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GARDENING IN ITALY. 93

Boox I.

at Genoa, as does the paper narcissus(N. orientalis) at Naples. In roses, jessamines, inders, oranges, they also excel; and also in most single flowers not natives of cold climates.‘Sig. Villaresi, already mentioned, has raised from seeds of the Bengal rose (Rosa indica), impregnated promiscuously with other roses, upwards of. fifty distinct varieties, many of which are of great beauty, and very fragrant. In general, flowers and ornamental plants are most in demand, and cultivated to the greatest degree of perfection in Lombardy, of which the flower-markets of Milan and Venice afford most gratifying proofs. Many of the Chinese, New Holland, and some of the Cape trees and shrubs, thrive well, and blossom luxuriantly in the open air in the warmer regions, as in S. di Negro’s garden, at Genoa, and those of Pisa and Caserta. Evelyn says, he saw at Florence, in 1664, a rose grafted on an orange-tree; the same tricks are still passed off with the rose, jessamine, oleander, myrtle,&c. at Genoa, and even in some

parts of Lombardy. 94. The taste for flowers and plants of

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ornament is rather on the decline than otherwise in Italy. Much depends on the taste of the princes in this as in every other matter, and unfortunately those of Italy are at present mere ciphers. The king of Naples knows no pleasures but those of the table, the seraglio, and the chace. For the latter enjoy- ment, the Pope has kindly given him a dispensation to hunt on Sundays. The Pope is debarred from pleasure by his office; the grand Duke of Tuscany has some taste for plants, but more for a heavy purse; his relation, the vice-king of Lombardy, is more a priest than a prince; though he has some fondness for succulent exotics, of the common sorts of which,he has a large collection. The king of Sardinia is an old man, and a mere king Dei gratia.

Products for the Kitchen and_ the

Sursrcr. 3. Italian Gardening in respect to its Dessert.

95. The Italian fruits are nearly those of the Romans, to which they have made but few additions, if we except the orange and the pine-apple. The orange is supposed to have been introduced between the time of Pliny and Palladius; it is the fruit in which they excel, more from climate and soil than science. There are supposed to be nearly a hun- dred varieties of this fruit in Italy; but in the orange-nurseries at Nervi, it is not easy to make out more than forty or fifty distinct sorts. These have mostly been obtained from seeds. They have not the Mandarine orange, nor some varieties of shaddock(C. decumana), which we possess.‘The most regular and systematic orange-orchards are at Nervi; and the largest trees around Naples, at Sorenta, Amalphi,&c. The more rare sorts are kept in conservatories at Rome, and the largest house, and best collection, is that of the Borghese. At Florence and Milan, all the sorts required to be housed during winter, but at Hieres and Nice in France, and at Genoa and Nervi, they stand the common winters in the open air.

96. The stone fruits in which they excel are the peach and cherry.‘There are above twenty varieties of peaches cultivated in the neighbourhood of Rome and Naples; and these fruits, grown on standard trees, as apples and pears are in this country, arrive at a very high degree of perfection. They have few sorts of apricots and nectarines, and not many plums; but their Regina Claudia, or gages, are excellent. Cherries are every where excellent in Italy, especially in Tuscany. The Milan or Morella cherry, is noted for its Prolite qualities, and for having a consistency and flavor somewhat resembling the Morchella esculenta, or morel.

97. The chief berry of Italy is the grape: their varieties are not so mumerous as in France or Spain; and are, for the most part, the result of long growth on one soil and situation. Vineyard grapes are indifferent to eat in most parts of Lombardy, and in the best districts are equalled if not excelled by muscats, sweet-waters, muscadines, and other sorts grown in hot-houses in this country. The grape is the only berry that thrives in Italy. It is not kept lowas in France; but elevated on trellises near houses and in gardens(fig. 6.), and trained to long poles or trees in the fields. Collec- tions of gooseberries from Lancashire have been introduced at Leghorn, Genoa, and Monza; and, grown in the shade, they thrive moderately at the gardens of the latter place. The currant, the raspberry, and the strawberry, though natives of the Alps and Apennines, do not thrive in the gar- dens, but are brought to market from the woods; and so is the black mulberry, which is there cultivated for the leaves, as hardier than the white, and which Sigismondi at at one time considered as a fruit elsewhere unknown,

98. Kernel-fruits in general, especially pears, are excellent in the north of Italy; but indifferent in the warmer regions.

Services in considerable variety abound in Piedmont, and part of Lombardy.

99. The pine-apple is cultivated in a few places in Italy, but with little success, excepting at Florence and Milan. There are a few in the Royal gardens at Portici, but weak, yellow-leaved, and covered with insects.‘The few grown in the Pope’s garden, and in one or two other villas near Rome, are little better. By far the best and greatest quantity are in the vice-royal gardens of Monza. The last king of Sardinia sent his gardener, Brochieri, to England

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