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   GIUSEPPE DEVINCENZI
   unt of the low price of land, we ought (in prefe-rence to otherplaces) to turn our attention for the cultivation of cotton. To the south and to the north of the Gargano, in the neighbourhood of Gaeta, and in the provinces of Salerno, there are very extensive tracts of land, which, like the others situated at the extremity of Italy, 0f which we have just spoken, require to be impro-ved by drainiug and by irrigation. Land capable The improvemeut of the soil is one of the ment^n"!!^ most importante ecouomical questions to which Southern prò- we must direct our attention. There exist in the Southern provinces vast tracts of land, which, from the total neglect of irrigation, vield either no return at ali, ora very trifliug one. The kno-wledge which I possess of the conditions of those districts has, more than anything else, called my especial attention to the cultivation of cotton in Italy, as furnishing a very great opportunity for their improvement. When I was entrusted with the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works in those provinces, I made every effort to collect inforniation respecting these districts, the matter appearing to me one for which precision was urgently required. It resulted from these inquiries that nearly 8 000 kilometers of land would be easily improvable; in other words that, with a good system of irrigation, fully 800000 hectares of most fertile land would be rendered available for agriculture. These lands are, for the most part, susceptible of cotton cultivation. I regret that I am not at present equally well acquainted with the agricultural conditions of the other provinces included within this zone, in particular those of Sicily, which preselits in very many parts soils admirably adapted for the cultivation of cotton.