Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 27 



was also made of leafy twigs for the same purpose. Cato directs the bailiff to " cut 

 down poplar, elm, and oak spray, and put them up in time, not over drj-, for fodder for 

 the sheep." (Cap. 5.) 



139. Weeding and stirring the soil were performed, the first by cutting with a hook, or 

 pulling the weeds up with the hand ; and the second by sarcling or hoeing. Beans were 

 hoed three times, and corn twice : the first time they were earthed up, but not the second or 

 third ; " for," says Columella, " when the corn ceases to tiller, it rots if covered with 

 earth." Lupines were not sarcled at all, " because so far from being infested with weeds, 

 they destroy them." Horse-hoeing was also practised, the origin of which is thus given 



by Pliny : " We must not omit," says he, " a particular method of ploughing, at this 



time practised in Italy beyond the Po, and introduced by the injuries of war. The 

 Salassi, when they ravaged the lands lying under the Alps, tried likewise to destroy the 

 panic and millet that had just come above ground. Finding that the situation of the crop 

 prevented them from destroying it in the ordinary way, they ploughed the fields; 

 but the crop at harvest being double what it used to be, taught the farmer to plough 

 amongst the com." This operation, he informs us, was performed, either when the stalk 

 was beginning to appear, or when the plant had put forth two or three leaves. The 

 corn being generally sown in drills, or covered with the plough, so as to come up in 

 rows, readily admitted this practice. 



140. Pastiumg and harrowing comt when too luxuriant, were practised. Virgil says, 

 *' What commendation shall I give to him, who, lest his corn should lodge, pastures it 

 while young, as soon as the blade equals the furrow." {Geor.,\. 111.) Pliny directs 

 to comb the corn with a harrow before it is pastured, and sarcle it afterwards. 



141. Watering on a.\axge scale was applied both to arable and grass lands. Virgil 

 advises to " bring down the waters of a river upon the sown corn, and when the field is 

 parched, and the plants dying, convey it from the brow of a hill in channels. (Geor., i. 

 106.) Pliny mentions the practice, and observes that the water destroys the weeds, 

 nourishes the corn, and serves in place of sarcling. Watering grass lands was practised 

 wherever an opportunity offered. " As much as in your power," says Cato, " make wa- 

 tered meadows." Land that is naturally rich and in good heart, says Columella, " does 

 not need to have water set over it, because the hay produced in a juicy soil is better than 

 that excited by water ; when the poverty of the soil requires it, hov/ever, water may be 

 set over it." The same author likewise describes, very particularly, the position of the 

 land most proper for water meadows. " Neither a low field," says he, " with hollows, 

 nor a field broken with steep rising grounds, are proper. The first, because it contains 

 too long the water collected in the hollows ; the last, because it makes the water to run 

 too quickly over it. A field, however, that has a moderate descent, may be made a 

 meadow, whether it is rich or poor, if so situated as to be watered. But the best situation 

 is, where tlie surface is smooth, and the descent so gentle, as to prevent either showers, or 

 the rivers that overflow it, from remaining long ; and, on the other hand, to allow the 

 water that comes over it gently to glide off. Therefore, if in any part of a field intended 

 for a meadow, a pool of water should stand, it must be let off by drains ; for the loss is 

 equal, either from too much water or too little grass." (Col., lib. ii. cap. 17.) 



142. Old water meadows were renewed hy breaking up and sowing them with corn for 

 three years ; the third year they were laid down with vetches and grass seeds, and then 

 watered again, but " not with a great force of water, till the ground had become firm and 

 bound together with turf." (^Col., lib. ii. cap. 18.) Watering, Pliny informs us, was 

 commenced immediately after the equinox, and restrained when the grass sent up flower 

 stalks ; it was recommenced in mowing grounds, after the hay season, and in pasture 

 lands at intervals. 



143. Draining, though an operation of an opposite nature to watering, is yet essential 

 to its success. It was particularly attended to by the Romans, both to remove surface 

 water, and to intercept and carry off under the surface the water of springs. 

 Cato gives directions for opening the furrows of sown fields, and clearing them so as the 

 water might find its way readily to the ditches : and for wet-bottomed lands he directs 

 to make drains three feet broad at top, four feet deep, and a foot and a quarter wide at 

 the bottom ; to lay them with stones, or, if these cannot be got, with willow rods placed 

 contrariwise, or twigs tied together. (Cap. 43.) Columella directs both open and 

 covered drains to be made sloping at the sides, and in addition to what Cato says respecting 

 the water-ways of covered drains, directs to make the bottom narrow, and fit a rope made 

 of twigs to it, pressing the rope firmly down, and putting some leaves or pine branches 

 over it before throwing in the earth. Pliny says the ropes may be made of straw, and 

 that flint or gravel may be used to form the water-way, filling the excavation half full, 

 or to within eighteen inches of the top. 



144. Fencing was performed by the Romans, but only to a limited extent. Varro 

 says " the limits of a farm should be fenced (rendered obvious) by planting trees, that 

 families may not quarrel with their neighbours, and that the limits may not want the 



