. . . strawberries at Genoa. scaffold poles for the upper parts of a wall. as for the 3 ^d story, rest on the window sills of the story below. slate is used here for paving, for steps, for stairs (the rise as well as tread) & for fixed Venetian blinds. at the Palazzo Marcello Durazzo benches with strait legs, & bottoms of cane. at the Palazzo del prencipe Lomellino at Sestri a phaeton with a conopy. at the former, tables folding into one plane. at Nervi they have peas, strawberries, &c. all the year round. the gardens of the Count Durazzo at Nervi exhibit as rich a mixture of the Utile dulci as I ever saw. all the environs of Genoa are in olives, figs, oranges, mulberries, corn & garden stuff. aloes in many places, but they never flower . . .

Little seems to be known concerning the author, Giacomo Brusco, whose name was obtained from the legend in the frontispiece as quoted above, beyond the information there given that he was an engineer. The first edition was printed in 1773.

Entered by Jefferson without price in his undated manuscript catalogue.

Jefferson visited Milan on April 21 and 22, 1787, and thus described it in his memoranda of that journey through the south of France and the north of Italy: Figs & pomegranates grow here unsheltered, as I am told. I saw none, & therefore suppose them rare. they had formerly olives, but a great cold in 1709. killed them, & they have not been replanted.--among a great many houses painted al fresco, the Casa Roma & Casa Candiani by Appiani, & casa Belgioiosa by Martin are superior. in the second is a small cabinet, the cieling of which is in small hexagons, within which are Cameos & heads painted alternately, no two the same. the salon of the casa Belgioiosa is superior to any thing I have seen. the mixture called Scaiola, of which they make their walls & floors, is so like the finest marble as to be scarcely distinguishable from it.--the nights of the 20. & 21 ^st. inst. the rice ponds freezed half an inch thick. drowths of 2. or 3. months are not uncommon here in summer. about 5. years ago there was such a hail as to kill cats.--the Count del Verme tells me of a pendulum Odometer for the wheel of a carriage.--leases here are mostly for 9. years. wheat costs a Louis d’or the 140. lb. a labouring man receives 60. & is fed & lodged. the trade of this country is principally rice, raw silk, & cheese . . .

Carlo Bianconi, fl. 1784, secretary of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, published the first edition of this work in 1784.