The westward course of civilization has left its marks in Italy. We found at Paestum, south of Naples, one of the best preserved Greek temples, located on the coastal plain near the sea. Here, there was no overwash of erosional material or accumulation of dust from wind erosion and no gully erosion in the plain. We walked on the same level as the Greeks who built the temple 2,600 years ago.

But Population pressure in Italy, under its smiling climate and blue skies, has pushed the cultivation line up the slopes and caused the building of villages on picturesque ridge points. In Italy there are 826 persons per square mile of cultivated land, while in the United States there are only 208.

This method of comparing population density gives us the advantage because of our vast grazing lands that support great herds of livestock. But if we had the same density of population per square mile of cultivated land in the United States as has Italy, we should have 520 million people. This gives us some idea of the relative densities and pressures of Population upon the land and accounts for the intensive use not only of the plains but of the steep slopes.

We do not have space to tell the details of how the Pontine Marshes, that for 2,000 years defied the reclamation efforts of former rulers of Italy, were successfully reclaimed recently. This former pestilential area has been drained and rid of malaria and is now divided into farms equipped with reinforced concrete houses of attractive design, where families are established free from perils of malaria and safe in the security of their land.