HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 11 



exaggerated idea of the size of our islands, thinking that 

 he was visiting the fringe of a vast continent. He only 

 coasted along the eastern and southern sides of England ; 

 and he places on record that he found the natives growing 

 wheat, and on account of the uncertain climate their 

 method of harvesting was to strip the ears and thresh 

 them under covered sheds. He does not refer to the 

 growing of any other crops, so that we cannot say what 

 their methods of agriculture were ; but in view of their 

 growing wheat and handling it in that way it is safe to 

 assume that they had reached a certain stage of develop- 

 ment in agriculture. 



The only other thing he mentions is a drink that seems 

 to resemble strangely our modern beer ! 



The next visitor to Britain was the Roman Posidonious, 

 in the first ccntur}- before Christ, and he refers to agri- 

 culture in much the same terms as Pytheas, 



THE ROMAN PERIOD 



During the Roman occupation of Great Britain there 

 was quite an advanced agriculture, although we do not 

 know what area of land was under cultivation ; we know 

 that they grew wheat and that they harvested it in an 

 up-to-date way, stripping off the ears of wheat in the 

 American fashion and when necessary drying the grain 

 on heated stone or concrete floors. This treatment of 

 the wheat crop means that the straw is lost — a loss which 

 we could not afford, in these days, in England. 



Even — what is more remarkable — lucerne, or alfalfa, 

 was grown ; it is only during the last few years that our 

 farmers have again taken to this valuable crop. 



The Romans fully understood and utilized the power 

 possessed by leguminous crops of increasing the richness 



