THE PROBLEM OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 33 



no sane man should be willing to put outlay and expense upon care 

 of a farm if he sees that he cannot get a return or, though he can get 

 returns, if he sees that these are likely to be lost by reason of a bad 

 climate." 



"First," said Scrofa, "we must decide whether only things 

 planted in the 'ground are included in agriculture, or also those which 

 are driven into the country, as sheep and cattle." 



"Well," said Stolo, "grazing in general, which is joined by many 

 with agriculture, seems to me to belong to the shepherd rather than 

 the farmer. And so the men put in charge of the respective tasks 

 are called by different names even, for one is called a farm-er, the 

 other a herds-man. The farmer [wlicus] is put there to cultivate the 

 ground and is named from the farmhouse [villa], since to this he takes 

 the crops and from this they are carried when they are sold." 



"Certainly," said Fundanius, "grazing and agriculture are differ- 

 ent things, but related, just as the right pipe of the tibia is different 

 from the left, yet' is in a manner joined with it, since the one 

 carries the air, the other gives the accompaniment of the same 

 song." 



"And indeed you might add," said I, "that the shepherd's life 

 carries the lead and the farmer's furnishes the accompaniment, and 

 this on the authority of a very learned man, Dicaearchus, who in 

 describing the life of Greece from its beginnings tells us that in early 

 times men led the life of shepherds and did not know even how to 

 plough the ground or plant trees or prune them. A step lower in the 

 descent of life agriculture was begun; and so it played a second part 

 to the shepherd life, because it is lower, or later, as the left pipe 

 is lower than the openings of the right. 



"First of all, agriculture is not only an art, but one essential and 

 important. It is the knowledge of what must be sowed and culti- 

 vated in every field, and how the land may continually produce the 

 greatest crops. The elements on which it is based are the same that 

 Ennius says are those of the universe water, earth, air, and sun. 

 These elements must be considered before you put in your seed, which 

 gives the beginning of fruitage. Starting from this, farmers should 

 work toward two goals utility and pleasure. The one seeks profit, 

 the other enjoyment; but he should give first place to that which is 

 useful above that which offers pleasure. 



"Never buy any of the utensils which can be made on the farm 

 by the servants. Tools which cannot be produced on the estate, if 



