A G R 



and beneficial prefcnt. After tliis, the Athenian kings 

 thinking it moi-c glorious to govern a fmall ihitc wifely, than 

 to aggrandize thcmfelves by foreign conquifts, withdrew 

 their fubjefts fram war, and employed them f. lely in culti- 

 Tating the cartli. Tiiis conllant application carried agri- 

 culture to a confiderable degree of advancement, and reduced 

 it into a more pcrfecl art. 



Hefiod, who is generally thought to have been contem- 

 poraiy with Homer, was the firll among the Greeks who 

 wrote on this fubjed. He called his poem " Weeks and 

 Days," becaufe agriculture requires an exacl obfervancc of 

 times and feafons. The other eminent Greek writers upon 

 agriculture arc Democrltus of Abdera, Socraticus, Xeno- 

 pTion, Tarentinus, Architas, Arillotle, and Theophraftus, 

 from whom the art received confiderable improvements, as 

 alfo from Hieron, Epichamius, Philometer, and Attalus. 



The ancient Romans efteemed agriculture fuch an honour- 

 able employment, that, in the earlieil; times of the republic, 

 the hlghcfl; pralfe that could be given to a man, was to fay 

 of him, that he cultivated well his own fpot of ground. 

 The moft illuftrious fcnators applied themfelves to this pro- 

 feflion ; nor had they either fplendour or majetty, but when 

 they appeared in public. And their greateft generals, at 

 their return from the toils of war, from taking of cities, and 

 fubduing of nations, were impatient till they were again em- 

 ployed in cultivating their lands ; and thought it no difgrace 

 to follow the plough, though they were at the fame time 

 prepared to ferve the wants of the republic, attend her 

 councils, or put themfelves at the head of her armies. It 

 mull indeed be allowed, that when the Romans became 

 tainted with the luxui-y of Afia, they gradually loft the 

 noble fimplicity of their anceftors, and employed their flaves 

 in the feverer labours of a country life. But though they 

 did not themfelves hold the plough, yet even men of con- 

 fidar dignity looked upon it as a reward for their public 

 fenMCes, when they obtained leave to retire into the country; 

 and were equally refpefted when overlooking their farms, as 

 when fcatcd in the chair of magiftracy. M. Cato, the 

 cenfor, that illuftrious Roman general, orator, politician, 

 and lawyer, after having governed provinces, and fubdued 

 nation?, did not think it below his ftation to write a large 

 treatife on agricidture. 



This work, according to Servlus, was dedicated to his 

 own fon, and was the firft Latin treatife on that fubjeft. It 

 has been handed down to us, it is faid, in all its purity, and 

 in the fame manner that Cato wrote it. Van-o compofed a 

 treatife on the fame fubjedl, but on a more regular plan. 

 This work is embelliftied with all the Greek and Latin eru- 

 dition of that learned author. Agriculture alfo received 

 great improvements from ihq two Safernaes, and likewife 

 from Scorfa, Tremellius, and M. Terentius. Virgil has 

 adorned it with the language of the mufes, and given it 

 majefty by his verfe. He has finely embelliftied thofe pre- 

 cepts of huftjandry which were left by Hefiod and Mago. 



Columella, who fiouriftied in the reign of the emperor 

 Claudius, wrote twelve books on huftjandry, which contain 

 a variety of interefting fafts and obfervations. He was a 

 native of Eoetica, in Spain, and had devoted much time to 

 the ftudy of rural affairs. 



From this period till the reign of Conftantine IV. huf- 

 bandiy appears to have been in a declining ftate, when that 

 wife emperor caufed a large collcftion of the moft ufeful 

 precepts relating to the ar't to be extrafted from the beft 

 writers, and pubiiftied under the title of Geoponics. Some 

 fay he made this coUecflion with his own hajid. Nor is this 

 at all improbable, as it is well known that, after he had con- 

 quered the Saracens and Arabians, be not only prai^ifed, 



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but ftudied the arts of peace, fixing his chief attention on 

 the advancement of agriculture. 



But from the time of Conftantine IV. till about the year 

 1478, it lay in a kind of dormant and neglcfted ftate, when 

 Creiccnzio, an Italian, revived it by publifliing an excellent 

 performance on the fubjeft at Florence. He was foon fol- 

 lowed by fevcral of his countrymen, among vihom Tatti, 

 St'-.fano, Auguftino Gallo, Sanlovino, Lauro and Tarcllo, 

 dcferve to be particularly noticed. 



In the mean time, in our own country, Fltz Herbert, 

 judge of the Common Picas, ftione with unrivalled luftre in 

 the praftieal parts of huibandry. He publifhed two trcatifes 

 on this fubjedt ; the firft, which was entitled " The Book 

 of FIuft)andiy," appeared in 15.1+ ; and the fecond, called, 

 " The Book of Surveying and Improvements,'" in 1539. 

 As the obfervations and inftruftions contained in thefe works 

 were the refult of much experience, they excited great at- 

 tention to the fubjeft, and foon raifed a fpirit of emulation 

 in his countrymen, in confcquence of which many treatifes 

 of the fame kind fucctfiively appeared ; but time has de- 

 prived us of many of thefe writings, or at leaft they are 

 become fo very fcarce, as only to be found in the libraries 

 of the curious. 



About the year 1600, France made confiderable efforts to 

 retrieve hufliandry, as appears from feveral large works, par- 

 ticularly Les Moyens de devenir riche, and the Cofmopolite, 

 by Barnard de PalidV, an indigent porter ; Le Theatre 

 d'Agriculture, by de Serres ; I/Agriculture et Mafion Ruf- 

 tique, by Meft'rs. Etienne and Licbault, and lately Le Cours 

 Complet d'Agriculture, by M. L'Abbe Rofier, Sec. — The 

 Flemings, about the fame period, were more attentive to the 

 praftice of huftiandry than the publiftiing of books on the 

 iubiecl ; their attention being doubtlefs to cany on a private 

 lucrative trade, without inftrucling their neighbours in their 

 modes of cidtivation ; hence it happened, that whoever was 

 defirous of copying their method of agriculture, was obhged 

 to travel into their countiy, and make his remarks upon the 

 fpot. Their principal idea of huft>andiy, which was indeed 

 juft enough, confifted in making a farm refemble a garden 

 as much as pofiible. The adoption of fuch an excellent 

 principle at firft fetting out, led them of courfe to undertake 

 the culture of fmall eftates only, which they kept perfcftly 

 free from weeds, by continually hoeing and turning the 

 ground, and rendering it rich and pi-oduttive, by manuring 

 it plentifully and in the moft judicious manner. When by 

 this means they had brought the foil to a proper degree o£ 

 cleanlinefs, health and vigour, they ventured chiefly upon the 

 culture of the more delicate gralfes, as the fureft mode of 

 acquiring wealth in huftiandry upon a fmall eftate, witliout 

 the expence of keeping many- draught horfes or fervants ; 

 and the experience of a few years was abui^dantly fufficient 

 to convince them, that ten acres of the beft vegetables for 

 feeding cattle, properly cultivated, would maintain a larger 

 ftock of grazing animals than forty acres of common fann 

 grafs. They alfo found that the beft vegetables for this 

 purpofe were lucern, faintfoin, trefoil of molt denominations, 

 fweet fenugreek, buck, and cow-wheat, field turnips and 

 fpurrey. The political fecret of their huft)andry, therefore, 

 confifted in letting farms on improvement. They alfo dif- 

 covered eight or ten new forte of manure. They were the 

 firft among the moderns who ploughed in living or green 

 crops, for the purpofe of fertilifing the earth, and confined 

 their flieep at night in large ftieds built on purpofe, whofe 

 fioors were covered with fand or virgin earth, &c. which the 

 ftiepherd carted away every morning to the compoft dunghill. 

 This ufeful and judicious praftice has, fince that period, been 

 too little attended to by the praftical farmer^ 



Our 



