Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 



29 



operations of the Jews and Greeks on the one hand, and fVora the practices of modern 

 times on the other. 



SuBSECX. 6. Of the Crops cultivated, and Animals reared by the Romans. 



148. The cereal grasses cvM'va.tedi by the Romans were chiefly the triticum or wheat, the 

 far, or Indian corn (Zea), and the hordeum or barley : but they sowed also the siligo or 



rye, the holcus or millet, the panic grass (Panicum mUiaceum), and the avena or oat. 



149. Of legumes they cultivated ihe faba or bean, the jnsum or pea, the lupinus or 

 lupin, the ervum or tare, the lens or flat-tare {Lathyrus cicera) ; the chickling vetch (ia- 

 thyrus sativis) ; the chick or mouse pea (^Cicer arietinum) ; and the kidney bean ( Phaseolus). 

 The bean was used as food for the servants or slaves ; the others were grown principally 

 for food to the laboring cattle. 18 



150. The sesamum, or oily grain (Sesamum Orientate, L.) 

 {fig. 18.) was cultivated for the seeds from which an oil was 

 expressed, and used as a substitute for that of olives, as it 

 still is in India and China ; and as the oil of the poppy is 

 in Holland, that of the walnut in Savoy, and of the hemp 

 in Russia. ' 



151 . The herbage plants were chiefly the trifolium or clover, 

 the medic or lucern, and the cytissus. What the latter plant 

 is, has not been distinctly ascertained. They cultivated also 

 the ocymum, and foenum grcecum, with several others, which 

 from the descriptions left of them cannot now be identified. 

 The napus or turnip, and rapa or rape, were much esteemed 

 and carefully cultivated. Pliny says, "they require a dry' 

 soil ; that the rapa will grow almost any where ; that it is nou- 

 rished by mists, hoar-frosts and cold, and that he has seen some 

 of them upwards of forty pounds weight. The napus," he 

 says, " delights equally in colds, which make it both sweeter 

 and larger, while by heat they grow to leaves." He adds, 

 " the more diligent husbandmen plough five times for the napus, four times for the rapa, 

 and apply dung to both." {Nat. Hist, xviii. cap. 13.) Palladius recommends soot and 

 oil as a remedy against flies and snails, in the culture of the napus and rapa. While the 

 turnips were growing, it appears persons were not much restricted from pulling them. 

 Columella observes, that in his time, the more religious husbandmen still observed an 

 ancient custom, mentioned by Varro as being recorded by Demetrius, a Greek. This 

 was, that while sowing them they prayed they might grow both for themselves and 

 neighbours. Pliny says the sower was naked. 



152. Of croj)S used in the arts may be mentioned the flax, the sesamum, already men- 

 tioned, and the poppy ; the two latter were grown for their seeds, which were bruised for oil. 



153. The ligneous crops were willows, both for basketmaking, and as ties and poles for 

 olives and vines. Copse wood was grown in some places for fuel ; but chiefly in natural 

 woods, which were periodically cut. Timber was also procured from the natural forests, 

 which were abundant both of oak, elm, beech, pine, and larix. 1 9 



154. The fruit frees cultivated extensively, were the vine and the 

 olive. The fig was grown in gardens and orchards, and also the | 

 pear ; and in the gardens of the wealthy were found most fruits j 

 in present use, with the exception of the pine apple, the goose-| 

 berry, and perhaps the orange, though the lemon seems to have'^^' ^ 

 been know in Palladius' time. The vine was supported by T] 1 

 elms or poplars [fig. 19.), or tied to different sorts of trellises/fj I 

 {fig. 20.), as in Italy at the present day. Til 



155. Such are the principal fild crops of Roman agriculture "^^^^ 

 from which, and from the list of cultivated vegetables given by Pliny, it appears they had 

 most plants and trees now in use, with the exception of the 20 

 potatoe, and one or two others of less consequence. 



156. Of animals reared, the quadrupeds were of the same kinds 

 now in use ; and to the common sorts of poultry they added 

 thrushes, larks, peacocks, and turtle' doves ; they also reared 

 snails, dormice, bees, and fish. The care of the poultry was chiefly 

 committed to the wife of the farmer or bailiff ; and it was chiefly 

 near Rome and Naples where the more delicate birds were ex-< 

 tensively reared. When Rome was at her greatest height in the time of the Cesars, the 

 minor articles of farm produce bore a very high price. Varro informs us, that <' fat birds, 

 such as thrushes, black-birds, &c. , were sold at two shillings, and sometimes 5000 of 

 them were sold in a year from one farm. ( Var. lib. iii. cap. 2.) Pea-fowls were sold at 

 1/. 13. Ad, ; an egg was sold at 3*. 4rf. A farm sometimes produced as many of these 



