A O! . XVII NO. 3 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



19 



OPINIONS OP THE ANCIENTS ON AGRI- 

 CULTURE. 



Moderns are in the habit of speaking very dis- 

 respectfully of the ancient methods of tilling- the 

 earth ; and it must be confessed, that in many res- 

 pects those modes were far inferior to modern 

 ones. This inferiority must, in a great measure, 

 however, he attributed to the defective nature of 

 farming implements, and not to the prevalence of 

 correct theoretical notions of most subjects of 

 practical agriculture ; and moderns need not be 

 ashamed to gather wisdom from the works dedi- 

 cated to tlie cultivation of the soil by Cato, Varro, 

 and Columella, some of whom lived two hundred 

 years before Clirist. Incidental notices scattered 

 through the Bible by the writers of both Testa- 

 ments, throw much light on tlie farming practices 

 of the ancients, and show tliat in some instances 

 at least, they had crops rarely equalled in modern 

 times. Isaac gathered a hundred fold from his 

 sowing at Gerar ; and according to the parable in 

 Mark, good seed sown on good ground produced 

 thirty, sixty or an hundred fold. Varro asserts, 

 that a hundred fold was reaped in some of the' 

 most fertile districts of Spain and Northern Africa, 

 and Pliny says, that from the latter place Augustus 

 received a plant with nearly 400 stalks, all from a 

 single grain. 



The ma.xims relating to domestic economy and 

 farm management, scattered through tlie writings 

 of the men mentioned above, are such as are rare- 

 ly exceeded in justness by any writer of the pres- 

 ent day. " Always be sticking in a tree when ye 

 have nothing else to do ; it will be growing when 

 ye are sleeping" — was the dying advice -of the 

 Highland laird to his son ; and in Italy, where the 

 oxen and horses for a large part of tlie year were 

 fed with leaves and fruit, the planting of trees, 

 such as tlie vine, fig, and olive, was a still more 

 important matter. "IVIen should plant in their 

 youth, and not build till their fields are planted ;" 

 is the direction of Pliny. " Build in such a man- 

 ner that your villa (or farm establishment) may not 

 be too small for your farm ; nor your farm too small 

 for your villa ; " is the direction of Cato, and Pal- 

 ladius says, "the largeness of the house should be 

 so estimated, that if any thing shall happen to de- 

 •troy it, it may be rebuilt by one, or at most by 

 wo years rent or profits of the farm on which it is 

 laced." 



There are many moderns who would do well to 

 profit by these hints in relation to building. Too 

 many of our farmers forget the continual expense 

 incurred by too extensive or unnecessary buildings, 

 and deserve to feel the point of Cato's remark, that 

 Lucullus had rendered himself liable to the chas- 

 tisement of the censors, by building so largely 

 "that fewer hands were required to plough his 

 lands than sweep his liouse." 



Oxen were mostly used in the husbandrj' of the 

 ancients, though asses and mules were not uncom- 

 mon. Horses were rarely employed in the labors 

 of the field, their services being required for the 

 army or the pleasures of tiie rich. It appears 

 from Columella, that oxen, when laboring, had care 

 taken of them, which should shame the abusers of 

 this valuable animal in modern times. " It is thought 

 ■proper, that oxen in ploughing, should be allowed to 

 . Btop a little at the turning, and when they are 

 stopped, the ploughman should put their yoke a 

 little forward, that tlieir necks may cOol." He also 

 eives directions about rubbing them down, cooling 



their necks, lifting the skin where pressed by the 

 yoke or harness, feeding and watering after labor, 

 which shows that the use and value of the ox, as 

 well as the best mode of treatment, was then well 

 understood and practiced. 



Aiuong the ancients, ploughing was considered 

 the most important operation of agriculture. — 

 "What," says Cato, "is the best culture of 

 laml? Good Ploughing. .What tlie next best? 

 Ploughing in the ordinary way. What is the 

 thir<l ? Laying on manure." The most deficient ' 

 point in ancient agriculture, was that relating to 

 manures ; it neither seems to have been properly 

 understood or valued. 



The following remarks of Columella, might with 

 propriety stand as introductory to the best modern 

 works on systematic agriculture ; -. 



" Whoever would be perfect in this science, (agri- 

 culture,) must be well acquainted with the (pialities 

 of soils and plants ; must not be ignorant of the 

 various climates, that he may know what is agree- 

 able and what is repu'gnant to each ; he must know 

 exactly the succession of the seasons, and the na- 

 ture of each, lest beginning his work with wind 

 and showers just at hand, his labor shall be lost. 

 He must be capable to observe exactly the present 

 temper of the sky and seasons ; for these are not 

 always regular, nor in every year does the summer 

 •and winter bring the same kind of weather, nor is 

 the spring always rainy and the autumn wet. To 

 know these things before they happen, without a 

 very good capacity, and the greatest care to ac- 

 quire knowledge, is in my opinion, in the power of 

 no man." — Genesee Farmer. 



THE. GREAT DANGER IN THE. WEST. 



Is, that the soil is^o fertile, and so remote from 

 the ultimate market for its produce, that there will 

 not be sufficient inducements to industry, to ensure 

 moral and physical health to its population. Where 

 men can earn enough in two days to support them 

 seven, they are too much inclined to spend the five 

 in indolence, especially when the time comes, as 

 come it may, that the many are sellers, and the few^ 

 only buyers, of the products of the soil. And when 

 a people are idle, from whatever cause, they readily, 

 though often imperceptibly, .slide into indulgences 

 and habits which are the bane of individual and 

 public virtue — unless their idle hours are appropri- 

 ated to the improvement of the mind, and to the 

 cultivation of a taste for rural embellishments, and 

 the higher intellectual pleasures which emanate 

 from literature and the science of agriculture. It 

 requires far more philosophy and fortitude to resist 

 the smiles of prosperity, than it docs to bear the 

 frowns of adversity. The latter is matter of neces- 

 sity — while in the first we are left to exercise our 

 own discretion. We have been led to these re- 

 marks, at this time, by the receipt of a letter from an 

 esteemed friend in West Wisconsin, (loway) an ex- 

 tract of which we subjoin. 



" With us in the west," says our correspondent, 

 •'the lands are rich and productive, with but little 

 labor. A bountiful Providence has bestowed upon 

 us one of the most fertile and delightful regions of 

 the earth. Yet what are the bounties of Providence 

 when unemployed by the labor and science of man .' 

 The mind is fallow, and the " Garden of God " lies 

 barren and overrun with weeds, and the rose and 

 lily are choked by brambles, unless the assiduity 

 and skill of man are exerted in developing the riches 

 and beauties of nature. 



" Until the, recent heath ful check of the ' times,'' 

 the west was intoxicated witli tlic fell spirit of specu- 

 lation. Labor and industry were looki;d upon as 

 too slow and tame a way of making money. The 

 ' royal way 'of making a fortune by speculation in- 

 fested all classes ; and, as a consequence, the main 

 pillar and ornament of a state was almost entirely 

 neglected. 



" But it is to be hopod, that these times for sober 

 reflection may correct the delusions of the day, arid 

 impress upon the minds of the community this fact, 

 that there is no aca-etion to individual or national 

 wealth, without tlie exercise of tabor and skill ; and 

 that that which 'feeds all,' ami which can employ 

 all, is at once the most independent and honorable." 



This mention of the mania of speculation emails 

 to mind the facetious relation of a brotlicr Yankee, 

 who made the grand tour of the " Far West" in 

 183(i. After describing the fertility and beauty of 

 the country, in glowing terms, he added, after a 

 pause — " but, the inluililants will starve ! their 

 work is altogether of the head, and not of the hands 

 — they are trying to live by speculation more than 

 by labor. Why, if you accost even a farmer in 

 those parts, before he returns your civilities, he 

 draws from his breeches pocket a lithographic city, 

 and asks you to take a few building lots, at half their 

 value, and earnestly presses you to buy as a person- 

 al favor conferred on you." < 



. We are heartily glad to learn by our friend's let- 

 ter, that the times are mending beyond the Missis- 

 sippi, and th.at the public attention is being turned to 

 our parent art, and a strong evidence of the truth of 

 his declaration came enclosed, in the form of a 

 twenty dollar bill, being the subscription money for 

 twentytwo flopies of the Cultivator. — The Cultiva- 

 tor. 



Opionions Abroad o?j American Agriccl- 

 TUUE. — In the first volume of the national work 

 called " British Husbandry, at page 32'2, under the 

 article Gypsum, and on the effects said to be pro- 

 duced in the United States by the use of the arti- 

 cle, the writer says : 



" Mr Parkinson, too, who resided a considerable 

 time in the United States, and has written upon 

 its fanning, denies its eftccts, except upon particu- 

 lar crpps ; and as to the dung, in competition with 

 which it was used, he says that the farm yard ma- 

 nure in that country is of little value ; for it is ill 

 managed, the straw weak, and the generality of 

 tlie horned cattle so poor that their dung is light 

 and worthless : to which he adds, that the common 

 American farm carts contain no more than a large 

 wheelbarrow." 



Good! — and if he had only added, as he might 

 when his hand was in, that it took three American 

 cows to make a shadow, so thin are they ; and that 

 the young Jonathans lived on bean broth, so weak 

 that tlie ten commandments might be read in the 

 bowl at the depth of twenty feet, he would have 

 established his fame as a second Munchausen, and 

 D-ained an enviable rank among the cockney tou- 

 rists of the present day. — General Farmer. 



A oreat sale of Durham cattle took place at Cin- 

 cinnati on the 27th and 28th of June, at the fann 

 of Maj. C. S. Clarkson. It was well attended, and 

 tlio prices indicate a spirited competition. Total 

 sales, $26,867 jO. 



