
of three hundred pounds each, amounting in value to four hundred
thousand livres.
In the beginning of April, when the mulberry-leaves, begin to put
forth, the eggs or grains that produce the silk-worm, are
hatched. The grains are washed in wine, and those that swim on
the top, are thrown away as good for nothing.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 83 of 141
Words from 83506 to 84523
of 143308
