Book 1. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 17 



food and drink, and also of the fig as an article of nourishment, are habits which arise 

 mediately from the circumstance of these articles being the artificial produce of the 

 country ; but are ultimately, like most other habits, to be referred to the climate. 



70. These Jiints respecting the natural and agricultural geography of Italy, during the time 

 of the Romans, are confessedly too scanty to be of more use than to recal to the reader's 

 recollection the information on the same subject with which his mind is already stored ; 

 and by this means to enable him to form a due estimate of the nature and merits of the 

 agriculture which we are about to describe. 



Sect. IV. Of the Culture and Farm Management of the Romans. 



71 . The Roman authors are much more copious in describing farm culture and eccmomyt 

 than in relating the state of landed property as to extent and proprietorship. Their 

 directions, being founded on experience, are in great part applicable at the present day : 

 they are remarkable for their minuteness ; but we can only give a very brief compen- 

 dium, beginning with some account of the farm and the villa, or farmery, and taking in 

 succession the servants, beasts of labor, implements, operations, crops cultivated, animals 

 reared , and profit produced. 





 SuBSECT. 1. Of the Choice of a Farm, and of tJie Villa or Farmery. 



72. In the choice of a farm, Cs-io recommends a situation where there are plenty of 

 artificers, and good water ; which has a fortified town in its neighbourhood ; is near the 

 sea, or a navigable river, or where the roads are easy and good. (^Cat. cap.l.) .To these 

 requisites Varro adds, a proper market for buying and selling, security from thieves and 

 robbers, and the boundaries planted with useful trees. The interior of the farm was 

 not subdivided by inclosures, which were seldom used but for their gardens, and in the 

 villas of the wealthy, to form a park. 



73. The soil preferred by Columella and all the Roman authors, is the fat and free, as 

 producing the greatest crops, and requiring the least culture ; next, fat, stiff soil ; then, 

 stiff and lean soil, that can be watered; and, last of all, lean, dry soil. 



74. The state of a farm preferred by Cato and some other writers is that of pasture, 

 meadow, and watered grass-lands, as yielding produce at least expence; and lands 

 under vines and olives, as producing the greatest profit according to the expence. 

 The opinions of the Roman agriculturists, however, seem to disagree on the subject of 

 meadows, apparently from confounding a profitable way of management, with a capacity 

 of yielding great profit with superior management, and none without. 



75. The word Villa originally denoted a farm-house and its appurtenances. In the 

 first age of the commonwealth, these were very plain and small, suitable to the plain 

 manners of the people, and adapted to the small size of their farms : but, when the 

 Romans had extended their empire, when they had become rich and luxurious, and 

 particular persons were possessed of large landed estates, then the villas became large 

 and magnificent. In the time of Valerius Maximus, there were villas that covered more 

 ground than was in the estates of some of the ancient nobles. " Now," says he, " those 

 think themselves very much confined whose houses are not more extensive than the 

 fields of Cincinnatus. " ( Val. Max. lib, iv. cap. 4. sect. 7.) In the days of Cato, it is probable 

 that they had begun to extend their villas considerably, which makes him give a caution 

 to the proprietors of land not to be rash in building. He recommends to them to sow 

 and plant in their youth, but not to build till somewhat advanced in years. His words 

 are remarkable : " A landholder," says he, " should apply himself to the planting of 

 his fields early in his youth ; but he ought to think long before he builds. He ought 

 not to think about planting ; but he ought to do it. When he is about thirty-six years 

 of age, he may build, provided his fields are planted." (Cat. cap. 3.) 



76. Men should plant in their youth, and not build till their fields are planted; and 

 even then ought " not to be in a hurry, but take time to consider. It is best, according 

 to the proverb, to profit by the folly of others." (Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. cap. 5.) 

 The reason why these authors recommend greater attention to planting than building 

 is, that the labouring oxen in Italy, in the time of the Romans, were fed, for several 

 months in the year, with leaves and mast ; and the vine, the fig, the olive, and other 

 trees, were cultivated for their fruit. 



77. Build in such a manner that your villa may not need a farm, nor your farm 

 need a villa. {Cat. cap. 3.) Varro assigns proper reasons for this. " In not attending," 

 says he, " to the measure of the farm, many have gone wrong. Some have made 

 the villa much smaller, and others much larger than the farm required. One 

 of these is contrary to a man's interest, and the other hurtful to the produce of his 

 lands. For we both build and repair the larger buildings at a greater expense than is 

 necessary ; and, when the buildings are less than what the farm requires, the fruits are 

 in danger of being destroyed." (Var. de R.R. lib. i. cap. II.) Columella expresses 

 himself to the same purpose, and mentions two persons in particular vho had fallen into 



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