Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 



29 



153. The ligneous crops were willows, both for basketmaking, and as ties and poles for 

 olives and vines. Copse wood was grown in some places for fuel ; but chiefly in natural 

 woods, which were periodically cut. Timber was also pro- li 

 cured from the natural forests, which were abundant in oak, 

 elm, beech, pine, and larix. 



154. Thefndt trees cultivated extensively were the vine and 

 the olive. The fig was grown in gardens and orchards, and ,,., 

 also the pear ; and in the gardens of the wealthy w^ere found i*'* 

 most fruits in present use, with the exception of the pine- 

 apple, the gooseberry, and perhaps the orange, though the 

 lemon seems to have been known in Palladius's time. The vine 

 was supported by elms or poplars {Jig> 19.), or tied to differ- 



20 ent sorts of trellises {Jig- 20.), as in Italy at the i)resent day. 



155. Such are the principal Jield crops of Roman agriculture 

 from which, and from the list of cultivated vegetables given by 

 Pliny, it appears that they had most plants and trees now in 

 use, with the exception of the potato, and one or two others 

 of less consequence. 



156. Of animals reared, the quadrupeds were of the same kinds 

 as at present ; and to the common sorts of poultry they added 

 thrushes, larks, peacocks, and turtle doves ; they also reared snails, dormice, bees, and 

 fish. The care of the poultry was chiefly committed to the wife of the farmer or bailiflT; 

 and it was principally near Rome and Naples that the more delicate birds were ex- 

 tensively reared. When Rome was at her greatest height, in the time of the Cajsars, the 

 minor articles of farm produce bore a very high price. Varro informs us that " fat birds, 

 such as thrushes, blackbirds, &c., were sold at two shillings, and sometimes 5000 of 

 them were sold in a year from one farm. ( Var.^ lib. iii. cap. 2.) Pea-fowls were sold at 

 1/. 13s. 4rf. ; an egg was sold at 35. 4rf. A farm produced sometimes as many of these 

 fowls as to sell at 500/. {Var., Hb. iii. cap. 6.) A pair of fine doves were commonly of 

 the same price with a peacock, 1/. 13s. 4rf. If very pretty, they were much higher in 

 the price, no less than 8/. 6s. 8d. L. Anius, a Roman knight, refused to sell a pair 

 under 13/. 6s. 8rf." ( Far., lib. iii. cap. 7.) Some kinds of fishes were very highly valued 

 among the Romans in the time of Varro. Hortensius, whom Varro used frequently 

 to visit, would sooner have parted with a pair of his best coach-mules, than with a bearded 

 mullet. {Var., lib. iii. cap. 17.) Herrius's fishponds, on account of the quantity offish, 

 were sold for 33,333/. 6s. M. (Plin. Nat. HisU, lib. ix. cap. 55.) ; LucuUus's, likewise, 

 for the same price. (Id., lib. ix. cap. 54.) 





 SuBSECT. 7. Of the general Maxims of Farm Management among the Romans. 



157. In every art which has been long practised, there are maxims of management 

 which have been handed down from one generation to another ,- and in no art are there more 

 of these than in agpculture. Maxims of this sort were held among the Romans in the 

 greatest estimation, and their writers have recorded a number derived from the lost 

 Greek writers, and from their own traditionary or experimental knowledge. A few of 

 these shall be noticed, as characteristic of Roman economy, and not without their use in 

 modem times. 



158. To sow less and plough better was a maxim indicating that the extent of farms 

 ought to be kept in their proper bounds. Pliny and Virgil consider large farms as pre- 

 judicial, and Columella says, one of the seven wise men has pronounced that there 

 diould be limits and measures in all things. " You may admire a large farm, but cul- 

 tivate a small one ; " and the Carthaginian saying, that " the land ought to be weaker 

 than the husbandman," were maxims to the same eflPect. 



159. The importance of the master s presence in every operation of farming, was in- 

 culcated by many maxims. " Whoever would buy a field ought to sell his house, lest 

 he delight more in the town than in the country," was a saying of Mago. " Wherever the 

 eyes of the master most frequently approach," says Columella, " there is the greatest 

 increase." It is justly remarked by the Rev. A. Dickson, that though " every person 

 knows that the presence and attention of the master is of great importance in every 

 business ; yet every person does not know, that in no business are they so important as 

 in farming." {Husb.oftheAn.,i.206.) 



160. That more is to be gained by cultivating a small spot well than a large space indif- 

 ferently, is illustrated by many sayings and stories. " A vine-dresser had two daughters 

 and a vineyard ; when, his eldest daughter was married, he gave her a third of his vine- 

 yard for a portion ; notwithstanding which, he had the same quantity of fruit as formerly. 

 When his younger daughter was married he gave her the half of what remained, and still 

 the produce of his vineyard was not diminished." {Col, lib. iv. cap. 3.) Pliny mentions 

 a freedman, who having much larger crops than his neighbours, was accused of witchcraft 



