E i steril campi, e al far fructo ambigui
Fertili ha facto et abondanti prati,
E d'acqua ticinese tutti irigui."

Both Cagnola and Galeotto refer, no doubt, to the vast system of
irrigation which Lodovico constructed at immense pains and expense to
fertilize this district of Lomellina, and which may well have earned the
gratitude of its inhabitants. The great Naviglio Sforzesca, which has
resisted the ravages of time, formed part of this admirable system, and
was probably constructed under the supervision of Leonardo, who was
often at Vigevano with Lodovico, and who in later years became his chief
engineer. It was here, in the immediate neighbourhood of Vigevano, that
Lodovico established his model farm for the encouragement of agriculture.
Like all the Moro's other undertakings, this was planned on a splendid
scale. The villa itself was an imposing quadrangular building, with four
lofty towers, and a noble gateway adorned with a Latin inscription cut in
gold letters on a tablet of massive marble, and bearing the date 1486.
These lines, composed at the duke's request by Ermolao Barbaro, the
learned Venetian scholar, who was a personal friend of his, and
represented the republic at his court, record how Lodovico, the son of
one Sforza Duke of Milan, and uncle and guardian of another, brought
water to fertilize this barren province, and was the builder of this
fair house, "_villaque amenissima a fundamentis erecta_." In order to
carry out his schemes, the duke acquired a large extent of land in the
neighbourhood, partly by purchase, and partly by the confiscation of
territory, which, as Corio remarks, naturally provoked much discontent
among individuals, and did not help to increase Lodovico's popularity,
although in the end it largely benefited both the state and posterity.
He proceeded to dig canals, and bring water on the one side by the
Naviglio Sforzesca from the Ticino, and on the other by the Mora Canal
from the Val Seria. Then, with the help of exports from Vicenza and
Verona, he introduced the culture of the mulberry with excellent
results, and planted large vineyards. Here he tried various experiments
in the culture of the vine, such, for instance, as that of burying vines
in winter, which Leonardo noted down when he visited Vigevano in March,
1492. At the same time Lodovico brought vast flocks of sheep from
Languedoc, and built the large farm known as La Pecorara, close to the
new villa. La Grange, as