THE PROBLEM OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 35 



Hence the farm-owner should engage hi both pursuits, agriculture 

 and grazing and even that of pasturing animals for the hunt." 



"Well, then," said Scofa, "the science of breeding and feeding 

 cattle means the getting as much profit as possible from them. Indeed, 

 it is from them that money gets its name, for cattle [pecus] are the 

 foundation of all wealth [pecunia]. This science has nine parts, which 

 fall into three divisions : one having to do with smaller cattle, of which 

 there are three kinds, sheep, goats, and swine; the second concerning 

 larger cattle, which are also naturally divided into three kinds, cows, 

 asses, and horses; the third involving those things in cattle breeding 

 which are not raised to get a profit out of them, but because of the 



science or as a result of it, namely, mules, dogs, and shepherds 



The second point is a knowledge of the form of each kind of cattle; 

 for it makes a great difference in the profit what sort each one is. So 

 men buy cows with black horns rather than with white, large goats 

 rather than small ones, and pigs with long bodies, provided they have 

 small heads. The third point is the question of the strain to be 

 desired. In this connection Arcadian asses are celebrated in Greece 

 and those from Reate in Italy; so much so, indeed, that in my memory 

 an ass went for 60,000 sesterces and a team-of-four at Rome were 

 valued at four hundred thousand." 



D. The Middle Ages 



7. THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE 

 AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 1 



BY ADAM SMITH 



When the German and Scythian nations overran the western 

 provinces of the Roman Empire, the confusions which followed so 

 great a revolution lasted for several centuries. The towns were 

 deserted, and the country was left uncultivated; and the western 

 provinces of Europe, which had enjoyed a considerable degree of 

 opulence under the Roman Empire, sank into the lowest state of 

 poverty and barbarism. During the continuance of those confusions, 

 the chiefs and principal leaders of those nations acquired, or usurped 

 to themselves, the greater part of the land of those countries. A 

 great part of them was uncultivated; but no part of them, whether 

 cultivated or uncultivated, was left without a proprietor. All of 

 them were engrossed, and the greater part by a few great proprietors. 



1 Adapted from Wealth of Nations, Book III, chap. ii. 



