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F A R M E Jl S ' REGISTER. 



281 



them, as when they are first turned into clover in 

 England. Upon the whole, it is certain, ibat 

 there is no dry ibod in Italy, of which both horn- 

 ed cattle and sheep are yo Ibnd, as leaves well 

 preserved^ insomuch, that they fatten very quick- 

 ly, when a sufficient quantity can be spared for 

 them. In the good dairy liirms in the JMilanese, 

 the cows are fed with hay in the winter, and are 

 rarely suffered to touch any leaves, unless hay is 

 extremely dear ; but in other parts of Italy little 

 regard is paid to the taste of the milk. 



That the custom, which I have described, ob- 

 tained among the ancient Romans, appears from 

 the concurrent testimonies of the best authors. 

 Cato the elder, recommends autumn as the proper 

 season lor gatliering leaves; and directs the larm- 

 ers to keep them as fresh as possible for their 

 sheep*. Virgil has liequent allusion to this kind 

 of fodder; and gives us undoubted reason to think, 

 that the man who gathered the leaves was called 

 by the name of frondaio7''\ : 

 Hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras. 



Ed. i. V. 57. 

 Horace takes it for granted, that his bailiff will 

 feed his oxen with leaves, as soon as they are un- 

 yoked ; an unerring proot^ that the practice was 

 very general .f 



et tamen urges 



Jampridem non tacta ligonibus arva, bovemque 

 Disjunctum curas, et stnciis frondibus exples. 



Ep, i. xiv. V. 27. 

 But oi all the ancient writers, Columella is the 

 most exact upon this head ; for he has scarce omit- 

 ted any thing that may serve to determine the 

 quality and value of this kind of food ; and, what 

 is worthy of remark, he has enabled u.s to judge of 

 the comparative goodness of of it ; for it appears 

 that twenty pecks of dried leaves were esteemed 

 equal, in pomt of substance, to thirty pounds 

 weight of hay.§ 



* See chap vi. and xxxi. De Re Rustica. 



t The commentators are strangely embarrassed 

 about the meaning of the word frondator ; but that it 

 signifies the person who strips the leaves from the trees, 

 is clear from a passage in Pliny, J. xxxviii. §. 74. 

 "Unus/;-07ida/or quatuor frondarias fiscinas coraplere in 

 die justum habet." 



{ Several commentators observe a profound silence 

 with respect to the signification of stridis. Lambin 

 interprets it stringendo succisis, which conveys no 

 meaning. Cruquius says, "districtis, hoc est, diligen- 

 ter pascis, ne desit agris colendis, strigosior factus." 

 This seems to be equally unintelligible. Strictcs 

 Jronda are doubtless leaves gathered for fodder. Vir- 

 gil uses the same expression where he represents the 

 shepherd pointing to a grove or copse, in which it 

 was usual for the husbandmen to strip off the leaves ; 

 -his, ubi densas 



Agricolae slrhigunt frondes- 



Ed. ix. 60. 



Should any further doubt remain about the meaning of 

 stridis, it is removed by Columella, who says, " pos- 

 sint etiam et folio ficulnea apte dari, si sit eorum 

 copia, aut stringere arbores expediat." L ri. c 3. 



§ Si grano abstinemus, Irondis aridae corbis pabidato- 

 ria modiorum viginti sufficit, vel fceni pondo triginta. L. 

 vi. c. 3. The Roman modius was rather more than our 

 peck ; and the Roman pound differed a little from ours ; 

 but the difference is inconsiderable, and it is not 

 worth while to attend to niceties, when the design is 

 "nlv to convey a general idea. 

 Vol.. Vli-36 



This branch of rural ceconomics has been adop- 

 ted in France from very early times. De Serres, 

 who wrote under the auspicesof Henry the fourth, 

 speaks of it as an established custom ; and af- 

 firms, that o.xen did not prefer oats to leaves; * but 

 instead of recommending the common method of 

 gathering them, he advises the peasants to lop, in 

 autumn, the boughs of such trees as are intended 

 for fuel ; and to keep them in a very dry place; 

 so that the cattle mighteatthe tender twigs, as 

 well as the leaves; j but there is no ground to 

 imagine, that the advice of De Serres has been 

 much followed. It is usual, at present, either to 

 fjather the leaves when they are upon the point 

 offidlmg, or immediately aller they are fallen; 

 and to preserve them as dry as possible for the 

 maintenance of their flock in the winter.J The 

 management of them seems to be best understood 

 m some parts of Franche Compte andAuvergne. 

 Whenever there is a very scorching summer, or 

 an inconsiderable crop of hay, the pensants never 

 fail to make an ample provision of leaves, which 

 they keep in a barn, and frequently cover with 

 straw, that they might not be exposed to the least 

 moisture; but they do not gather them indifferent' 

 ly from aimosi all sorts of trees, alter the manner 

 of the Italians, but confine themselves chiefly to 

 the beech, and to others of the same nature, whose 

 leaves are not of a spongy quality. 



We can trace this moile of husbandry in Etig- 

 bind as far back as the reign of liewry the ei.c:hth. 

 Fitzhorbert, who was judiie of the court of Com- 

 mon Pleas, and fiither of English agriculture, ad- 

 vises the owners of underwoods to cut down no 

 iiiore at a time, than what was sufficient to sup- 

 port cattle ibr two days, being allowed to browze 

 the tops, as well as the leaves. § This is partly 

 upon the same principle recommended bj' De Ser- 

 res. Many of the succeeding writers copied ser- 

 vilely after Fitzherbert, witliout adding any re- 

 marks upon this he^d ; however, we learn from 

 Mr. Evelyn, that, in the reign of Charles the se- 

 cond, it was customary to feed the cattle with the 

 leaves of elms in some parts of Herefordshire ;|| 

 and an auihorof unquestionable creditasserts, that 

 these leaves gathered in August, and preserved 

 with due care, will prove a great relief to cattle in 

 winter when hay and fbdder are dear; and he 

 goes so far as to affirm that they will eat them 

 in preference to oats, and thrive exceedingly.lT 

 Whether this is practiced at this day in Herelbrd- 

 shire, or in other parts of England, I cannot take 

 upon me to say: and whether it would be of gene- 

 ral advantage to a country, where the price of 

 labor is high, and where artificial grasses are car- 

 ried to a great degree of perfection, I shall leave 

 to others to determine. 



I cannot conclude this paper without observing, 

 that it is much to be reixrelted, that, our voyage- 

 writers are not a little more conversant in agricul- 

 ture and natural history; notouly as it would prevent 



*De Serres Theatre d' Agriuit. ed. Genev. p. 260. 



flbid. p. 714. 



JDuHamel.Elemensd' Agricult. vol. 1762. p. 161. 



§ Ancient Tracts on the management of Landed 

 Property, 8vo. 1767. 



II Evelyn's Silva, ed. 1776. p. 133. 



IT See Lisle's Husbandry, ed. 1757, vol. 1. p, 298. 

 Ellis says, that ivy gathered in the spring for ewes in- 

 creases the milk, and that sheep love it exceedingly, 

 See his Husbandry 8vo. 1772, vol. 2. p. !50. 



