V AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



the next day and ask him what work has been done, what remains 

 to do; whether enough has been accomplished for the time spent, and 

 whether he can get the rest done; also what has been harvested of 

 vine, grain, and all the other crops. When there have been rain 

 storms, see how many days, and what work could have been done 

 in this stormy time: washing and pitching the wine jars, cleaning the 

 barn, transferring grain, carrying out the manure and making com- 

 post heaps, cleaning the seed, mending old ropes and making new 

 and the slaves should have mended their own rough garments and 

 hoods. . On feast days the old ditches could have been repaired, the 

 public road worked, brambles cut down, the garden spaded, the 

 meadow cleaned, withes bound, thorn-hedges trimmed, the coarse 

 meal ground, and cleaning done generally. (Not so much cooked 

 food should be given the slaves as when they are working in good 

 weather in open fields.) Then take account of money on hand, grain, 

 and what has been got for fodder; have a reckoning as to wine and 

 oil, what has been sold, what profit it has made, what remains on 

 hand, and what is ready for sale. He should sell the oil if he can get 

 his price, and the wine and grain left over. Let him sell the old oxen, 

 the blemished cattle and sheep, the wool, hides, old wagons and iron 

 tools, old and sick slaves, and whatever else is superfluous. The 

 farm-owner should be a seller, not a buyer. 



6) BY MARCUS TERENTIUS VARRO* 



When we had sat down Agrasius said, " You who have travelled 

 through many lands, have you seen any better cultivated than 

 Italy?" "I think at least," said Agrius, "that there is none so com- 

 pletely cultivated. What useful product is there that does not grow, 

 or more, grow at its best in Italy ? What spelt shall I compare with 

 the Campanian ? What wheat with the Apulian ? What wine with 

 that from Falernum, or oil with that of Venafrum ? Is not Italy so 

 planted with trees that it all seems one orchard ? 



"Two things in particular Italians seem to consider in farming, 

 whether enough crops can be raised in proportion to the expense and 

 labor, and whether the place is healthful or not. Anyone who neglect s 

 either of these points and wants to cultivate the place nevertheless 

 is insane, and should be handed over to his kinsman and family, for 



8 Adapted from Rerum rusticarum libri tres, Book i, chaps. 2, 3, 4, 22; Book ii, 

 chap. i. For both these Latin translations the editor is imlrhtnl to I >r. J. Leonard 

 Hancock, of the Department of Ancient Languages of the University of Arkansas. 



