148 AGRICULTURE. 



as obsolete or superseded. We find, with the single ex- 

 ception of lucerne (and perhaps cytisus), no new object of 

 culture. From Cato to Palladius the same routine is 

 prescribed, and generally in the same terms. Their most 

 refined practices those in which they made the nearest 

 approach to a successful application of mechanical power 

 may be traced in the historical books of the Old Testament, 

 and in the prophets. We encounter a few prudential and 

 very cautious maxims about trying experiments ; but we 

 are told of no fruit (if there be an exception, it is in the 

 case of vineyards) ; and as we work down the series we meet 

 with increasing complaints of diminished produce, and de- 

 clining profits. The characteristics of Koman agriculture, 

 as described in the books, were system, accuracy, and 

 great vigilance against waste. It was careful, painstaking, 

 garden -like farming, with very few artificial or adventitious 

 aids. We exclude, altogether, from our consideration the 

 degraded period when Roman farms were screwed down to 

 4 acres (7 jugera) apiece. This state of things if indeed 

 it ever existed was social, not agricultural. The story 

 of Attilius Regulus, who, having heard while he was pur- 

 suing a career of conquest in Africa that the bailiff of his 

 4-acre estate was dead, and that his farming slave had run 

 away, immediately sent to the senate a catalogue of his 

 spades, hoes, rakes, and spuds, and informed them that, 

 unless they took these implements into their special care, 

 and procured for him another bailiff and another slave, he 

 should leave the command of the army and come home to 

 look after his property, is very amusing, but is of no agri- 

 cultural import, unless it be at O'Connor Ville or Sniggs 

 End. But, when the Romans got wiser, in our estimation, 

 though worse perhaps in that of M. Louis Blanc, farms took 

 the size which was adapted to the convenience of culture. 

 Farming which was carried on without expensive imple- 

 ments, and without powerful machinery, did not offer the 

 inducements which now exist to large holdings. Probably 

 62 ^ acres (1 plough), or 125 acres (2 ploughs) of arable 



