32 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



168. Thefarmer*s profit cannot be correctly ascertained ; but, according to a calculation 

 made by the Rev. A. Dickson, the surplus produce of good land in the time of Varro, 

 was about fifteen pecks of wheat per acre ; and in the time of Columella, lands being worse 

 cultivated, it did not exceed three and one-third pecks per acre. What proportion of this 

 went to the landlord cannot be ascertained. Corn, in Varro's time, was from 4rf. to 5rf. 

 per peck : seventy years afterwards, in the time of Columella, it had risen to Is. 9d. per 

 peck. Vineyards were so neglected in the time of this author, that they did not yield 

 more to the landlord as rent, than 14s. or 15s. per acre. 



1 69. The price of land, in the time of Columella and Pliny, was twenty-five years' pur- 

 chase. It was convnon, both these writers inform us, to receive 4 per cent, for capital so 

 invested. The interest of money was then 6 per cent. ; but this 6 per cent, was not what 

 we would call legal interest ; money among the Romans being left to find its value, like 

 other commodities, of course the interest was always fluctuating. Such is the essence of 

 what is known as to the produce, rent, and price of lands among the Romans. 



Sect. VI. Of the Roman Agriculturists, in respect to general Science, and the 

 Advancement of the Art. 



170. The sciences cultivated by the Greeks and Romans were chiefiy of the mental and 

 mathematieal kind. They knew nothing of chemistry or physiology, and very little of 

 other branches of natural philosophy ; and hence their progress in the practical arts was 

 entirely the result of observation, experience, or accident. In none of their agricultural 

 writers is there any attempt made to give the rationale of the practices described ; abso- 

 lute directions are either given, as is frequently the case in Virgil and Columella ; or the 

 historical relation is adopted, and the reader is informed what is done by certain persons, 

 or in certain places ; as is generally the case with Varro and Pliny. 



171. Wherever the phtsnomena of nature are not accounted for scientifically, recourse is 

 had to supernatural causes ; and the idea of this kind of agency once admitted, there is 

 no limit that can be set to its influence over the mind. In the early and ignorant ages 

 good and evil spirits were supposed to take a concern in every thing ; and hence the 

 endless and absurd superstitions of the Egyptians, some of which have been already 

 noticed, and the equally numerous though perhaps less absurd rites and ceremonies of the 

 Greeks, to procure their favor, or avert their evil influence. Hesiod considered it of 

 not less importance to describe what works were to be done, than to describe the 

 lucky and unlucky days for tlieir performance. Homer, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and 

 all the Greek authors, are more or less tinctured with this religion, or superstition as 

 we are pleased to call it, of their age. 



172. As the Romans made few advances in science, consequently they made equally few in 

 divesting themselves of the superstitions of their ancestors. These, as most readers 

 know, entered into every action and art of that people, and into none more than agri- 

 culture. In some cases it is of importance for the general reader to be aware of this, 

 before perusing their rustic authors ; as in the case of heterogeneous grafting, and the 

 spontaneous generation and transmutation of plants, which, though stated by Virgil 

 and Pliny, and others, as facts, are known to every physiologist to be impossible : but 

 other relations are too gross to be entertained as truths by any one. Of these we may 

 mention the lunar days, the impregnation of animals by particular winds, &c, It is 

 impossible not heartily to concur with Lord Kaimts in congratulating the present age 

 in the delivery from such " heavy fetters." It is curious to observe the religious eco- 

 nomy of Cato : after recommending the master of the family to be regular in perform- 

 ing his devotions, he expressly forbids the rest of the family to perform any, either by 

 themselves or others, telling them that they were to consider that the master performed 

 suflScient devotions for the family. (^Cat. cap. 43.) This was probably intended not 

 only to save time, but also to prevent such slaves as had naturally more susceptible 

 imaginations than the others, from becoming religious enthusiasts. 



173. What degree of improvement agriculture received from the Romans, is a question 

 we have no means of answering. Agriculture appears obviously to have declined 

 from the time of Cato and Varro to Pliny ; and therefore any improvement it received 

 must have taken place antecedently to their era. As these authors, however, generally 

 refer to the Greeks as their masters in this art, it appears very doubtful whether they 

 did any thing more than imitate their practice. As a more luxurious people, they 

 introduced new fruits, and probably improved the treatment of birds, and other minor 

 products ; but these belong more to gardening and domestic economy, than to field 

 cultivation. In the culture of corn, herbage, plants, and fruit-trees, and in the 

 breeding and rearing of cattle, Noah and his sons, the Jews, the Babylonians, 

 Egyptians, and Greeks, may have been as far advanced as the Romans, for any 

 thing that appears to the contrary. The great agricultural advantages which mankind 

 have derived from the Romans, is the diffusion of the art by their almost universal 

 conquests. 



