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esembled similar architectural features seen in Bergamo and may have translated this
northem Italian tradition.** With the passing of the years, the productive aspects of
some homes became less prominent and were replaced with features more related to
comfort and status. For most famiUes, however, the need for a self-sufficient life-style
continued to determine the design of the house.
Attempting to replicate the domestic arrangement which had supported them in
Europe, most ItaUan speakers planted fmit trees, vegetables and crops around their
properties and kept a few animals. Through centuries of stmggle ~ working tiny plots
of land in a harsh European climate ~ they had developed farming skills and an
inventiveness and fmgality which allowed them to provide most of their food needs.
Faced with Jim Crow's different climate and less mountainous terrain, they were able
to apply their knowledge to make their farms productive. It was possible to cultivate
many traditional crops, including oats, rye, com, barley, potatoes, carrots, peas and
cabbages and the herbs which permitted a traditional diet. They planted large orchards
and grew nut trees, such as the chestnut. Like the Pozzis at Hepbum, some families
exchanged plant seeds wdth their relatives in Ticino, this economical arrangement
increasing the garden's variety. Many immigrants found the gently sloping hills of Jim
Crow easier to farm than the mountainous terrains of their homelands while some
lamented the loss of soil nutrients which they believed had come with the annual
snowfaUs.*' While many settiers in the Colony adopted extensive farming methods ~
achieving low yields per hectare and increasing production by cultivating more land ~
the Italian speakers purchased smaU blocks of land and applied their specialised
farming knowledge to making them productive.
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