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GIUBEPPE DKV1XCENJCI
Internationa[ Exhibition of 1862 amply supplied but a special and exact knowledge of the condition of the cotton-growing districts in Southern Italy, the result of long personal study, and of the inquiries which he, when Provisionai Minister of Agriculture and Commerce for the Neapolitan Provinces, had instituted and oarried out. It speaks volumes for the economical and politicai foresight of the Italian Government, and for the enlightened zeal witli which the Commendatoro Devincenzi seconded its views, that, even before this terrible cotton crisis burst upon the world, so much thought and care should, in Italy, liave been bestowed on the eventful contingencies then casting before them their gloomy shadows. To the capitalists, wheter of England or of other countries, the facts and fìgures contained in the Commendatore Devincenzi's Memoir will form the best jastifìcation for the appearance of the following pages in an English form. Without attempting to overstate the cot-ton-producing capabilities of Southern Italy; without see-king to disguise the diffìculties which a cultivation, to be generally successful, must encounter, the Commendatore Devincenzi has placed several most important facts beyond the possibility of doubt: The antiquity of cotton cultivation in those regions; the excellent quality of the cotton hitherto grown; the immense extent of land available for cultivation; the great abundance and cheapness of labour; the cotton-growing habits and traditious diffused amongst the peasan-try; and, as the legitimate deduction from these facts, the possibility of growing Italian cotton at a profìt, even should the American struggi e be soon brought to a dose; ali these things are set forth with the clearest evidence. We are greatly mistaken if they do not leave on the mind of the reader the impression that a new and altogether undreamt-