From
what he says he believed the end of the disturbance near, though he did
not venture to predict. As for the ashes, which a light wind was then
blowing in a direction away from Naples, he said: "The ill wind is now
blowing good to other places, for ashes are the best fertilizer it is
possible to use. It is merely a question just now of having too much of
a good thing."
This is a fact so far as the volcanic ash is concerned. An examination
of the ashes a few days ago shows that they will prove an active and
valuable fertilizer. The fertile slopes of Vesuvius have ever been an
allurement to the vine-grower, four crops a year being a temptation no
possible danger could drive him from, and as soon as the mountain grows
surely peaceful after this eruption, we shall find its farmers risking
again the chance of its uncertain temper. But this is not the case with
the land covered with lava and cinders. Time for their disintegration
is necessary before they can be brought under cultivation, and this is
a matter of years. After the great eruption of 1871-72 the land covered
with cinders did not bear crops for seven years, and there is no reason
that they will do so sooner on the present occasion. So for years to
come much of the volcanic soil must remain a barren and desert void.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Great Lisbon and Calabrian Earthquakes.
To our account of the great earth convulsions of San Francisco it is in
place to append a description of some similar events of older date.
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