CHAPTER n. 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE continued. 



OF simple agricultural operations, the most important are 

 plowing, sowing, and reaping ; and such as compound, or 

 involve, various simple operations, such as fallowing, manuring, 

 weeding, and field watering. "What," says Cato, "is the best 

 culture of land ? Good plowing. What the second ? Plowing 

 in the ordinary way. What the third ? Laying on manure." 



The season for plowing was any time when the land was not 

 wet. In plowing, the furrow is directed to be kept equal in 

 breadth throughout, one furrow equal to another, and straight 

 furrows. The usual depth is not mentioned, but it was prob- 

 ably considerable, as Cato says that grain land should be of 

 good quality for two feet in depth. No scamni or balks (hard, 

 unmoved soil) were to be left ; and to ascertain that this was 

 properly attended to, the farmer is directed, when inspecting 

 the work done, to push a pole into Jthe plowed ground in a 

 variety of places. The plow was generally drawn by one pair 

 of oxen, which were guided by the plowman without the aid of 

 a driver. In breaking up stiff land, he was expected to plow 

 half an acre, in free land an acre, and in light land an acre and 

 a half, each day. 



Fallowing was a universal practice among the Romans. In 

 most cases a crop and a year's fallow succeeded each other; 

 though, when the manure could be got, two crops or more were 

 taken in succession, and on certain rich soils, which Pliny 

 describes as favorable for barley, a crop was taken every year. 

 In fallowing, the lands were first plowed after the crops were 

 removed, generally in August. They were again cross-plowed 

 in spring, and at least a third time before sowing, when spring 

 grain or winter grain was the crop. There was, however, no 

 limit to the number of plowings, and, when occasion required, 

 manual operations, the object being, as Theophrastus observes, 

 "to let the earth feel the cold of winter and the sun of summer ; 



399 



