In speaking of the economic aspects of Italian agriculture it is necessary to distinguish between North and South Italy. The northern part is the more progressive section. The agricultural and industrial methods prevailing there are essentially the same as in other countries of Western Europe, being characterized by the intensive cultivation, the use of modern machinery, and the employment of the best methods of irrigation and fertilization. On the contrary, Southern Italy, though essentially an agricultural country, suffers from crude, primitive methods of cultivation.

The Italian peasant is among the poorest in Europe. The prevalence of large estates and the presence of tenants and hired laborers who cultivate the land are characteristic features of Italian agriculture. No definite statistics are gathered on the subject, but it is estimated that the agricultural producers are made up of 40 per cent. laborers, 40 per cent. tenants, and 20 per cent. owners. The cultivation of the soil by owners is most common in Venetia. Other regions in which peasant proprietorship is most prevalent are the northern districts of Piedmont and Liguria, and to a considerable extent also the provinces of Rome, Abruzzi e Molise, Campania, Calabria, Apulia, and Potenza, and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

The system of rent varies greatly in the different regions, and often in the same region, but it is almost always some form of grain or share-rent. Only in a few places is the cash system well known. Sometimes the owner not only supplies the land and bears the burden of the taxes, but in addition furnishes the stock, implements and seed, and also sometimes free house-rent, in which case the bulk of the product goes to the owner. Indeed, the owner much more commonly has a share in supplying the requisites for the running of the farm than is the case in America. According to some systems, however, the renter supplies some or all the requisites and sometimes pays a portion of the taxes. The rent period varies in length with the different systems, but is most often short.

Finances

The condition of Italian finance is the country's blight. The enormous debts that the Government of United Italy had to assume, the costly wars waged to bring about the unification, the new debts incurred for public works, and the constantly growing expenditure for the army and navy, have all led to the accumulation of such heavy burdens, that there is a distressing state of affairs. Although the annual budgets of the Government usually show a surplus, this is often achieved with the help of loans and other objectionable means, and always through burdensome taxation.

Emigration

The unsatisfactory condition of public affairs is responsible for the enormous tide of emigration. More than 2,000,000 Italian emigrants are living in foreign countries, and their number increases from year to year by hundreds of thousands. The growth of emigration in the last quarter of the nineteenth century was as follows:

1876 (108,771)
1880 (119,901)
1885 (157,193)
1891 (293,631)
1896 (307,482)
1898 (283,715
1900 (352,782)

It will be seen that the emigration increased more than threefold in the period indicated. As the conditions responsible for this exodus from the country do not seem to improve much there are no reasons to expect any decline of emigration in the near future. The region contributing most to the emigration is the less productive and more poorly developed southern portion of the Peninsula from Naples southward, and the emigrants are chiefly peasants or representatives of other lower classes.

The Province of Genoa contributes more than any other province in the north to the stream of emigration. The country most vitally interested in this question is the United States. As late as 1888 less than 12 per cent. of all the Italian emigrants went to the United States, while more than 33 per cent, went to Brazil, and about 23 per cent, to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. In 1900 the proportion was reversed, the number of immigrants to the United States, Brazil, and Argentina being 136,000, 11,500, and 72,000, or 38.5, 3.3, and 20.4 per cent., respectively. About one-half go to European countries, especially France, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. The majority of these ultimately return home, and the remainder finally embark for America.

Chief Ports

Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Messina, Catania, Palermo, and Venice. Ancona and Brindisi are also well-known seaports.