414 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



Fvr the New England Fanner. 



ANTIQUITY AND DIGNITY OF AGRI- 

 CULTURE. 



BY JOItX GOLDSBURY. 



Agriculture was one of the earliest and most 

 cxjmmon pursuits of man : tilling the groimd and 

 tending herds and flocks Mcrc among the first and 

 most general occup.'kions ; and the knowledge, re- 

 lating to these suhjects, was the first acquired and 

 the most extensive. Almost all the ancient hea- 

 then nations ascribe the invention and introduc- 

 tion of agriculture in their countrj' to some digni- 

 ty or deified sovereign. With some nations, the 

 cultivation of the soil was the most common occu- 

 pation ; with others, the raising of cattle ; and with 

 others, hunting and fishing. Com])arcd with other 

 modes of subsistence, agriculture has an important 

 advantage in promoting various arts, because it 

 compels men to renounce a wandering hfe, and set- 

 tle in fixed, permanent abodes ; thus it increases 

 the demand for conveniences, and furnishes an oc- 

 casion for inventions, which may help to fecihtate 

 and carry to jierfection the culture of the soil. 



Agriculture was, from the beginning, an honora- 

 ble employment among the Romans. Patricians 

 and the most distinguished citizens engaged in it. 

 Cincinnatus was laboring in his fields, when informed 

 of his election to the dictatorship. Regulus asked 

 leave to retire fi'om the senate to cultivate a little 

 farm, suff"ering from neglect. This attention to the 

 actual cultivation of the lands, by the ablest and 

 ])est informed men, occasioned an advancement in 

 the art of agriculture, such as the Greeks never at- 

 tained. There were, hoAvever, numerous works 

 written in Greek on tliis subject. Varro mentions 

 about fifty authors. But whatever might have been 

 written by the Greeks, the Romans were not, in 

 this branch, mere imitators or borrowers. The max- 

 ims and precepts, which are given by the Roman 

 Avriters, were dra^Mi from the experiments and ob- 

 servations of the Romans themselves. Their prin- 

 ciples are not extensively applicable to modern ag- 

 riculture ; yet their Amtings abound m useful liints 

 and remarks, and have always been regarded as cu- 

 rious and mteresting compositions. Virgil's Geor- 

 gics may properly be adverted to as illustratmg the 

 agriculture of the Romans. 



Agriculture was also held in high estimation 

 among the Greeks. It was their most common pur- 

 suit and means of living. The boundaries of their 

 fields were marked by stones, which served to guard 

 the cultivators against mutual encroachments. The 

 culture of the ^dne and of trees Avas also an object 

 of attention. The raising of cattle was a common 

 employment, and a jnincipal source of wealth. 

 These employments were not considered in any 

 way degi'ading or ignoble, but were exercised by 

 persons of eminence and even by princes. From 

 the writings of Hesiod, it is erident that agricul- 

 ture was, at an early period, a subject of jiractical 

 interest among the Greeks ; yet the art does not 

 appear to have been carried to very great i)erfec 

 tion in any of the States. The soil of Attica was 

 more favorable to the production of the gra])c, ohve, 

 .md fig, than of grain. The exjjortation of corn 

 was prohibited. If corn-dealers combined to raise 

 the price, they were liable to caj)ital punishment. 

 In order to avoid a scarcity of corn, public grana- 

 ries were kept, imder the dii-ection of purveyors 

 and receivers. 



Agriculture, both in Greece and Rome, was held 

 in mucli higher estimation than commerce, or 

 any of the mechanic arts. The fields were chiefly 

 possessed by respectable citizens. Many noblemen 

 lived u])on their own lands, and made the cultiva- 

 tion and improvement of them a special study ; 

 the ornamenting of their estates constituted an im- 

 portant part of then- luxuiy. The grain chiefly cul- 

 tivated was wheat, but of various kinds ; such as 

 corn, barley, oats, S:e. The breeding of cattle was 

 an object of attention ; chiefly, oxen, horses, sheep 

 and goats. INIuch care was also bestowed on bees. 

 Trees, also, both forest, fruit and ornamental, re- 

 ceived their share of attention. Both nations were 

 acquainted with most of the various methods now 

 practiced for propagating the different sjjecies and 

 varieties of fruit ; but the culture of the nne final- 

 ly took the precedence of all other cultivation. 



These nations, Greece and Rome, had various 

 gods and goddesses whom they regarded and wor- 

 shipped as the patrons of agriculture, the protec- 

 tors of fields, of fniits, and of flowers, and the de- 

 fenders of limits. Among these Mere Terminus, 

 the god of boundaries, whose peculiar province it 

 was to mark the Hmits of landed property, and to 

 guard and jn-otect them ; Piiapus, the god of 

 fields, of cultivated grounds and gardens ; Veiiiim- 

 nus, the god of fruit trees, and his wife, Pomona, 

 the goddess of fruits and gardens ; Flora and Chlo- 

 ris, the goddesses of blossoms and flowers ; Fero- 

 nia, the goddess of friuts, nurseries and groves ; 

 Pales, the goddess of pasturage and the feecUng of 

 flocks ; Buhona, the goddess of oxen ; Segetia, the 

 goddess of seed planted in the earth; Hippona, 

 the goddess of horses ; Collina, the goddess of the 

 hills ; Vallonia, the goddess of the valleys ; Run- 

 cina, the goddess of weecUng ; Volusia, the god- 

 dess of the growing corn ; Mellona, the goddess of 

 honey ; Occator, the god of harrowing ; Stercutius, 

 the god of manuring ; and Pilumnus, the god of 

 kneading and baking bread. Besides these, they had 

 a great goddess by the name of Ceres, to whom they 

 ascribed the discovery of agriculture, and all subse- 

 quent improvements m husbandry. She is said to 

 have first taught men to cultivate grain, and to in- 

 struct them in all the labors pertaining to it. She 

 travelled from coimtry to country, and imparted 

 her favors to all lands by giAing instruction in agri- 

 culture and the use of the plow. And she associated 

 Tnptolemus with her, as a companion of her travels, 

 and sent him over the earth, to teach husbandry, and 

 thereby raised him to the ranlt of a god. To the 

 foregoing gods and goddesses, the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans offered in sacrifice at stated times, not only 

 fruits and flowers, but some of the richest produc- 

 tions of the earth. 



Tall Herd's Grass. — We saw the other day, 

 in the oflUce of S. B. Phinney, Esq., Echtor of the 

 Barnstable Patriot, some herd's grass upwards of 6 

 feet high, a fair specimen of several acres growi upon 

 a swamp which he had reclaimed. Friend Phimiey, 

 throw your editorial quill into the fire, and yom* 

 commission as Collector of the port of Barnstable, 

 to the sharks of Barnstable Bay, and let yom- ge- 

 nius work in its natiural M'ay. Herd's grass six feet 

 and one inch high by the acre, to say nothing of 

 the ten acres of yellow pines now ten to fifteen feet 

 liigh, the seeds of wlaich he sowed some ten years 



