C a t o ' s Farm Management 



(XXX) Fold your sheep on the 

 land which you are about to seed, 

 and there feed them leaves.' 



cutus, the son of Faunus, as claiming the honour 

 of the invention." 



To the wise farmer the myth of the Augean 

 stables is the genesis of good agriculture. 



Columella (II, 13) justly says about manure. 

 "Wherefore if it is, as it would seem to be, the 

 thing of the greatest value to the farmer, I con- 

 sider that it should be studied with the greatest 

 care, especially since the ancient authors, while they 

 have not altogether neglected it, have nevertheless 

 discussed it with too little elaboration." He goes 

 on (II, 14) to lay down rules about the compost 

 heap which should be written in letters of gold in 

 every farm house. 



"I appreciate that there are certain kinds of farms 

 on which it is impossible to keep either live stock or 

 birds, yet even in such places it is a lazy farmer 

 who lacks manure: for he can collect leaves, rubbish 

 from the hedge rows, and droppings from the high 

 ways: without giving offence, and indeed earning 

 gratitude, he can cut ferns from his neighbor's 

 land: and all these things he can mingle with the 

 sweepings of the courtyard: he can dig a pit, like 

 that we have counselled for the protection of stable 

 manure, and there mix together ashes, sewage, and 

 straw, and indeed every waste thing which is 

 swept up on the place. But it is wise to bury a 

 piece of oak wood in the midst of this compost, for 

 that will prevent venomous snakes from lurking in 

 it. This will suffice for a farm without live stock." 



One can see in Flanders today the happy land 

 smiling its appreciation of farm management such 

 as this, but what American farmer has yet learned 

 this kind of conservation of his natural resources. 



^ The occupants of the motor cars which now roll 

 so swiftly and so comfortably along the French na- 



[45] 



