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upon the plains being fufficiently ftirred in the tillage of the land.

"Far more difficult is the next operation of pruning, which is beft understood by the inhabitants of the environs of Taranto, and efpecially by thofe of Mazafra, who are univerfally employed. Trees that do not shoot very fast are pruned In December; and fuch as are planted in a very rich foil, undergo that operation in the fpring. The principal rule feems to be, to fuffer but few centrical branches, to let in as much air as poffible to the interior of the crown, and to form it more in breadth and rotundity than in height. But I doubt whether the true principles of pruning be understood here; and indeed, in fome parts of this province, especially near Lecce, the trees, being never pruned at all, attain a very unusual height, and yield but very little fruit.

Dr. Prefta tried the experiment of pruning and treating his trees like efpaliers, with confiderable fuccefs.

"The olive-trees ufually bloffom in June. In October the fruit begins to ripen; but does not reach its full perfection until December, when the fkin, the pulp, and the furface of the stone, becomes black. At that period they yield the beft oil; and although in many places the olives are feen hanging upon the trees until the beginning of April, it is extremely detrimental to the quality of the oil, if the olives are allowed to remain upon the trees later than the clofe of December. Before the tone is hard, which takes place in Auguft, no preffure whatever can force any oil out of the fruit. Although green in October, they are quite ripe enough for the table; and in No✦ember they affume a reddish bue,

but are fill too acrid to produce oil of the best quality. At that time, indeed, a certain fort of oil, called Oglio Onfacino, is extracted from them, but is only ufed for particular purposes. According to Diofcorides, Mat. Med. lib. i. cap. 27. this oil was likewife prepared by the ancients, who knew how to give it a white colour, its natural one being a greenifh yellow. It was by them confidered as the best oil; but they must have poffeffed a method of preparing and colouring it, which is now loft; for notwithftanding Dr. Prefta has with infinite attention tried every method of making it, the oil has always turned fharp, and been of a greenThe Öleum ifh yellow colour. ftrictivum of the ancients was prepared from olives, which having attained a middle state of maturity, were neither green hor black, but fpotted in a very particular manIn fome of the environs of ner. Taranto, they wait until the olives fall to the ground, before they gather them; fo that the harvest lafts from the end of October until the end of March. But at Taranto itfelf, where the management of this ufeful and profitable fruit is better understood, the olives are gathered in December with the greatest care, and heaped up in cellars, until it be convenient to prefs them. As very few individuals have an oil-prefs, and as in the baronial towns the lord has generally the exclufivė right of poffeffing one, of which his fubjects are constrained to make ufe, they are frequently obliged to wait fo long before they can extrac their oil, that the olives neceffarily fall into a ftate of too great fermen tation, which is fucceeded by putrefaction; and this is one of the principal caufes of the general bad tina nefs of the oil. The duke of Mar

tina has indeed conftructed maga. zines for olives, arched over, and contiguous to his preffes, upon one of his eftates, called Cafalerotto, where he has 900 moggie of olive plantations; and the olives are well preferved therein; but fuch expenfive works can only be undertaken by very opulent proprietors.

"The oil-mills, called trappeti, are of two kinds; one which has been in common ufe for a long period of time; and another that was found in the overwhelmed town of Stabia, and has been improved by Lavegha. The first confits of a folid piece of limeftone, or marble, fashioned like a mill-ftone, feven palms in diameter, and two in thickness: this vertical fort of wheel is placed upright upon a round flat ftone, from fix to feven palms in diameter, which has a railed border, and is fixed upon a pedestal four palms high. From the bottom of this ftone rifes a moveable cylinder, from which an axle extends into the centre of the upright stone, in fuch a manner, that it can turn round, as in the nave of a wheel. An afs being harneffed to a bar, that ftretches alfo from the cylinder across the wheel, gives motion both to the cylinder and the wheel, whofe weight crufhes the olives upon the ftone beneath. Of the other machine, which was found under the ruins of Stabia, and has been improved and rendered fit for prefent ufe by Lavegha, I have given as correct a reprefentation as a hurried drawing would permit. It confifts of a round pedeftal, four or five palms high, in which is fixed a concave hemifphere, of lava, or other very hard tone, two palms deep in the middle, and feven and a half in diameter, including the brim, which is one palm and a half broad.

From the centre of this hemifphere rifes a moveable cylinder, whoft upper end is let into a cross beam, in which alfe it moves around. At a certain diftance from the lower end, a very ftrong iron axle paffes through the cylinder; upon each tide of which a piece of lava, of an hemifpherical form, is placed, fa that the axle paffes them far enough for nuts to be fixed at the ends of it in fuch a manner, that the two feg ments may be moved at pleasure, to or from the cylinder. The convexity of thefe fegments, which, when united, are four palms in diameter, exactly coincides with the concavity of the mortar, from which the fegments can however be withdrawn by means of the nuts. In the fpace between the fegments are two iron inftruments, of which one is inferted in either stone, the one is in the form of a fickle, and keep the olives under the fegnients; and the other scratches off the thick pulp that adheres to them. A hole is cut through one fide of the concave ftone, and furnished with 2 cork, which, when the olives are fufficiently crushed, is drawn out, and the motion of the machine forces out the pulp; when frek olives are thrown into the milf. The advantage of this oil-mill over the other, confifts in its requiring fewer hands, and in hortening the time of grinding. For with the common machine, one man is conftantly employed in replacing under the mill-ftone fuch olives as fall out, and in taking out the pulp, before he can put in fresh fruit. Somewhat lefs oil is perhaps produced by Lavegha's mill; but this defect is amply remedied by the fuperior quality of the oil; for as his mill poffeffes the peculiar advantage of crufhing the olive without grinding the ftone, the oil is

free

Free from that raw and acrid fort of afte, to which the oil produced from the other mill is but too fub. ject. In fhort, its numerous opponents can reproach it with nothing but being of more expenfive construction; for their other objections, that it yields much lefs oil, and that their forefathers always made ufe of, and were fatisfied with the common one, can have but little weight with reasonable people. And with respect to the expence, it is indeed certain that the duke of Martina expended a large fum in the construction of his mills at Cafalerotto, for which he caufed the lava to be tranfported by fea from the foot of mount Vefuvius to Taranto; but it is not neceffary for

every one to follow the example of that opulent nobleman, especially when it is known that the neighbouring mountains of Calabria abound in ftone as proper for the purpose as lava, &c. As foon as the olives are fufficiently crufhed, the pulp is put into a cylindrical fort of ftraw baskets, called fifchioli, placed one upon another, under a prefs, that is worked by four or five men. When the oil is done running, warm water is thrown upon the baskets, which undergo a fecond preffure. The oil is received either in wooden or earthen veffels, out of which it is poured into a deep brick ciftern, where it is ufually well preserved."

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ANTIQUITIE S.

CONJECTURE on the Use of the ANCIENT TERRASSED WORKS in the NORTH OF ENGLAND, by JOHN FERRIAR, M. D.

[From the MEMOIRS of the LITERARY and PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY of MANCHESTER, Vol. IV. Part II.]

86 N the northern counties of this

hardly be doubted; but in what

"Xingdon, the fides of hills are age, or with what particular view

in many places divided by regular terraces, evidently artificial. Such works are firft obfervable in Westmoreland and Cumberland; in Northumberland they are very numerous. It is uncertain whether they exist in Scotland, for the filence of antiquarians, who are generally bad judges of earthen works, affords no proof to the contrary. Probably, the famous parallel roads of Glenco, defcribed in the appen. dix to Mr. Pennant's Tour, are terraces of this kind, as they abound in the avenues of hilly and difficult countries. The extent of thefe works is very different; in fome places, there are not more than three or four rows of terraces, capable altogether of containing an hundred men; but in others, the terraces mount almoft to the fummits of lofty hills, and would lodge a confiderable body of troops. At the battle of Humbledon, the Scottifh army is faid to have been pofted on one of thefe works, which is the most extenfive I remember to have obferved.

"That fuch terraces were intended for military purpofes, can

they were formed, has never yet been determined.

"Mr. Wallis, in his Antiquities of Northumberland, fuppofes them to have been ftations for parading the militia; but it is improbable, that in rude times, fo much exertion fhould have been employed, in places not easily acceffible, for a purpose, to which a level furface was much better adapted. On the contrary, their position, on commanding fituations, fecured by precipices, or difficult eminences on both flanks, or covered by advanced works of the fame kind, but of fmaller fize, points them out as lines of defence. I believe they are chiefly to be traced on the most acceffible parts of a high country, or rifing from the brink of a river, to defend the paffage. By what people they were raifed, it is very difficult to conjecture. They differ in every particular from the British works, defcribed by Cæfar, and are probably of more recent date, for they indicate the access of the invaders to the interior, and ftronger part of the country. And no traces of the British dry walls

appear

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appear in them, although stone is plentiful on the very ground where they are formed. They refemble, in fome places, the Danish fieldworks, but their great extent, and pofition with refpect to the fea and low country, for they chiefly point to the east and fouth, render it improbable that they are of Danish origin. I was once inclined to think, that they were conftructed to oppofe the progress of that people, becaufe confiderable terraces are vifible, on the floping eminences of fome fields, near Bambrough caftle, in Northumberland, which, among a great variety of intrenchments, contain fome beautiful femicircular redoubts, with triple ramparts. But, in a fhort ramble to the lakes, in fpring 1791, the view of Orton Scarr, between Kendal and Appleby, and of the neighbouring country, induced me to believe, that if this kind of defence were employed against the Danes, it had been, however, of earlier origin.

"Orton Scarr (or rock), of which I have given a very imperfect sketch from memory, lies on the north-east, directly oppofite the lower opening of the pafs of Brederdale, at the extremity of a narrow valley, watered by a fmall river. The front of the precipice is occupied by three rows of terraces, refembling two round baftions, connected by a curtin. On the more level part of the hill, under the beacon, fome lines appear to have been drawn, but I had not leifure to trace them. Near the road, fomewhat in the rear of the terraces, two fmall cairns are vifible. The pafs of Brederdale, which the traveller defcends, in going northwards, is a fteep and winding defile, commanded by preipitous hills. Where it begins to

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fpread out towards the valley, we meet with a confiderable Roman ftation, occupying nearly the whole breadth of the pafs, from the steep bank of the rivulet, to the foot of the declivity. It appears to have been fortified with care, for it is furrounded by a lofty double rampart, and two ditches. In the bottom, where the banks of the rivulet are level, appear the traces of Caftle How, which I fufpect to be founded on the fite of a Roman caftellum, defigned to protect the watering parties. It is in full view of the ftation. Thus we are prefented with the appearance of two hoftile garrifons, evidently invading and invaded. At prefent, all is folitarinefs and filence:

Stat circum alta quies, curvoque innixus

aratro

Defertas foffas, et caftra minantia caftris Rufticus invertit, tacita formidine luftrans Horrorémque loci, et funeftos ftragibus agros.

Addifon. Pax Gulielm.

On the oppofite bank of the ri vulet, lower than caftle How, ap. pears to have been another caftellum. At the entrance of the defile, from the fouth; a few flight traces of terraces are feen, and the remains of a fquare entrenchment, with a fhallow ditch, are difcovered, adjoining, in the flat country. In temporary encampments, the Romans commonly used a ditch, from three to five feet deep. Thefe filent monuments imprefs a connected ftory on the mind of the obferver, and perhaps afford fome materials for recovering a loft chapter in hiftory. Happily, the antiquarian vifion I am about to re-cite, obliges us to erafe nothing already recorded.

"It feems, from the imperfect account of Tacitus, that Agricola was the first Roman commander H 2 who

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