408 AGRICULTURE. 



time, the more religious husbandmen still observed an ancient 

 custom, mentioned by Varro, as being recorded by Demetrius, 

 a slave. This was that, while sowing them, they prayed that 

 they might grow, both for themselves and their neighbors. 

 Pliny says that the sower was naked. 



Of crops used in the arts may be mentioned flax, the sesamum 

 already mentioned, and the poppy. The two latter were grown 

 for their seeds, which were bruised for oil. The ligneous crops 

 were willows, both for basket making and as ties and poles for 

 olives and vines. Copse-wood was grown in so-me places for 

 fuel, but chiefly in natural woods, which were periodically cut. 

 Timber was also procured from the natural forests, which were 

 abundant in oak, elm, beech, pine, and larix. The fruit trees 

 cultivated extensively were the vine and olive. The figs were 

 grown in gardens and orchards, and also the pear ; and in the 

 gardens of the wealthy were found most fruits in present use, 

 with the exception of the pineapple, the gooseberry, and per- 

 haps the orange, though the lemon seems to have been known 

 in Palladius' time. The vine was supported by elms or poplars, 

 or tied to different sorts of trellises, as in Italy at the present 

 day. 



Such are the principal field crops of Roman agriculture, from 

 which, and from the list given by Pliny, it appears that they 

 had most plants and trees now in use, with the exception of the 

 potato and one or two others of less consequence. Of animals 

 reared, the quadrupeds were of the same kind as at present ; 

 and to the common sorts of poultry they added thrushes, larks, 

 peacocks, and turtle-doves. They also reared snails, dormice, 

 bees, and fish. The care of the poultry was chiefly committed 

 to the wife of the farmer or bailiff, and it was principally near 

 Rome and Naples that the more delicate birds were extensively 

 reared. When Rome was at her greatest height, in the time 

 of the Caesars, the minor articles of farm produce bore a very 

 high price. Varro informs us that fat birds, such as thrushes, 

 blackbirds, etc., were sold at 2s., and sometimes five thousand 

 of these were sold in a year from one farm. Pea-fowls were sold 

 at $5 and upward, and an egg was sold at 74 cents. A farm 

 produced sometimes as many of these fowls as would sell for 

 $2500. A fine pair of doves were commonly of the same price 



