THE FARJVIER'S MONI'HLY VISITOR, 



137 



been eithec unknown or neglected, which so long 

 employed the pen and the tongue of the great 

 Xenophon.* It ninet, however, be admitted, 

 that of tlie ancient nations, it is only among the 

 Romans that we find real and multiplied evi- 

 dences of the progress of the art ; fittts, substi- 

 tuted for conjectures and inferences. Cato, Varo, 

 Columella, Virgil, and Pliny, wrote on the sub- 

 ject, and it is from their works we derive the fol- 

 lowing brief exposition of Roman husbandry : 



The plough, the great instrument of agricul- 

 tia-al labor, was well known and generally used 

 among them ; it was drawn exclustively by horned 

 cattle. Of fossile manures, we know that they 

 used lime, and probably marl,^ and that those of 

 animal and vegetable basis were carefully col- 

 lected. Attention to this subject even made 

 part of the natural religion ; the dunghill had its 

 god, and Stercutus his temple and worshippers. 

 Their corn crops were abundant ; besides barley 

 and far,l they had three species of wheat ; the 

 rolnts or red — the siligo or white — and the triti- 

 cum Irimestre, or summer wheat; they had, be- 

 sides, millet, panis, zea, (Indian corn,) and i-ye, 

 all of which, producing a flour convertible into 

 bread, were known by the common name of 

 frumentum. Leguminous crops were frequent ; 

 the lupin, in particular, was raised in abundance, 

 and besides being employed as a manure,^ en- 

 tered extensively into the subsistence of men, 

 cattle, and poultry. The cultivation of garden 

 vegetables was well understood and employed 

 many hands ; and meadows, natural and artifi- 

 cial, were brought to great perfection. Lucern 

 and fenu-gree were the basis of the latter, and 

 |)eas, called /a/rag-o, were used occasionally in 

 the stables as green food. Their flocks were 

 abundant, and formed their first representative of 

 wealth, as is sufliciently indicated by their word 

 pecunia. Vines and olives and their products 

 (wine and oil) had a full share of attenlion and 

 use. The rearing of poultry made an important 

 part of domestic economy, nor were apiaries and 

 fish ponds forgotten or neglected. 



Such was the husbandry of Rome, when Rome 

 was mistress of the world, and it was to this il- 

 lustrious period that Pliny alluded, when (speak- 

 ing of the ancient fertility of the soil) he re- 

 marked "that the earth took pleasure in being 

 culti\ated by the hand of men, crowned with 

 laurels and decorated with triumphal honors." 



If we pause for a moment, to glance at the 

 civil institutions of this wonderful people, we 

 discover how soon and how deeply it entered 

 into their policy not merely to ])ronK)te, but to 

 dignify, agricultiu-e and its professors.|| When 

 Cicero said that " nothing in this worlil was bet- 

 ter, more useful, more agreeable, more worthy of 

 a freeman than agricnlture,''tt he pronounced not 

 merely his own opinion, but the public judgment 

 of his age and nation. Were troops to be raised 

 for the defence of the republic — the trihus rusti- 

 cus was the privileged nursery of the legion \tt 

 Did exigencies of state require a general or dic- 

 tator — he was taken from thii plough ! Were his 

 services rewarded — this was not done with rib- 

 ands or gold, but by a donation of land.i^ 



With such support from public ojiinion, it was 

 )iot to be supposed that the laws would be either 

 adverse or indittercnt to this branch of industry; 

 we accordingly find the utmost security given to 

 the labors of the husbandman :|||| no legislative in- 

 terposition beHveeu the s<'lier and buj er ; neither 

 tbrccd sales— nor limitation of prices, and a sa- 

 credness of boundaries never dislm-hcd ;** fairs 

 and markets multiplied and luotecfed against in- 



' Xenophon wrot** sevurai treatises oii liusbandry, and 

 gave public leetiircs on it, at Scillonte, wiiither a weak 

 anil wicked Ciuvcnnnent had binishcd him. 



f Kor tllf first part of tins assertion we have the author- 

 itj ot' I'liuy ; fortlic latter, the praetiec of their eolonies 

 in Gaul and Brltiiin. 



* Of this last, there \ver> three kindtf, i. either ofwhicli 

 in now cultivated. 



(\Thc lupiniis albus, of Linnecus : ■■ many other vegeta- 

 bles are used for this purpose, particularly the bean, but 

 lIo not answer as well as the lupin; when this is heated 

 in an oven and then buried, it forms the most powerful of 

 kU manures." T. C. L. Simonde. Tableau dc L'agricul- 

 tui-e Toscane. 



II Tanus and Numi were deified for services rendered to 

 agriculture. 



+t Cicero de officiis. L. 2. 



ttThis continued to the time of Marius. 



^vS As much as he could ploujh in a day. 



lllfTo cut or destroy in the night the crop of his neigh- 

 bor, subjected the Roman to death. 



'"•Terminup was among their gods. 



vasion or interruption,* and highways leading to 

 these, every where established, and of a charac- 

 ter to call forth benedictions and admiration.t 



Nor were these regulations confined to the 

 proper territory of Rome ; what of her own pol- 

 icy was good, she communicated to her neigh- 

 bors ; what of theirs was better, she adopted and 

 practised herself Her arts and arms were there- 

 fore constant companions ; wherever her legions 

 marched, her knowledge, practices, and imple- 

 ments followed ; and it is to these we are to look 

 for the fotmdation of modern agriculture in Italy, 

 France, Spain, &c. 



SECTIOIf II. 



Of the actual stale of Agriculture in Europe. 



This is very different in different states, and 

 even in different parts of the same state ; its 

 greater or less degree of perfection, depending 

 on causes phj'sical, or political, or both. Where 

 a state, or part of a state, from soil, climate, man- 

 ners, or geographical position, draws its principal 

 subsistence from the fishery or the chase, as in 

 the more northern parts of Em-ope, agriculture 

 will not succeed ; when a state is from any cause 

 both essentially maratime or manufacturing, as 

 in England, or principally manufacturing, as in 

 Prussia ; where public opinion has degraded man- 

 ual labor, as in Spain, Portugal, and the Papal 

 territory ; or where laws villaini^e it, as in Rus- 

 sia, Prussia, Poland, or Hungary, &c., &c., it is 

 in vain to expect pre-eminent agricidture. These 

 principles will receive illustration as we go along. 



1. In the Campania of Rome, where in the 

 time of Pliny were counted twenty-three cities, 

 the traveller is now astonishedj and depressed at 

 the silence and desolation that surround him. 

 Even from Rome to Trescati, (four leagues of 

 road the most frequented,) we find oidy an arid 

 ])lain, « ithout trees, without meadows, natural or 

 artificial, and without villages, or other habita- 

 tions of man ! Yet is this wretchedness not the 

 fault of soil or climate, which (with little altera- 

 tion)}: continue to be what they were in the days 

 of Augustus. " Man is the only growth that dilhn- 

 rfte A«(f," and to his deficient, or ill directed in- 

 dustry, are owing all the calannties of the scene. 

 ^Instead of the hardy and masculine labors of the 

 field, the successors of Cato and Pliny employ 

 themselves in fahricating sacred vases, hair powder, 

 and pomatums, artificial pearls, fddle-strings, em- 

 broidered gloves, and religious relics! They are 

 also great collectors of pictures, statues, and med- 

 als- -" dirty gods and coins," and find an ample 

 reward in the ignorance and credulity of those 

 who buy them. 



3. IIow different from this picture is that of 

 Tuscany! wliere the soil, though less fertile,|| is 

 covered with grains, with vines, and with cattle ; 

 and where a smtace of 1200 square leagues sid)- 

 si.sts a [lopulation of 950,000 iidiabitauts, of which 

 80,000 are agriculturists. It mayamu.se, if it docs 

 not instruct, the reader, to offer a few details of 

 a husbandly, among the most distinguished of 

 the present age. The plough of the north of Eu 

 rope, as of this coimtry, has the powers of a 

 wedge, and acts perpendicularly ; but that of Tus- 

 cany resembles a shovel, is eight or nine inches 

 long and nearly as broad, anil cuts the earth hor- 

 izontally. This iustrmnent is particularly adap- 

 ted to the loose and friable texture of the soil. 

 A second plough of tlie stine shape, but of smaller 

 size, follows that idready described, and with the 

 aid of the hoe and the spade, throwa the earth, 

 already broken and pid\erized, into lour feet 

 ridges, or beds, on w hich the crop is sown. The 

 furrows ims«er a tiu-ee-fbid purpose : they diiiin 

 the beds of excessive moisture, ventilate the 

 growing crops, and siqiply paths for the weeders. 



The rotation of crops employe two periods ot 

 different length ; the one of three, the other ot 

 five years. In the rotation of three years, the 

 ground is sown five times, and In that of four 

 years, seven times, as follows :■ — 



Ist year, wheat, alul after Wheat, lupins ; 



2d do. wheat, and atler wheat, turnips ; 



3d do. Indian corn or millet. 



1st year, wheat, and after the wheat, beans ; 



2d do. wheat, and after wheat, lupins ; 



3d do. wheat, and after wheat, lupinella; [an- 

 nual clover ;] 



4th year, Indian corn or millet. 



Li the Syaiiese Maremna, where the lands want 

 neither repose nor manure, the constant alterna- 

 tion is hemp and ichcat, and the produce of the 

 latter, often twenty-four bushels threshed for one 

 sown. 



It will be seen from this course of crops, that 

 the principal object of Tuscan agriculture is 

 wheat, of which they have two species, the one 

 bald, the other bearded; both larger than the 

 corresponding species in other countries of Eu- 

 rope, convertible into excellent bread and pastes, 

 and probably but varieties of that Sicilian family 

 which Pliny describes as yielding " most four 

 and least bran, and suffering no degradation from 

 time." It is harvested about the middle of June, 

 and when the grain crop is secured, the plough- 

 ing for the second, or forage crop, begins ; which, 

 besides lupins, lupinella, and beans, often consists 

 of a mixture of lupins, turnips, and flax. The lu- 

 pins ripen first, and are gathered in autumn ; the 

 turnips are drawn in the winter, and the fla.\ in 

 the spring. 



Besides the application of ordinary manures, 

 the lupin is ijloughed down when in fower ; a 

 practice that began with the Romans. Columella 

 says, of "all leguminous vegetables, the lupin is 

 that which tnost merits attention, because it costs 

 least, employs lea.st time, and furnishes an ex- 

 cellent manure." The culture of this vegetable 

 is different, according to the purposes for which 

 it is raised ; if for grain, the ground lias two 

 ploughing.s, and twenty-five pounds weight of 

 seed to a square of a hundred toises ; if for ma- 

 nure, one ploughing is sufficient. Like our buck- 

 wheat, its vegetation is quick and its growth rap- 

 id ; whence the farther advantages of suppres- 

 sing, and even of destroying the weeds that 

 wouUl have infested any other crop. In the neigh- 

 borhood of f'lorence they are in the practice of 

 burning the soil ; which tliey do by digging holes, 

 filling them with faggot.s, and raising the earth 

 into mounds over them. The faggots are then 

 inffamed and burnt, and with them tlie incumbent 

 earth, which is afterwards sctittered, so as to give 

 the whole field the same preparation. 



^.-Vssemblies of the people on days designated for fairs, 

 and on subjects other than those of trade, were not lawful . 



t The Appian way yet remains the wondjr and reproach 

 ot modern times. 



tThe climate of Italy is now warmer than it was in the 

 .\ugustan age, which Butlbn ascribes to the draining of* 

 great tracts of swampy land in Germany. 



^" Roniain meme le plus indigent rougiroit de cuUivor 

 li terre.'' Bosc. 



Jj" Two-thirds of Tuscany consists of mountains.'' Vol. 

 viu, p. 232, Geograptiic Mathcmatique ct pkysicjuc. .See 

 also Forsyth's remarks, p. 80, where arc detailed the 

 principal causes of her pri'spenty. "Leopold,"' says he, 

 '' in selling the crown lands, studiously divided large tracts 

 of ricli but neglected land, into small properties. His fa- 

 vorite plan of' encouraging agriculture consisted, not in 

 boardt, societies, and premiums, hut in giving the laborer a 

 security and interest in the suit — in multiplying small free- 

 holds — ill extending llie livelli or life Iciscs,'' &,c., &e. 



l-'rom the Boston Daily .\dvertisGr and Patriot. 



KARTHQl AKF.S AI\i) THF.IR TERRIBLK 



EFFECTS. 



In looking over Murray's Encyciopi-dia of Geography, we 



were very forcibly struck with tlie graphic description of 



these destructive phenomena. We shall therefore state a 



few of the facts as there given ; but must refer the reader 



to the "work itself for a full account of these dreadful 



scourges of the human race. 



F-arthqitakes may be said to be universal, there is no 

 country entirely e.sempted, and not a week passes without 

 some part of the earth's surface being more or less agitat- 

 ed ; while a few districts, sometimes, experience a con- 

 tinual series of concussions. Confined to no particular 

 season of the year, or state of the atmosphere, they oc- 

 cur at noon as well us at midnight, and without a momenta 

 warning pre<-ipitMc thousands into eternity in a few sec- 

 onds. 1'he shocks at first appear like perpendicular heav- 

 ings — then as horizontal undulations or osciltations — the 

 efi'ects of these are terrible ; but the most dreadful of all 

 are the rotary motions — during » hich large masses of rocks 

 and houses .are whirled about — sturdy palm trees are twis- 

 ted around one another like willows — the most substantial 

 buildings are instantly shattered to pieces, and the inhabi- 

 tants buried beneath their ruins. 'I'he duration of a sin- 

 gle shock rarely exceed* half a minute ; but in most cases, 

 more shocks follow at short intervals, .\fter the first and 

 second, the others are less destructive, though they fre- 

 quently continue for months with longer or shorter inter- 

 missions. During one of these awful scenes, the violent 

 agitation of the sea shows the extent, as well as the power 

 of these tremendous agencies. The submarine land seema 

 to be thrown out of its bed by the struggling and bursting 

 of the pent grasses ; and the waters, as if afl'rightetl, rush 

 to the shores and overflow their bounds even on distant 

 continents. In 1755, a wave sixty fvet high overflowed a 

 part of the city of Cadiz ; .and during the earthquake at 

 Lima, one of eighty-four feet rolled into the harbor of Cal- 

 lao. Ships at sea and at anchor are sh.-^ken so that they 

 seem to be falling asunder — their masts spring — tlie guns 

 bre ik loose from tln*ir fastenings, and spring from the deck 

 to the height of sfiveral inches. Sometimes the earth is 

 torn a:'uiidcr for miirs, .and chasms hundreds of t'ert in 



