[Transcriber's note: The extensive and lengthy footnotes have beenrenumbered and placed at the end of the book. ]

ROMAN FARM MANAGEMENT

THE TREATISES OF CATO AND VARRO

DONE INTO ENGLISH, WITH NOTES OF MODERN INSTANCES

BY A VIRGINIA FARMER

1918

PREFACE

The present editor made the acquaintance of Cato and Varro standing ata book stall on the Quai Voltaire in Paris, and they carried him awayin imagination, during a pleasant half hour, not to the vineyards andolive yards of Roman Italy, but to the blue hills of a far distantVirginia where the corn was beginning to tassel and the fat cattlewere loafing in the pastures. Subsequently, when it appeared thatthere was then no readily available English version of the Romanagronomists, this translation was made, in the spirit of old PieroVettori, the kindly Florentine scholar, whose portrait was painted byTitian and whose monument may still be seen in the Church of SantoSpirito: in the preface of his edition of Varro he says that heundertook the work, not for the purpose of displaying his learning, but to aid others in the study of an excellent author. Victorius wasjustified by his scholarship and the present editor has no suchclaim to attention: he, therefore, makes the confession frankly (toanticipate perhaps such criticism as Bentley's "a very pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but don't call it Homer") and offers the little book tothose who love the country, and to read about the country amidst thecrowded life of towns, with the hope that they may find in it somemeasure of the pleasure it has afforded the editor. 

The texts and commentaries used have been those of Schneider and Keil, the latter more accurate but the former more sympathetic. 

F. H. BELVOIR, Fauquier County, Virginia. 

December, 1912. 

FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION

The call for a reprint of this book has afforded the opportunity tocorrect some errors and to make several additions to the notes. 

In withholding his name from the title page the editor sought not somuch to conceal his identity as to avoid the appearance of a parade inwhat was to him the unwonted field of polite literature. As, however, he is neither ashamed of the book nor essays the _rôle_ of

 A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye, he now and here signs his name. 

FAIRFAX HARRISON. 

BELVOIR HOUSE, Christmas, 1917. 

CONTENTS

NOTE UPON THE ROMAN AGRONOMISTSNOTE ON THE OBLIGATION OF VIRGIL TO VARRO

 * * * * *

CATO'S _DE AGRICULTURA_

SYNOPSIS

Introduction: Of the Dignity of the FarmerOf Buying a FarmOf the Duties of the OwnerOf Laying out the FarmOf Stocking the FarmOf the Duties of the OverseerOf the Duties of the HousekeeperOf the HandsOf DrainingOf Preparing the Seed BedOf ManureOf Soil ImprovementOf Forage CropsOf PlantingOf PasturesOf Feeding Live StockOf the Care of Live StockOf Cakes and SaladOf Curing Hams

VARRO'S _RERUM RUSTICARUM LIBRI TRES_

SYNOPSIS

BOOK I

THE HUSBANDRY OF AGRICULTURE

CHAPTER

I. Introduction: the literary tradition of country life

Of the definition of Agriculture:II. A. What it is notIII. B. What it isIV. The purposes of Agriculture are profit and pleasureV. The four-fold division of the study of Agriculture

_I° Concerning the farm itself_:VI. How conformation of the land affects AgricultureVII. How character of soil affects AgricultureVIII. (A digression on the maintenance of vineyards)IX. Of the different kinds of soilsX. Of the units of area used in measuring land

Of the considerations on building a steading:XI. A. Size b. Water supplyXII. C. Location, with regard to healthXIII. D. Arrangement

Of the protection of farm boundaries:XIV. A. FencesXV. B. MonumentsXVI. Of the considerations of neighbourhood

_2° Concerning the equipment of a farm_:XVII. }& }Of agricultural labourersXVIII. }XIX. }& }Of draught animalsXX. }XXI. Of watch dogsXXII. Of farming implements

_3° Concerning the operation of a farm_:XXIII. Of planting field cropsXXIV. Of planting olivesXXV. }& } Of planting vinesXXVI. }

_4° Concerning the agricultural seasons_:XXVII. }& }Of the solar measure of the year, illustrated byXXVIII. }

A CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONSthroughout the year, in eight seasons, viz:

XXIX. 1° February 7-March 24XXX. 2° March 24-May 7XXXI. 3° May 7-June 24XXXII. 4° June 24-July 21XXXIII. 5° July 21-September 26XXXIV. 6° September 26-October 28XXXV. 7° October 28-December 24XXXVI. 8° December 24-February 7XXXVII. Of the influence of the moon on Agriculture to which is added

ANOTHER CALENDAR OF SIX AGRICULTURAL SEASONSwith a commentary on their several occupations, viz:

CHAPTER_1° Preparing time_: Of tillage, XXXVIII. Of manuring, XXXIX. _2° Planting time_:Of the four methods of propagating plants, viz:

XL. A. Seeding and here of seed selection b. Transplanting c. Cuttage d. Graftage, and e. A "new" method, inarchingXLI. Of when to use these different methodsXLII. Of seeding alfalfaXLIII. Of seeding clover and cabbageXLIV. Of seeding grain

_3° Cultivating time_:XLV. Of the conditions of plant growthXLVI. Of the mechanical action of plantsXLVII. Of the protection of nurseries and meadowsXLVIII. Of the structure of a wheat plant

XLIX. _4° Harvest time_: Of the hay harvest

L. Of the wheat harvestLI. The threshing floorLII. Threshing and winnowingLIII. GleaningLIV. Of the vintageLV. Of the olive harvest

_5° Housing time_:LVI. Of storing hayLVII. Of storing grainLVIII. Of storing legumesLIX. Of storing pome fruitsLX. Of storing olivesLXI. Of storing amurca

LXII. _6° Consuming time_:LXIII. Of cleaning grainLXIV. Of condensing amurcaLXV. Of racking wineLXVL. Of preserved olivesLXVIL. Of nuts, dates and figsLXVIII. Of stored fruitsLXIX. Of marketing grain

Epilogue: the dangers of the streets of Rome

BOOK II

THE HUSBANDRY OF LIVE STOCK

Introduction:--the decay of country life

I. Of the origin, the importance and the economy of live stock husbandryII. Of sheepIII. Of goatsIV. Of swineV. Of neat cattleVI. Of assesVII. Of horsesVIII. Of mulesIX. Of herd dogsN. Of shepherdsXI. Of milk and cheese and wool

BOOK III

THE HUSBANDRY OF THE STEADING

I. Introduction: the antiquity of country lifeII. Of the definition of a Roman villaIII. Of the Roman development of the industries of the steadingIV. Of aviariesV. A. For profit b. For pleasure (including here the description of Varro's own aviary)VI. Of pea-cocksVII. Of pigeonsVIII. Of turtle dovesIX. Of poultryX. Of geeseXI. Of ducksXII. Of rabbitsXIII. Of game preservesXIV. Of snailsXV. Of dormiceXVI. Of beesXVII. Of fish ponds

INDEX. 

ROMAN FARM MANAGEMENT

NOTE UPON THE ROMAN AGRONOMISTS

 Quaecunque autem propter disciplinam ruris nostrorum temporum cum priscis discrepant, non deterrere debent a lectione discentem. Nam multo plura reperiuntur, apud veteres, quae nobis probanda sint, quam quae repudianda. 

 COLUMELLA I, I. 

The study of the Roman treatises on farm management is profitable tothe modern farmer however practical and scientific he may be. He willnot find in them any thing about bacteria and the "nodular hypothesis"in respect of legumes, nor any thing about plant metabolism, nor evenany thing about the effects of creatinine on growth and absorption;but, important and fascinating as are the illuminations of modernscience upon practical agriculture, the intelligent farmer withimagination (every successful farmer has imagination, whether or nothe is intelligent) will find some thing quite as important to hiswelfare in the body of Roman husbandry which has come down to us, namely: a background for his daily routine, an appreciation that twothousand years ago men were studying the same problems and solvingthem by intelligent reasoning. Columella well says that in readingthe ancient writers we may find in them more to approve than todisapprove, however much our new science may lead us to differ fromthem in practice. The characteristics of the Roman methods of farmmanagement, viewed in the light of the present state of the art inAmerica, were thoroughness and patience. The Romans had learned manythings which we are now learning again, such as green manuring withlegumes, soiling, seed selection, the testing of soil for sourness, intensive cultivation of a fallow as well as of a crop, conservativerotation, the importance of live stock in a system of general farming, the preservation of the chemical content of manure and the compostingof the rubbish of a farm, but they brought to their farming operationssome thing more which we have not altogether learned--the characterwhich made them a people of enduring achievement. Varro quotes one oftheir proverbs "Romanus sedendo vincit, " which illustrates my presentpoint. The Romans achieved their results by thoroughness and patience. It was thus that they defeated Hannibal and it was thus that theybuilt their farm houses and fences, cultivated their fields, theirvineyards and their oliveyards, and bred and fed their live stock. They seem to have realized that there are no short cuts in theprocesses of nature, and that the law of compensations is invariable. The foundation of their agriculture was the fallow[1] and one findsthem constantly using it as a simile--in the advice not to breed amare every year, as in that not to exact too much tribute from a beehive. Ovid even warns a lover to allow fallow seasons to intervene inhis courtship. 

While one can find instruction in their practice even today, onecan benefit even more from their agricultural philosophy, for thecharacteristic of the American farmer is that he is in too much of ahurry. 

The ancient literature of farm management was voluminous. Varro citesfifty Greek authors on the subject whose works he knew, beginning withHesiod and Xenophon. Mago of Carthage wrote a treatise in the Punictongue which was so highly esteemed that the Roman Senate ordered ittranslated into Latin, but, like most of the Greeks, [2] it is now lostto us except in the literary tradition. 

Columella says that it was Cato who taught Agriculture to speak Latin. Cato's book, written in the middle of the second century B. C, was thefirst on the subject in Latin; indeed, it was one of the very firstbooks written in that vernacular at all. Of the other Latin writerswhose bucolic works have survived, Varro and Virgil wrote at thebeginning of the Augustan Age and were followed by the SpanishColumella under Tiberius, and by Pliny (with his Natural History)under Titus. After them (and "a long way after, " as Mr. Punch says)came in the fourth century the worthy but dull Palladius, who suppliedthe hornbook used by the agricultural monks throughout the Dark Ages. 

MARCUS PORCIUS CATO (B. C. 234-149), known in history as the elderCato, was the type of Roman produced by the most vigorous days ofthe Republic. Born at Tusculum on the narrow acres which his peasantforefathers had tilled in the intervals of military service, hecommenced advocate at the country assizes, followed his fortunes toRome and there became a leader of the metropolitan bar. He saw gallantmilitary service in Spain and in Greece, commanded an army, held allthe curule offices of state and ended a contentious life in the Senatedenouncing Carthage and the degeneracy of the times. 

He was an upstanding man, but as coarse as he was vigorous in mind andin body. Roman literature is full of anecdotes about him and his wiseand witty sayings. 

Unlike many men who have devoted a toilsome youth to agriculturallabour, when he attained fame and fortune he maintained his interestin his farm, and wrote his _De re rustica_ in green old age. It tellswhat sort of farm manager he himself was, or wanted to be thought tobe, and, though a mere collection of random notes, sets forth moreshrewd common sense and agricultural experience than it is possible topack into the same number of English words. It remains today of muchmore than antiquarian interest. 

MARCUS TERENTIUS VARRO (B. C. 116-28) whom Quintilian called "the mostlearned of the Romans, " and Petrarch "il terzo gran lume Romano, "ranking him with Cicero and Virgil, probably studied agriculturebefore he studied any thing else, for he was born on a Sabine farm, and although of a well to do family, was bred in the habits ofsimplicity and rural industry with which the poets have made thatname synonymous. All his life he amused the leisure snatched from hisstudies with intelligent supervision of the farming of his severalestates: and he wrote his treatise _Rerum Rusticarum_ in his eightiethyear. [3]

He had his share of active life, but it was as a scholar that hedistinguished himself. [4] Belonging to the aristocratic party, hebecame a friend and supporter of Pompey, and, after holding a navalcommand under him in the war against the Pirates in B. C. 67, washis legatus in Spain at the beginning of the civil wars and theresurrendered to Caesar. He was again on the losing side at the battleof Pharsalia, but was pardoned by Caesar, who selected him to belibrarian of the public library he proposed to establish at Rome. [5]From this time Varro eschewed politics and devoted himself to letters, although his troubles were not yet at an end: after the death ofCaesar, the ruthless Antony despoiled his villa at Casinum (whereVarro had built the aviary described in book Three), and like Cicerohe was included in the proscriptions which followed the compact of thetriumvirs, but in the end unlike Cicero he escaped and spent his lastyears peacefully at his villas at Cumae and Tusculum. 

His literary activity was astonishing: he wrote at least six hundredbooks covering a wide range of antiquarian research. St. Augustine, who dearly loved to turn a balanced phrase, says that Varro had readso much that it is difficult to understand when he found time towrite, while on the other hand he wrote so much that one can scarcelyread all his books. Cicero, who claimed him as an intimate friend, describes (_Acad_. Ill) what Varro had written before B. C. 46, but hewent on producing to the end of his long life, eighteen years later:"For, " says Cicero, "while we are sojourners, so to speak, in our owncity and wandering about like strangers, your books have conducted us, as it were, home again, so as to enable us at last to recognize whoand whence we are. You have discussed the antiquities of our countryand the variety of dates and chronology relating to it. You haveexplained the laws which regulate sacrifices and priests: you haveunfolded the customs of the city both in war and peace: you havedescribed the various quarters and districts: you have omittedmentioning none of the names, or kinds, or functions, or causes ofdivine or human things: you have thrown a flood of light on our poetsand altogether on Latin literature and the Latin language: you haveyourself composed a poem of varied beauties and elegant in almostevery part: and you have in many places touched upon philosophy ina manner sufficient to excite our curiosity, though inadequate toinstruct us. "

Of Varro's works, beside the _Rerum Rusticarum_, there have survivedonly fragments, including a considerable portion of the treatiseon the Latin language: the story is that most of his books weredeliberately destroyed at the procurement of the Church (somethingnot impossible, as witness the Emperor Theodosius in _Corpus JurisCivilis_. Cod. Lib. I, tit. I, cap. 3, § I) to conceal St. Augustine'splagiarism from them; yet the _De Civitate Dei_, which is largelydevoted to refuting Varro's pagan theology, is a perennial monument tohis fame. St. Augustine says (VI, 2): "Although his elocution has lesscharm, he is so full of learning and philosophy that . .. He instructsthe student of facts as much as Cicero delights the student of style. "

Varro's treatise on farm management is the best practical book onthe subject which has come down to us from antiquity. It has not thespontaneous originality of Cato, nor the detail and suave elegance ofColumella. Walter Harte in his _Essays on Husbandry_ (1764) saysthat Cato writes like an English squire and Varro like a Frenchacademician. This is just comment on Cato but it is at once too muchand too little to say of Varro: a French academician might be proudof his antiquarian learning, but would balk at his awkward and homelyLatin, as indeed one French academician, M. Boissier, has since done. The real merit of Varro's book is that it is the well digested systemof an experienced and successful farmer who has seen and practised allthat he records. 

The authority from which Virgil drew the practical farming lore, forwhich he has been extolled in all ages, was Varro: indeed, as a farmmanual the _Georgics_ go astray only when they depart from Varro. Itis worth while to elaborate this point, which Professor Sellar, in hisargument for the originality of Virgil, only suggests. [6]

After Philippi the times were ripe for books on agriculture. The Romanworld had been divided between Octavian and Antony and there was peacein Italy: men were turning "back to the land. "

An agricultural regeneration of Italy was impending, chiefly inviticulture, as Ferrero has pointed out. With far sighted appreciationof the economic advantages of this, Octavian determined to promote themovement, which became one of the completed glories of the AugustanAge, when Horace sang

 Tua, Caesar, aetas Fruges et agris rettulit uberes. 

Varro's book appeared in B. C. 37 and during that year Maecenascommissioned Virgil to put into verse the spirit of the times; justas, under similar circumstances, Cromwell pensioned Samuel Hartlib. Such is the co-incidence of the dates that it is not impossible thatthe _Rerum Rusticarum_ suggested the subject of the _Georgics_, eitherto Virgil or to Maecenas. 

There is no evidence in the _Bucolics_ that Virgil ever had anypractical knowledge of agriculture before he undertook to write the_Georgics_. His father was, it is true, a farmer, but apparently in asmall way and unsuccessful, for he had to eke out a frugal livelihoodby keeping bees and serving as the hireling deputy of a _viator_ orconstable. This type of farmer persists and may be recognized in anyrural community: but the agricultural colleges do not enlist suchmen into their faculties. So it is possible that Virgil owed littleagricultural knowledge to his father's precepts or example. Virgilperhaps had tended his father's flock, as he pictures himself doingunder the guise of Tityrus; certainly he spent many hours of youth"patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi" steeping his Celtic soul with thebeauty and the melancholy poetry of the Lombard landscape: and so hecame to know and to love bird and flower and the external aspects of

 wheat and woodland tilth and vineyard, hive and horse and herd, but it does not appear that he ever followed the plough, or, what ismore important, ever laid off a ploughgate. As a poet of nature no onewas ever better equipped (the highest testimony is that of Tennyson), but when it came to writing poetry around the art of farm managementit was necessary for him to turn to books for his facts. Heacknowledges (_Geo_. I, 176) his obligation only to _veterumpraecepta_ without naming them, but as M. Gaston Boissier says he wasevidently referring to Varro "le plus moderne de tous les anciens. "[7]Virgil evidently regarded Varro's treatise as a solid foundation forhis poem and he used it freely, just as he drew on Hesiod for literaryinspiration, on Lucretius for imaginative philosophy, and on Mago andCato and the two Sasernas for local colour. 

Virgil probably had also the advantage of personal contact with Varroduring the seven years he was composing and polishing the _Georgics_. He spent them largely at Naples (_Geo_. IV, 563) and Varro was thenestablished in retirement at Cumae: thus they were neighbours, and, although they belonged to different political parties, the young poetmust have known and visited the old polymath; there was everyreason for him to have taken advantage of the opportunity. Whateverjustification there may be for this conjecture, the fact remains thatVarro is in the background every where throughout the _Georgics_, asthe "deadly parallel" in the appended note will indicate. This isperhaps the most interesting thing about Varro's treatise: instructiveand entertaining as it is to the farmer, in the large sense of theeffect of literature on mankind, Virgil gave it wings--the useful carthorse became Pegasus. 

As a consequence of the chorus of praise of the _Georgics_, there havebeen those, in all ages, who have sneered at Virgil's farming. Thefirst such _advocatus diaboli_ was Seneca, who, writing to Lucilius(_Ep_. 86) from the farm house of Scipio Africanus, fell foul of theadvice (_Geo_, I, 216) to plant both beans and millet in the spring, saying that he had just seen at the end of June beans gathered andmillet sowed on the same day: from which he generalized that Virgildisregarded the truth to turn a graceful verse, and sought rather todelight his reader than to instruct the husbandman. This kind ofcheap criticism does not increase our respect for Nero's philosophicminister. [8] Whatever may have been Virgil's mistakes, every farmerof sentiment should thank God that one of the greatest poems in anylanguage contains as much as it does of a sound tradition of thepractical side of his art, and here is where Varro is entitled to theappreciation which is always due the schoolmaster of a genius. 

NOTE ON THE OBLIGATION OF VIRGIL TO VARRO

At the beginning of the first _Georgic_ (1-5) Virgil lays out thescope of the poem as dealing with three subjects, agriculture, thecare of live stock and the husbandry of bees. This was Varro's plan(R. R. I, I, 2, and I, 2 passim) except that under the third head Varroincluded, with bees, all the other kinds of stock which were usuallykept at a Roman steading. Varro asserts that his was the firstscientific classification of the subject ever made. Virgil (G. I, 5-13) begins too with the invocation of the Sun and the Moon andcertain rural deities, as did Varro (R. R. I, I, 4). The passagesshould be compared for, as M. Gaston Boissier has pointed out, thedifference in the point of view of the two men is here illustratedby the fact that Varro appeals to purely Roman deities, while Virgilinvokes the literary gods of Greece. Following the _Georgics_ through, one who has studied Varro will note other passages for which asuggestion may be found in Varro, usually in facts, but some timesin thought and even in words, viz: Before beginning his agriculturaloperations a farmer should study the character of the country (G. I, 50: R. R. I, 6), the prevailing winds and the climate (G. I, 51: R. R. I, 2, 3), the farming practice of the neighbourhood (G. I, 52: R. R. I, 18, 7), "this land is fit for corn, that for vines, and the otherfor trees, " (G. I, 54: R. R. I, 6, 5). He should practise fallowand rotation (G. I, 71: R. R. I, 44, 2), and compensate the land byplanting legumes (G. I, 74: R. R. I, 23); he should irrigate hismeadows in summer (G. I, 104: R. R. I, 31, 5), and drain off surfacewater in winter (G. I, 113: R. R. I, 36). Man has progressed froma primitive state, when he subsisted on nuts and berries, to thedomestication of animals and to agriculture (G. I, 121-159: R. R. II, 1, 3). The threshing floor must be protected from pests (G. I, 178:R. R. I, 51). Seed should be carefully selected (G. I, 197: R. R. 40, 2); the time for sowing grain is the autumn (G. I, 219: R. R. I, 34). "Everlasting night" prevails in the Arctic regions (G. I, 247: R. R. I, 2, 5); the importance to the farmer of the four seasons (G. I. 258;R. R. I, 27) and the influence of the Moon (G. I. 276: R. R. I, 37). 

The several methods of propagating plants described (G. II, 9-34: R. R. I, 39), but here Varro follows Theophrastus (H. P. II, 1); trees growslowly from seed (G. II, 57; R. R. I, 41, 4); olives are propagatedfrom truncheons (G. II, 63; R. R. I, 41, 6). "The praise of Italy" (G. II, 136-176: R. R. I, 2, 6), where trees bear twice a year (G. II, 150:R. R. I, 7, 6). Certain plants affect certain soils (G. II, 177: R. R. I, 9). A physical experiment (G. II, 230; R. R. I, 7); the advantage ofthe quincunx in planting (G. II, 286: R. R. I, 7). Fence the vineyardto keep out live stock (G. II, 371: R. R. I, 14); the goat a propersacrifice to Bacchus (G. II, 380: R. R. I, 2, 19). Be the first to putyour vine props under cover (G. II, 409: R. R. I, 8, 6). 

The points of cattle (G. III, 50: R. R. II, 5, 7); their breeding age(G. III, 61: R. R. II, 5, 13); segregate the bulls before the breedingseason (G. III, 212: R. R. II, 5, 12). Recruit your herd with freshblood (G. III, 69: R. R. II, 5, 17). How to break young oxen (G. III, 163: R. R. I, 20). 

Of breeding live stock, the males should be fat, the females lean (G. III, 123-129: R. R. II, 5, 12). 

The points of a horse (G. III, 79: R. R. II, 7, 5). Mares fecundated bythe wind (G. III, 273: R. R. II, 1, 19). The care of the brood mare (G. III, 138: R. R. II, 7, 10). The bearing of a spirited colt in thefield (G. III, 75: R. R. II, 7, 6); the training of a colt, "rattlingbridles" in the stable (G. III, 184: R. R. II, 7, 12). 

Supply bedding for the sheep (G. III, 298: R. R. II, 2, 8), the goatstable should face southeast (G. III, 302: R. R. II, 3, 6). Goats'hair used for military purposes (G. III, 313: R. R. II, 11, 11. ) Goatsaffect rough pasture (G. III, 314: R. R. II, 3, 6). A shepherd's dailyroutine (G. III, 322; R. R. II, 2, 10-11). The life of shepherds in thesaltus (G. III, 340: R. R. II, 10, 6). Beware of a ram with a spottedtongue (G. III, 387: R. R. II, 2, 4). Anoint sheep as a precautionagainst scab (G. III, 448: R. R. II, 11, 7). 

The location of the bee-stand: a drinking pool with stones in it (G. IV, 26: R. R. III, 16, 27); planted round with bee plants (G. IV, 25:R. R. III, 16, 13), and free from an echo (G. IV, 50: R. R. III, 16, 12). When saving a swarm sprinkle bees balm and beat cymbals (G. IV, 62: R. R. III, 16, 7 and 30). Bees at war obey their leaders 'as atthe sound of a trumpet, ' but may be quelled by the bee-keeper (G. IV, 70-87: R. R. III, 16, 9 and 35). Keep the mottled king and destroy theblack one (G. IV, 90: R. R. III, 16, 18); the "old Corycian" and thebrothers Veiani (G. IV, 125: R. R. III, 16, 10): the bees' care oftheir king (G. IV, 212: R. R. III, 16, 8). Take off the honey twice inthe season (G. IV, 221: R. R. III, 16, 34); the generation of bees fromthe carcase of an ox (G. IV, 281: R. R. II, 5, 5) and cf. The wisdom onthis subject attributed to Varro by the _Geoponica_ (XV, 2). 

CATO'S DE AGRICULTURA

_Introduction: of the dignity of the farmer_

The pursuits of commerce would be as admirable as they are profitableif they were not subject to so great risks: and so, likewise, ofbanking, if it was always honestly conducted. For our ancestorsconsidered, and so ordained in their laws, that, while the thiefshould be cast in double damages, the usurer should make four-foldrestitution. From this we may judge how much less desirable a citizenthey esteemed the banker than the thief. When they sought to commendan honest man, they termed him good husbandman, good farmer. This theyrated the superlative of praise. [9] Personally, I think highly of aman actively and diligently engaged in commerce, who seeks thereby tomake his fortune, yet, as I have said, his career is full of risks andpitfalls. But it is from the tillers of the soil that spring the bestcitizens, the stanchest soldiers; and theirs are the enduring rewardswhich are most grateful and least envied. Such as devote themselves tothat pursuit are least of all men given to evil counsels. 

And now, to get to my subject, these observations will serve aspreface to what I have promised to discuss. 

_Of buying a farm_

(I)[10] When you have decided to purchase a farm, be careful not to buyrashly; do not spare your visits and be not content with a single tourof inspection. The more you go, the more will the place please you, if it be worth your attention. Give heed to the appearance of theneighbourhood, --a flourishing country should show its prosperity. "When you go in, look about, so that, when needs be, you can find yourway out. "

Take care that you choose a good climate, not subject to destructivestorms, and a soil that is naturally strong. If possible, your farmshould be at the foot of a mountain, looking to the South, in ahealthy situation, where labour and cattle can be had, well watered, near a good sized town, and either on the sea or a navigable river, orelse on a good and much frequented road. Choose a place which hasnot often changed ownership, one which is sold unwillingly, that hasbuildings in good repair. 

Beware that you do not rashly contemn the experience of others. Itis better to buy from a man who has farmed successfully and builtwell. [11]

When you inspect the farm, look to see how many wine presses andstorage vats there are; where there are none of these you can judgewhat the harvest is. On the other hand, it is not the number offarming implements, but what is done with them, that counts. Where youfind few tools, it is not an expensive farm to operate. Know that witha farm, as with a man, however productive it may be, if it has thespending habit, not much will be left over. [12]

_Of the duties of the owner. _

(II) When you have arrived at your country house and have saluted yourhousehold, you should make the rounds of the farm the same day, ifpossible; if not, then certainly the next day. When you have observedhow the field work has progressed, [13] what things have been done, andwhat remains undone, you should summon your overseer the next day, andshould call for a report of what work has been done in good season andwhy it has not been possible to complete the rest, and what wine andcorn and other crops have been gathered. When you are advised on thesepoints you should make your own calculation of the time necessaryfor the work, if there does not appear to you to have been enoughaccomplished. The overseer will report that he himself has workeddiligently, but that some slaves have been sick and others truant, the weather has been bad, and that it has been necessary to work thepublic roads. When he has given these and many other excuses, youshould recall to his attention the program of work which you hadlaid out for him on your last visit and compare it with the resultsattained. If the weather has been bad, count how many stormy daysthere have been, and rehearse what work could have been done despitethe rain, such as washing and pitching the wine vats, cleaning outthe barns, sorting the grain, hauling out and composting the manure, cleaning seed, mending the old gear, and making new, mending thesmocks and hoods furnished for the hands. On feast days the oldditches should be mended, the public roads worked, briers cut down, the garden dug, the meadow cleaned, the hedges trimmed and theclippings collected and burned, the fish pond cleaned out. On suchdays, furthermore, the slaves' rations should be cut down as comparedwith what is allowed when they are working in the fields in fineweather. 

When this routine has been discussed quietly and with good humour andis thoroughly understood by the overseer, you should give orders forthe completion of the work which has been neglected. 

The accounts of money, supplies and provisions should then beconsidered. The overseer should report what wine and oil has beensold, what price he got, what is on hand, and what remains for sale. Security should be taken for such accounts as ought to be secured. Allother unsettled matters should be agreed upon. If any thing is neededfor the coming year, it should be bought; every thing which is notneeded should be sold. Whatever there is for lease should be leased. Orders should be given (and take care that they are in writing) forall work which next it is desired to have done on the farm or let tocontract. You should go over the cattle and determine what is to besold. You should sell the oil, if you can get your price, the surpluswine and corn, the old cattle, the worn out oxen, and the cull sheep, the wool and the hides, the old and sick slaves, and if any thing elseis superfluous you should sell that. The appetite of the good farmeris to sell, not to buy. [14]

(IV) Be a good neighbour. Do not roughly give offence to your ownpeople. If the neighbourhood regards you kindly, you will find areadier market for what you have to sell, you will more easily getyour work done, either on the place or by contract. If you build, yourneighbours will aid you with their services, their cattle and theirmaterials. If any misfortune should overtake you (which God forbid!)they will protect you with kindly interest. [15]

_Of laying out the farm_

(I) If you ask me what is the best disposition to make of your estate, I would say that should you have bought a farm of one hundred _jugera_(about 66 acres) all told, [16] in the best situation, it should beplanted as follows: 1° a vineyard, if it promises a good yield, 2° anirrigated garden, 3° an osier bed, 4° an olive yard, 5° a meadow, 6°a corn field, 7° a wood lot, 8° a cultivated orchard, and 9° a mastgrove[17]. 

(III) In his youth, the farmer ought, diligently to plant his land, but he should ponder before he builds. Planting does not requirereflection, but demands action. It is time enough to build when youhave reached your thirty-sixth year, if you have farmed your land wellmeanwhile. When you do build, let your buildings be proportioned toyour estate, and your estate to your buildings[18]. It is fitting thatthe farm buildings should be well constructed, that you should haveample oil cellars and wine vats, and a good supply of casks, so thatyou can wait for high prices, something which will redound to yourhonour, your profit and your self-respect. 

(IV) Build your dwelling house in accordance with your means. If youbuild well in a good situation and on a good property, and furnish thehouse suitably for country life, you will come there more often andmore willingly[19]. The farm will then be better, fewer mistakes willbe made, and you will get larger crops. The face of the master is goodfor the land. [20]

(VI) Plant elm trees along the roads and fence rows, so that you mayhave the leaves to feed the sheep and cattle, and the timber will beavailable if you need it. If any where there are banks of streams orwet places, there plant reeds; and surround them with willows that theosiers may serve to tie the vines. 

(VII) It is most convenient to set out the land nearest the house asan orchard, whence fire wood and faggots may be sold and the supply ofthe master obtained. In this enclosure should be planted every thingfitting to the land and vines should be married to the trees. [21]

(VIII) Near the house lay out also a garden with garland flowers andvegetables[22] of all kinds, and set it about with myrtle hedges, bothwhite and black, as well as Delphic and Cyprian laurel. 

_Of stocking the farm_

(X) An olive farm of two hundred and forty _jugera_ (160 acres) oughtto be stocked as follows: an overseer, a house keeper, five labourers, three ox drivers, one swineherd, one ass driver, one shepherd; in allthirteen hands: three pair of oxen, [23] three asses with pack saddles, to haul out the manure, one other ass to turn the mill, and onehundred sheep. [24]

_Of the duties of the overseer. _[25]

(V) These are the duties of the overseer: He should maintaindiscipline. He should observe the feast days. He should respect therights of others and steadfastly uphold his own. He should settle allquarrels among the hands; if any one is at fault he should administerthe punishment. He should take care that no one on the place is inwant, or lacks food or drink; in this respect he can afford tobe generous, for he will thus more easily prevent picking andstealing. [26]

Unless the overseer is of evil mind, he will himself do no wrong, butif he permits wrong-doing by others, the master should not suffersuch indulgence to pass with impunity. He should show appreciation ofcourtesy, to encourage others to practise it. He should not be givento gadding or conviviality, but should be always sober. He shouldkeep the hands busy, and should see that they do what the master hasordered. He should not think that he knows more than his master. Thefriends of the master should be his friends, and he should give heedto those whom the master has recommended to him. He should confine hisreligious practices to church on Sunday, or to his own house. [27]

He should lend money to no man unbidden by the master, but what themaster has lent he should collect. He should never lend any seedreserved for sowing, feed, corn, wine, or oil, but he should haverelations with two or three other farms with which he can exchangethings needed in emergency. He should state his accounts with hismaster frequently. He should not keep any hired men or day handslonger than is necessary. He should not sell any thing without theknowledge of the master, nor should he conceal any thing from themaster. He should not have any hangers-on, nor should he consult anysoothsayer, fortune teller, necromancer, or astrologer. He should notspare seed in sowing, for that is bad economy. He should strive to beexpert in all kinds of farm work, and, without exhausting himself, often lend a hand. By so doing, he will better understand the point ofview of his hands, and they will work more contentedly; moreover, hewill have less inclination to gad, his health will be better, and hewill sleep more refreshingly. 

First up in the morning, he should be the last to go to bed at night;and before he does, he should see that the farm gates are closed, andthat each of the hands is in his own bed, that the stock have beenfed. He should see that the best of care is taken of the oxen, andshould pay the highest compliments to the teamsters who keep theircattle in the best condition. He should see to it that the ploughsand plough shares are kept in good repair. Plan all the work in ampletime, for so it is with farm work, if one thing is done late, everything will be late. 

(XXXIX) When it rains try to find some thing to do indoors. Clean up, rather than remain idle. Remember that while work may stop, expensesstill go on. 

_Of the duties of the housekeeper_

(CXLIII) The overseer should be responsible for the duties of thehousekeeper. If the master has given her to you for a wife, you shouldbe satisfied with her, and she should respect you. Require that shebe not given to wasteful habits; that she does not gossip with theneighbours and other women. She should not receive visitors either inthe kitchen or in her own quarters. She should not go out to parties, nor should she gad about. [28] She should not practise religiousobservances, nor should she ask others to do so for her without thepermission of the master or the mistress. Remember that the masterpractises religion for the entire household. She should be neat inappearance and should keep the house swept and garnished. Every nightbefore she goes to bed she should see that the hearth is swept andclean. On the Kalends, the Ides, the Nones, and on all feast days, sheshould hang a garland over the hearth. On those days also she shouldpray fervently to the household gods. She should take care that shehas food cooked for you and for the hands. She should have plenty ofchickens and an abundance of eggs. [29] She should diligently put up allkinds of preserves every year. 

_Of the hands_

(LVI) The following are the customary allowances for food: For thehands, four pecks of meal for the winter, and four and one-half forthe summer. For the overseer, the housekeeper, the wagoner, theshepherd, three pecks each. For the slaves, four pounds of breadfor the winter, but when they begin to cultivate the vines this isincreased to five pounds until the figs are ripe, then return to fourpounds. 

(LVII) The sum of the wine allowed for each hand per annum is eightquadrantals, or Amphora, but add in the proportion as they do work. Ten quadrantals per annum is not too much to allow them to drink. 

(LVIII) Save the wind fall olives as much as possible as relishes forthe hands. Later set aside such of the ripe olives as will make theleast oil. Be careful to make them go as far as possible. When theolives are all eaten, give them fish pickles and vinegar. One peck ofsalt per annum is enough for each hand. 

(LIX) Allow each hand a smock and a cloak every other year. As oftenas you give out a smock or cloak to any one take up the old one, sothat caps can be made out of it. A pair of heavy wooden shoes shouldbe allowed every other year. 

_Of draining_

(XLIII) If the land is wet, it should be drained with trough shapedditches dug three feet wide at the surface and one foot at the bottomand four feet deep. Blind these ditches with rock. If you have no rockthen fill them with green willow poles braced crosswise. If you haveno poles, fill then with faggots. Then dig lateral trenches three feetdeep and four feet wide in such way that the water will flow from thetrenches into the ditches. 

(CLV) In the winter surface water should be drained off the fields. On hillsides courses should be kept clear for the water to flow off. During the rainy season at the beginning of Autumn is the greatestrisk from water. When it begins to rain all the hands should go outwith picks and shovels and clear out the drains so that the water mayflow off into the roads, and the crops be protected. 

_Of preparing the seed bed_

(LXI) What is the first principle of good agriculture? To plough well. What is the second? To plough again; and the third is to manure. Whenyou plough corn land, plough well and in good weather, lest you turna cloddy furrow. The other things of good agriculture are to sow seedplentifully, to thin the young sprouts, and to hill up the roots withearth. 

(V) Never plough rotten land[30] nor drive flocks or carts across it. 

If care is not taken about this, the land so abused will be barren forthree years. 

_Of manure_

(V) Plan to have a big compost heap and take the best of care of themanure. When it is hauled out see that it is well rotted and spread. The Autumn is the time to do this. 

(XXXVII) You can make manure of litter, lupine straw, chaff, beanstalks, husks and the leaves of ilex and of oak. [31]

(XXX) Fold your sheep on the land which you are about to seed, andthere feed them leaves. [32]

_Of soil improvement_

(XXXVII) The things which are harmful to corn land are to plough theground when it is rotten, and to plant chick peas which are harvestedwith the straw and are salt. Barley, fenugreek and pulse all exhaustcorn land, as well as all other things which are harvested with thestraw. Do not plant nut trees in the corn land. On the other hand, lupines, field beans and vetch manure corn land. [33]

(VI) Where the soil is rich and fertile, without shade, there the cornland ought to be. Where the land lies low, plant rape, millet, andpanic grass. 

_Of forage crops_

(VIII) If you have a water meadow you will not want forage, but if notthen sow an upland meadow, so that hay may not be lacking. 

(LIII) Save your hay when the times comes, and beware lest you mow toolate. Mow before the seed is ripe. House the best hay by itself, sothat you may feed it to the draft cattle during the spring ploughing, before the clover is mature. 

(XXVII) Sow, for feed for the cattle, clover, vetch, fenugreek, fieldbeans and pulse. Sow these crops a second and a third time. 

_Of planting_

(XXXIV) Wherever the land is cold and wet, sow there first, and lastof all in the warmest places. 

_Of pastures_

(L) Manure the pastures in early spring in the dark of the moon, whenthe west wind begins to blow. When you close your pastures (to thestock) clean them and root out all weeds. 

_Of feeding live stock_

(XXX) As long as they are available, feed green leaves of elm, poplar, oak and fig to your cattle and sheep. 

(V) Store leaves, also, to be fed to the sheep before they havewithered. [34]

(XXX) Take the best of care of your dry fodder, which you house forthe winter, and remember always how long the winter may last. 

(IV) Be sure you have well constructed stables furnished withsubstantial stalls and equipped with latticed feed racks. Theintervals between the bars of the racks should be one foot. If youbuild them in this way, the cattle will not waste their food. 

(LIV) This is the way that provender should be prepared and fed: Whenthe seeding is finished, gather mast and soak it in water. Feed ameasure of it every day to each steer; or if they have not been workedit will be sufficient to let them pasture the mast beds. Another goodfeed is a measure of grape husks which you shall have preserved injars. By day turn the cattle out and at night feed twenty-five poundsof hay to each steer. If hay is short, feed the leaves of the ilex andivy. [35] Stack the straw of wheat, barley, beans, vetch and lupine, indeed all the grain straws, but pick out and house the best of it. Scatter your straw with salt and you can then feed it in place of hay. When in the spring you begin to feed (more heavily to prepare forwork), feed a measure of mast or of grape husks, or a measure ofground lupines, and fifteen pounds of hay. When the clover is ripe, feed that first. Gather it by hand so that it will bloom a secondtime, for what you harvest with the sickle blooms no more. Feed cloveruntil it is dry, then feed vetch and then panic grass, and after thepanic grass feed elm leaves. If you have poplar, mix that with the elmso that the elm may last the longer. If you have no elm feed oak andfig leaves. 

Nothing is more profitable than to take good care of your cattle. 

Cattle should not be put out to graze except in winter when they arenot worked; for when they eat green stuff they expect it all the time, and it is then necessary to muzzle them while they plough. 

_Of the care of live stock_

(V) The flocks and herds should be well supplied with litter and theirfeet kept clean. If litter is short, haul in oak leaves, they willserve as bedding for sheep and cattle. Beware of scab among the sheepand cattle. This comes from hunger and exposure to rain. 

(LXXII) To prevent the oxen from wearing down their hoofs, anointthe bottom of the hoof with liquid pepper before driving them on thehighroad. 

(LXXIII) Take care that during the summer the cattle drink only sweetand fresh water. Their health depends on it. 

(XCVI) To prevent scab among sheep, make a mixture of equal parts ofwell strained amurca, [36] of water in which lupine has been steeped, and of lees of good wine. After shearing, anoint all the flock withthis mixture, and let them sweat profusely for two or three days. Thendip them in the sea. If you have no sea water, make salt water and dipthen in that. If you will do this they will suffer no scab, they willhave more and better wool and they will not be molested by ticks. 

(LXXI) If an ox begins to sicken, give him without delay a raw hen'segg and make him swallow it whole. The next day make him drink from awooden bowl a measure of wine in which has been scraped the head of anonion. Both the ox and his attendant should do these things fastingand standing upright. 

(CII) If a serpent shall bite an ox, or any other quadruped, take acup of that extract of fennel, which the physicians call smyrnean, andmix it with a measure of old wine. Inject this through his nostrilsand at the same time poultice the wound with hogs' dung. [37] You cantreat a man the same way. 

(CLX) If a bone is dislocated it can be made sound by thisincantation. Take a green reed four or five feet long, split it downthe middle and let two men hold the pieces against your hips. Beginthen to chant as follows:

 "In Alio. S. F. Motas Vaeta, Daries Dardaries Astataries Dissunapiter"

and continue until the free ends of the reed are brought slowlytogether in front of you. Meanwhile, wave a knife above the reeds, andwhen they come together and one touches the other, seize them in yourhand and cut them right and left. These pieces of reed bound upon adislocated or fractured bone will cure it. [38]

But every day repeat the incantation, or in place of it this one:

 "Huat Hanat Huat Ista Pista Sista Domiabo Damnaustra"[39]

_Of cakes and salad_[40]

(LXXV) This is the recipe for cheese cake (_libum_): Bray well twopounds of cheese in a mortar, and, when this is done, pour in a poundof corn meal (or, if you want to be more dainty, a half pound offlour) and mix it thoroughly with the cheese. Add one egg and beat itwell. Pat into a cake, place it on leaves and bake slowly on a hothearth stone under a dish. 

(CXIX) This is the recipe for olive salad (_epityrum_): Select somewhite, black and mottled olives and stone them. Mix and cut them up. Add a dressing of oil, vinegar, coriander, cumin, fennel, rue andmint. Mix well in an earthen ware dish, and serve with oil. 

(CXXI) This is the recipe for must cake (_mustaceus_): Sprinkle a peckof wheat flour with must. Add anise, cumin, two pounds of lard, apound of cheese and shredded laurel twigs. When you have kneaded thedough, put laurel leaves under it and so bake. 

_Of curing hams_

(CLXII) This is the way to cure hams in jars or tubs: When you havebought your hams trim off the hocks. Take a half peck (_semodius_) ofground Roman salt for each ham. Cover the bottom of the jar or tubwith salt and put in a ham, skin down. Cover the whole with salt andput another ham on top, and cover this in the same manner. Be carefulthat meat does not touch meat. So proceed, and when you have packedall the hams, cover the top with salt so that no meat can be seen, andsmooth it out even. When the hams have been in salt five days, takethem all out with the salt and repack them, putting those which wereon top at the bottom. Cover them in the same way with salt and pressthem down. 

After the twelfth day remove the hams finally, brush off the salt andhang them for two days in the wind. On the third day wipe them offclean with a sponge and rub them with (olive) oil. Then hang them insmoke for two days, and on the third day rub them with a mixture of(olive) oil and vinegar. 

Then hang them in the meat house, and neither bats nor worms willtouch them. [41]

VARRO'S RERUM RUSTICARUM

LIBRI TRES

BOOK I

THE HUSBANDRY OF AGRICULTURE

_Introduction: the literary tradition of country life_

I

Had I leisure, Fundania, this book would be more worthy of you, but Iwrite as best I may, conscious always of the necessity of haste: for, if, as the saying is, all life is but a bubble, the more fragile isthat of an old man, and my eightieth year admonishes me to pack myfardel and prepare for the long journey. 

You have bought a farm and wish to increase its fertility by goodcultivation, and you ask me what I would do with it were it mine. Notonly while I am still alive will I try to advise you in this, but Iwill make my counsel available to you after I am dead. For as it befelthe Sibyl to have been of service to mankind not alone while shelived, but even to the uttermost generations of men after her demise(for we are wont after so many years still to have solemn recourse toher books for guidance in interpretation of strange portents), somay not I, while I still live, bequeath my counsel to my nearest anddearest. [42] I will then write three books for you, to which you mayhave recourse for guidance in all things which must be done in themanagement of a farm. 

And since, as men say, the gods aid those who propitiate them, I willbegin my book by invoking divine approval, not like Homer and Ennius, from the Muses, nor indeed from the twelve great gods of the citywhose golden images stand in the forum, six male and as many female, but from a solemn council of those twelve divinities who are thetutelaries of husbandmen. 

 * * * * *

First: I call upon Father Jupiter and Mother Earth, who fecundate allthe processes of agriculture in the air and in the soil, and hence arecalled the great parents. 

_Second_: I invoke the Sun and the Moon by whom the seasons for sowingand reaping are measured. 

_Third_: I invoke Ceres and Bacchus because the fruits they matureare most necessary to life, and by their aid the land yields food anddrink. 

_Fourth_: I invoke Robigus and Flora by whose influence the blight iskept from crop and tree, and in due season they bear fruit (for whichreason is the annual festival of the _robigalia_ celebrated in honourof Robigus, and that of the _floralia_ in honour of Flora). [43]

_Next_: I supplicate Minerva, who protects the olive; and Venus, goddess of the garden, wherefore is she worshipped at the rural winefestivals. 

_And last_: I adjure Lympha, goddess of the fountains, and BonusEventus, god of good fortune, since without water all vegetation isstarved and stunted and without due order and good luck all tillage isin vain. 

 * * * * *

And so having paid my duty to the gods, I proceed to rehearse someconversations[44] concerning agriculture in which I have recently takenpart. From them you will derive all the practical instruction yourequire, but in case any thing is lacking and you wish furtherauthority, I refer you to the treatises of the Greeks and of our owncountrymen. 

The Greek writers who have treated incidentally of agriculture aremore than fifty in number. Those whom you may consult with profitare Hieron of Sicily and Attalus Philometor, among the philosophers;Democritus the physicist; Xenophon the disciple of Socrates; Aristotleand Theophrastus, the peripatetics; Archytas the pythagorean; likewisethe Athenian Amphilochus, Anaxipolis of Thasos, Apollodorus of Lemnos, Aristophanes of Mallos, Antigonus of Cyme, Agathocles of Chios, Apollonius of Pergamum, Aristandrus of Athens, Bacchius of Miletus, Bion of Soli, Chaeresteus and Chaereas of Athens, Diodorus of Priene, Dion of Colophon, Diophanes of Nicaea, Epigenes of Rhodes, Evagonof Thasos, Euphronius of Athens, and his name sake of Amphipolis, Hegesias of Maronea, the two Menanders, one of Priene, the other ofHeraclaea, Nicesius of Maronea, Pythion of Rhodes. Among the restwhose countries I do not know, are Andiotion, Aeschrion, Aristomenes, Athenagoras, Crates, Dadis, Dionysius, Euphiton, Euphorion, Eubulus, Lysimachus, Mnaseas, Menestratus, Plentiphanes, Persis, andTheophilus. 

All those whom I have named wrote in prose, but there are those alsowho have written in verse, as Hesiod of Ascra and Menecrates ofEphesus. 

The agricultural writer of the greatest reputation is, however, Magothe Carthaginian[45] who wrote in the Punic tongue and collected intwenty-eight books all the wisdom which before him had been scatteredin many works. Cassius Dionysius of Utica translated Mago into Greekin twenty books (and dedicated his work to the praetor Sextilius), andnotwithstanding that he reduced Mago by eight books he cited freelyfrom the Greek authors whom I have named. Diophanes made a usefuldigest of Cassius in six books, which he dedicated to Deiotarus, Kingof Bithynia. I have ventured to compress the subject into the stillsmaller compass of three books, the first on the husbandry ofagriculture, the second on the husbandry of live stock and the thirdon the husbandry of the steading. 

From the first book I have excluded all those things which I do notdeem to relate immediately to agriculture: thus having first limitedmy subject I proceed to discuss it, following its natural divisions. My information has been derived from three sources, my own experience, my reading, and what I have heard from others. 

_Of the definition of agriculture_

_a. What it is not_

II. On the holiday which we call Sementivae I came to the templeof Tellus at the invitation of the Sacristan (I was taught by myancestors to call him _Aeditumus_ but the modern purist tells meI must say _Aedituus_). There I found assembled C. Fundanius, myfather-in-law, C. Agrius, a Roman Knight and a disciple of theSocratic school, and P. Agrasius, of the Revenue service: they weregazing on a map of Italy painted on the wall. "What are you doinghere?" said I. "Has the festival of the seed-sowing drawn you hitherto spend your holiday after the manner of our ancestors, by prayingfor good crops?" "We are here, " said Agrius, "for the same reason thatyou are, I imagine--because the Sacristan has invited us to dinner. Ifthis be true, as your nod admits, wait with us until he returns, forhe was summoned by his chief, the aedile, and has not yet returnedthough he left word for us to wait for him. "

"Until he comes then, " said I, "let us make a practical application ofthe ancient proverb that 'The Roman conquers by sitting down. '"

"You're right, " cried Agrius, and, remembering that the first step ofa journey is the most difficult, [46] he lead the way to the benchesforthwith and we followed. When we were seated Agrasius spoke up. "You who have travelled over many lands, " said he, "have you seen anycountry better cultivated than Italy?"

"I, for one, don't believe, " replied Agrius, "that there is anycountry which is so intensely cultivated. By a very natural divisionEratosthenes has divided the earth into two parts, that facing Southand that facing North: and as without doubt the North is healthierthan the South, so it is more fertile, for a healthy country is alwaysthe most fertile. It must be admitted then that the North is fitterfor cultivation than Asia, and particularly is this true of Italy;first, because Italy is in Europe, and, second, because this part ofEurope has a more temperate climate than the interior. For almosteverlasting winter grips the lands to the North of us. Nor is this tobe wondered at since there are regions within the Arctic Circle and atthe pole where the sun is not seen for six months at a time. Yea, itis even said that it is not possible to sail a ship in those partsbecause the very sea is frozen over. "

"Would you think it possible, " said Fundanius, "for any thing to growin such a region, and, if it did grow, how could it be cultivated? Thetragedian Pacuvius has spoken sooth where he says:

 'Should sun or night maintain e'er lasting reign, Then all the grateful fruits of earth must die, Nipped by the cold, or blasted by the heat. '

Even here in this pleasant region, where night and day revolvepunctually, I am not able to live in summer unless I divide the daywith my appointed midday nap. How is it possible to plant or tocultivate or to harvest any thing there where the days and nights aresix months long. On the other hand, what useful thing is there whichdoes not only grow but flourish in Italy? What spelt shall I comparewith that of Campania? What wheat with that of Apulia? What wine withthat of Falernum? What oil with that of Venafrum? Is not Italy socovered with fruit trees that it seems one vast orchard? Is Phrygia, which Homer calls [Greek: ampeloessa], more teeming with vines, oris Argos, which the same poet calls [Greek: polupuros] more rich incorn?[47] In what land does one jugerum produce ten, nay even fifteen, cullei of wine, as in some regions of Italy? Has not M. Cato writtenin his book of _Origines_ 'That region lying this side of Ariminiumand beyond Picenum, which was allotted to colonists, is called RomanGaul. There in several places a single jugerum of land produces tencullei of wine. ' Is it not the same in the region of Faventia wherethe vines are called _tre centaria_ because a jugerum yields threehundred amphorae of wine, " and, looking at me, he added, "indeed L. Martius, your chief engineer, said that the vines on his Faventinefarm yielded that much. [48] The Italian farmer looks chiefly fortwo things in considering a farm, whether it will yield a harvestproportioned to the capital and labour he must invest, and whether thelocation is healthy. Whoever neglects either of these considerationsand despite them proposes to carry on a farm, is a fool and should betaken in charge by a committee of his relatives. [49] For no sane man iswilling to spend on an agricultural operation time and money which heknows he cannot recoup, nor even if he sees a likely profit, if itmust be at the risk of losing all by an evil climate. 

"But there are here present those who can discourse on this subjectwith more authority than I, for I see C. Licinius Stolo and Cn. Tremelius Scrofa approaching. It was the ancestor of the first ofthese who brought in the law for the regulation of land-holding; forthe law which forbade a Roman citizen to own more than 500 jugera ofland was proposed by that Licinius who acquired the cognomen of Stoloon account of his diligence in cultivating his land: he is said tohave dug around his trees so thoroughly that there could not be foundon his farm a single one of those suckers which spring up from theground at the roots of trees and are called _stolones_. Of the samefamily was that other C. Licinius who, when he was tribune of thepeople, 365 years after the expulsion of the Kings, first transferredthe Sovereign function of law making from the Comitium to the Forum, thus as it were constituting that area the 'farm' of the entirepeople. [50] The other whom I see come hither is Cn. Tremelius Scrofa, your colleague on the Committee of Twenty for the division of theCampanian lands, a man distinguished by all the virtues and consideredto be the Roman most expert in agriculture. [51]

"And justly so, " I exclaimed, "for his farms are a more pleasingspectacle to many on account of their clean cultivation than thestately palaces of others;[52] when one goes to visit his countryplace, one sees granaries and not picture galleries, as at the 'farm'of Lucullus. [53] Indeed, " I added, "the apple market at the head of theSacred Way is the very image of Scrofa's fruit house. "

As the new comers joined us, Stolo inquired: "Have we arrived afterdinner is over, for we do not see L. Fundilius who invited us. "

"Be of good cheer, " replied Agrius, "for not only has that egg whichindicates the last lap of the chariot race in the games at the circusnot yet been removed, but we have not even seen that other egg whichis the first course of dinner. [54] And so until the Sacristan returnsand joins us do you discourse to us of the uses or the pleasures ofagriculture, or of both. For now the sceptre of agriculture is in yourhands, which formerly, they say, belonged to Stolo. "

"First of all, " began Scrofa, "we must have a definition. Are we to belimited in discussing agriculture to the planting of the land or arewe to touch also on those other occupations which are carried on inthe country, such as feeding sheep and cattle. For I have observedthat those who write on agriculture, whether in Greek or Punic orLatin, wander widely from their subject. "

"I do not think that those authors should be imitated in that, " saidStolo, "for I deem them to have done better who have confined thesubject to the straitest limits, excluding all considerations whichare not strictly pertinent to the subject. Wherefore the subject ofgrazing, which many writers treat as a part of agriculture, seems tome to belong rather to a treatise on live stock. That the occupationsare different is apparent from the difference in the names of those weput in charge of them, for we call one the farmer (_villicus_) and theother the herdsman (_magister pecoris_). The farmer is charged withthe cultivation of the land and is so called from the _villa_ or farmhouse to which he hauls in the crops from the fields and from which hehauls them away when they are sold. Wherefore also the peasants say_vea_ for _via_, deriving their word for the road over which they haulfrom the name of the vehicle in which they do the hauling, _vectura_, and by the same derivation _vella_ for _villa_, the farm house to andfrom which they haul. In like manner the trade of a carrier is called_vellatura_ from the practice of driving a _vectura_, or cart. "

"Surely, " said Fundanius, "feeding cattle is one thing and agricultureis another, but they are related. Just as the right pipe of the_tibia_ is different from the left pipe, yet are they complementsbecause while the one leads, it is to carry the air, and the otherfollows, it is for the accompaniment. "

"And, to push your analogy further, it may be added, " said I, "thatthe pastoral life, like the _tibia dextra_, has led and given the cueto the agricultural life, as we have on the authority of that learnedman Dicaearchus who, in his _Life of Greece_ from the earliest times, shows us how in the beginning men pursued a purely pastoral life andknew not how to plough nor to plant trees nor to prune them; onlylater taking up the pursuits of agriculture; whence it may besaid that agriculture is in harmony with the pastoral life but issubordinate to it, as the left pipe is to the right pipe. "

"Beware, " exclaimed Agrius, "of pushing your musical analogy too far, for you would not only rob the farmer of his cattle and the shepherdof his livelihood but you would even break the law of the land inwhich it is written that a farmer may not graze a young orchard withthat pestiferous animal which astrology has placed in the heavens nearthe Bull. "

"See here, Agrius, " said Fundanius, "let there be no mistake aboutthis. The law you cite applies only to certain designated kinds ofcattle, as indeed there are kinds of cattle which are the foes and thebane of agriculture such as those you have mentioned--the goats--forby their nibbling they ruin young plantations, and not the least vinesand olives. But, because the goat is the greatest offender in thisrespect, we have a rule for him which works both ways, namely: thatvictims of his family are grateful offerings on the altar of one godbut should never come near the fane of another; since by reason of thesame hate one god is not willing even to see a goat and the other ispleased to see him killed. So it is that goats found among the vinesare sacrificed to Father Bacchus as it were that they should pay thepenalty of their evil doing with their lives; while on the contrarynothing of the goat kind is ever sacrificed to Minerva, because theyare said to make the olive sterile even by licking it, for their veryspittle is poison to the fruit. For this reason goats are neverdriven into the Acropolis of Athens, except once a year for a certainnecessary sacrifice, lest the olive tree, which is said to have itsorigin there, [55] might be touched by a goat. "

"No kind of cattle, " said I, "are of any use to agriculture exceptthose which aid in the cultivation of the land, as they do when theyare yoked to the plough. "

"If this was so, " said Agrasius, "how could we afford to take cattleoff the land, since it is from our flocks and herds that we derive themanure which is of the greatest benefit to our purely agriculturaloperations. "

"On your argument of convenience, " said Agrius, "we might claim thatslave dealing was a branch of agriculture, if they were agriculturalslaves which we dealt in. The error lies in the assumption thatbecause cattle are good for the land, they make crops grow on theland. It does not follow, for by that reasoning other things wouldbecome part of agriculture which have nothing to do with it: as forexample spinsters and weavers and other craftsmen which you might keepon your farm. "

"Let us then agree, " said Scrofa, "to exclude live stock from ourconsideration of the art of agriculture. Does any one want to excludeany thing else?"

"Are we to follow the book of the two Sasernas, " I inquired, "anddiscuss whether the manufacture of pottery is more related toagriculture than mining for silver or other metals? Doubtless thematerial comes out of the ground in both cases, but no one claimsthat quarrying for stone or washing sand has any thing to do withagriculture, so why bring in the potter? It is not a question of whatcomes out of the land, nor of what can be done profitably on a farm, for if it were it might as well be argued that had one a farm lyingalong a frequented road and a site on it convenient to travellers, it would be the farmer's business to build a cross-roads tavern. Butsurely, however profitable this might prove, it would not make thespeculation any part of agriculture. It is not, I repeat, whether thebusiness is carried on on account of the land, nor out of the land, that it may be classed as a part of agriculture, but only if fromplanting the land one gains a profit. "

"You are jealous of this great writer, " interrupted Stolo. "Because ofhis unfortunate potteries you rebuke him captiously and give him nocredit for all the admirable things which he says about matters whichcertainly relate to agriculture. "

At this sally, Scrofa, who knew the book and justly contemned it, smiled, whereupon Agrasius, who thought that he and Stolo alone knewthe book demanded of Scrofa a quotation from it. 

"Here is his recipe for getting rid of bugs, " said Scrofa. "'Steep awild cucumber in water and where-ever you sprinkle it the bugs willdisappear, ' and again, 'Grease your bed with ox gall mixed withvinegar. '"

Fundanius looked at Scrofa. "And yet Saserna gives good advice even ifit is in a book on agriculture, " he said. 

"Yes, by Hercules, " said Scrofa, "and especially in his recipe forremoving superfluous hair, in which he bids you take a yellow frog andstew it down to a third of its size and then rub the body with what isleft. "[56]

"I would rather cite, " said I, "Sasernas' prescription for the maladyfrom which Fundanius suffers, for his corns make wrinkles on hisbrow. "

"Tell me, pray, quickly, " exclaimed Fundanius, "for I had rather learnhow to root out my corns than how to plant beet roots. "

"I will tell you, " said Stolo, "in the very words he wrote it, or atleast as I heard Tarquenna read it: 'When a man's feet begin to hurthe should think of you to enable you to cure him. '"

"I am thinking of you, " said Fundanius, "now cure my feet. "

"Listen to the incantation, " said Stolo. 

 'May the earth keep the malady, May good health remain here. '

Saserna bids you chant this formula thrice nine times, to touch theearth, to spit and be sure that you do it all before breakfast. "

"You will find, " said I, "many other wonderful secrets in Saserna, allequally foreign to agriculture, and so all to be left where they are. But it must be admitted that such digressions are found in many otherauthors. Does not the agricultural treatise of the great Cato himselffairly bristle with them, as for instance his instructions how to makemust cake and cheese cake, and how to cure hams?"

"You forget, " said Agrius, "his most important precept: 'If you wishto drink freely and dine well in company, you should eat five leavesof raw cabbage steeped in vinegar, before sitting down to the table. '"

_b. What agriculture is_

III. "And so, " said Agrasius, "as we have agreed upon and eliminatedfrom the discussion all those things which agriculture is not, itremains to discuss what it is. Is it an art, and, if so, what are itsprinciples and its purposes?"

Stolo turned to Scrofa and said: "You are our senior in age, inreputation and in experience, you should speak. " And Scrofa, nothingloath, began as follows:

"In the first place, agriculture is not only an art but an art whichis as useful as it is important. It is furthermore a science, whichteaches how every kind of land should be planted and cultivated, andhow to know what kind of land will produce the largest crops for thelongest time. [57]"

_The purposes of agriculture are profit and pleasure_

IV. The elements with which this science deals are the same as thosewhich Ennius says are the elements of the universe--water, earth, air and fire. Before sowing your seed it behooves you to study theseelements because they are the origin of all growing things. Soprepared, the farmer should direct his efforts to two ends: profit andpleasure, [58] one solid the other agreeable: but he should give thepreference to the pursuit of profit. [59] And yet those who have regardfor appearances in their farming, as for instance by planting theirorchards and olive yards in orderly array, often add not only to theproductiveness of the farm but as well to its saleability, and sodoubly increase the value of their estate. For of two things of equalusefulness, who would not prefer to buy the better looking?

The farm which is healthiest is the most valuable, for there theprofit is certain. On the other hand, on an unhealthy farm, howeverfertile it may be, misfortune dogs the steps of the farmer. For wherethe struggle is against Death, there not only is the profit uncertain, but one's very existence is constantly at risk: and so agriculturebecomes a gamble in which the farmer hazards both his life and hisfortune. And yet this risk can be diminished by forethought, for, whenhealth depends upon climate, we can do much to control nature and bydiligence improve evil conditions. If the farm is unhealthy by reasonof the plight of the land itself, or of the water supply, or isexposed to the miasma which breeds in some localities, or if the farmis too hot on account of the climate, or is exposed to mischievouswinds, these discomforts can be mitigated by one who knows what to doand is willing to spend some money. What is of the greatest importancein this respect is the situation of the farm buildings, their planand convenience, and what is the aspect of their doors and gates andwindows. During the great plague, Hippocrates the physician saved notmerely one farm but many cities because he knew this. But why shouldI summon him as a witness: for when the army and the fleet lay atCorcyra[60] and all the houses were crowded with the sick and dying, did not our Varro here contrive to open new windows to the healthyNorth wind and close those which gave entrance to the infected breezesof the South, to change doors and to do other such things, and sosucceed in restoring his comrades safe and sound to their native land?

_The fourfold division of the study of agriculture_

V. I have rehearsed the elements and the purposes of agriculture, itnow remains to consider in how many divisions this science is to bestudied. "

"I have supposed these to be without number, " said Agrius, "when Ihave read the many books which Theophrastus wrote on _The History ofPlants_ and _The Causes of Vegetation_. 

"These books, " said Stolo, "have always seemed to me to be fitterfor use in the schools of the philosophers than in the hands of apractical farmer. I do not mean to say that they do not contain manythings which are both useful and practical. However that may be, doyou rather explain to us the divisions in which agriculture should bestudied. "

"There are four chapters for the study of agriculture, of the highestpractical importance, " resumed Scrofa, "namely:"

1° What are the physical characteristics of the land to be cultivated, including the constitution of the soil;

2° What labour and equipment are necessary for such cultivation;

3° What system of farming is to be practised;

4° What are the season? at which the several farming operations are tobe carried out. 

Each of these four chapters may be divided in at least twosubdivisions:

The first into (_a_) a study of the soil, and (_b_) a survey of thebuildings and stabling. 

The second into an enquiry as to (_c_), the men who will carry on thefarming operations, and (_d_) the implements they will require. 

The third into (_e_) the kind of work to be planned, and (_f_) wherethat work is to be done. 

The fourth into what relates (_g_) to the annual revolution of thesun, and (_h_) the monthly revolution of the moon. 

I will speak of the four principal parts first, and then in detail ofthe eight subdivisions. 

1° CONCERNING THE FARM ITSELF

_How conformation of the land affects agriculture_

VI. Four things must be considered in respect of the physicalcharacteristics of the farm: its conformation, the quality ofthe soil, its extent, and whether it is naturally protected. Theconformation is either natural, or artificial as the result ofcultivation, and may be good or bad in either case. I will speak firstof natural conformation, of which there are three kinds: plain, hilland mountain--although there is a fourth kind made up of a combinationof any two or all three of those mentioned, as may be seen in manyplaces. A different system of cultivation is required for each ofthese three kinds of farms, for without doubt that which is suited forthe hot plain would not suit the windy mountain, while a hill farmenjoys a more temperate climate than either of the other two kinds andso demands its own system of cultivation. These distinctions are mostapparent when the several characteristic conformations are of largeextent, as for example the heat and the humidity are greater in abroad plain, like that of Apulia, while on a mountain like Vesuviusthe climate is usually fresher and so more healthy. Those whocultivate the lowlands feel the effects of their climate most insummer, but they are able to do their planting earlier in the spring, while those who dwell in the mountains suffer most from their climatein winter, and both sow and reap at later seasons. Frequently thewinter is more propitious to those who dwell in the plains becausethen the pastures are fresh there and the trees may be pruned morereadily. On the other hand the summer is more kindly in the mountainsfor then the upland grass is rich when the pastures of the plains areburnt, and it is more comfortable to cultivate the trees in a keenair. 

A lowland farm is best when it is gently sloping rather thanabsolutely flat, because on a flat farm water cannot run off and soforms swampy places. But it is a disadvantage to have the surface toorolling because that causes the water to collect and form ponds. 

Certain trees, like the fir and the pine, flourish most in themountains on account of the eager air, while in this region where itis more temperate the poplars and the willows thrive best. Again thearbute and the oak prefer the more fertile lands, while the almond andthe fig trees love the lowlands. [61] The growth on the low hills takeson more of the character of the plains, on the high hills that of themountains. For these reasons the kind of crops to be planted must besuited to the physical characteristics of the farm, as grain for theplains, vines for the hills and forests for the mountains. 

All these considerations should be weighed separately with referenceto each of the three kinds of conformation. 

VII. "It seems to me, " said Stolo, "that, so far as concerns thenatural situation of a farm, Cato's opinion is just. He wrote, youwill recall, that the best farm was one which lay at the foot of amountain looking to the South. "

Scrofa resumed: "So far as concerns the laying out of the farm, Imaintain that the more appearances are considered the greater will bethe profit, as, for instance, orchards should be planted in straightlines arranged in quincunxes and at a reasonable distance apart. Itis a fact that, because of their unintelligent plan of planting, ourancestors made less wine and corn to the acre than we do. The point isthat if each plant is set with due reference to the others they occupyless land and are less likely to screen from one another the influenceof the sun and the moon and the air. This may be illustrated by anexperiment: you can press a parcel of nuts with their shells on into ameasure having only two thirds of the capacity of what is required tocontain them after they have been cracked, because the shells keepthem naturally compacted. When trees are planted in rows the sun andthe moon have access to them equally from all sides, with the resultthat more raisins and olives are developed and then mature morequickly, a double result with the double consequence of a larger cropof must and oil and a greater profit. "

_How character of soil affects agriculture_

"We will now take up the second consideration in respect of thephysical characteristics of a farm, namely: the quality of the soil, which partly, if not entirely, determines whether it is considered agood or a bad farm: for on this depends what crops can be planted andharvested and how they should be cultivated, as it is not possibleto plant everything successfully on the same soil. For one soil issuitable for vines, another for corn, and others for other things. Inthe island of Crete, near Cortynia, there is said to be a plane treewhich does not lose its leaves even in winter--a phenomenon duedoubtless to the quality of the soil. There is another of the samekind in Cyprus, according to Theophrastus. Likewise within sight ofthe city of Sybaris (which is now called Thurii) stands an oak havingthe same characteristic. Again at Elephantine neither the vines northe fig trees lose their leaves, something that never happens withus. For the same reason many trees bear fruit twice a year, as dothe vines near the sea at Smyrna, and the apples in the fields ofConsentinium. The effect of soil appears also from the fact that thoseplants which bear most profusely in wild places produce better fruitunder cultivation. The same explanation applies to those plants whichcannot live except in a marshy place, or indeed in the very water:they are even nice about the kind of water, some grow in ponds likethe reeds at Reate, others in streams like the alders in Epirus, someeven in the sea like the palms and the squills of which Theophrastuswrites. When I was in the army, I saw in Transalpine Gaul, near theRhine, lands where neither the vine, nor the olive, nor the pear treegrew, where they manured their fields with a white chalk which theydug out of the ground:[62] where they had no salt, either mineral ormarine, but used in place of it the salty ashes obtained from burninga certain kind of wood. "

Stolo here interrupted. "You will recall, " he said, "that Cato incomparing the different kinds of soil, ranked them by their merit innine classes according to what they would produce, of which the firstwas that on which the vine would grow a plentiful supply of good wine;the second that fit for an irrigated garden; the third for an osierbed; the fourth for an olive yard; the fifth for a meadow; the sixthfor a corn field; the seventh for a wood lot; the eighth for acultivated orchard, and the ninth for a mast grove. "

"I know he wrote that, " replied Scrofa, "but every one does not agreewith him. There are some who put a good pasture first, and I am amongthem. "

Our ancestors were wont to call them not _prala_, as we do, but_parata_ (because they are always ready for use). The sedile CaesarVopicus, in pleading a cause before the Censors, once said that theprairie of Rosea was the nurse of Italy, because if one left hissurveying instruments there on the ground over night they were lostnext day in the growth of the grass. [63]

(_A digression on the maintenance of vineyards_)

VIII. There be those who assert that the cost of maintaining avineyard eats up the profit. What kind of vineyard? I ask. For thereare several: in one the vines grow on the ground without props, as inSpain; in another, which is the kind common in Italy, the vines climband are trained either separately on props or one with another on atrellis, which last is what is called marrying the vine. There arefour kinds of trellis in use--made out of poles, of reeds, of ropesand of vines themselves, which are in use respectively in Falerum, inArpinum, in Brundisium and in Mediolanum. There are two methods oftraining the vine on trellises, one upright, as is done in the countryof Canusium; the other crossed and interwoven, as is the practicegenerally throughout Italy. If one obtains the material for histrellises from his own land, the expense of maintaining that kindof vineyard is negligible, nor is it burdensome if the material isprocured from the neighbourhood. Such trellis material, as has beendescribed, can be grown at home by planting willows, reeds and rushes, or some thing of that kind; but if you propose to rely on the vines toform their own trellis, then you must plant an _arbustum_ where thevines can be trained on trees, such as maples, which the inhabitantsof Mediolanum use for that purpose; or fig trees, on which the peopleof Canusium train their vines. Likewise there are four kinds of propsused for the cultivation of unwedded vines; first, the planted post, which is called _ridicum_ and is best when fashioned out of oak orjuniper; second, poles cut in the swamp, and the more seasoned theyare the longer they will last, but it is the practice to reset themupside down when they rot out in the ground; third, for lack of something better, a bundle of reeds tied together and thrust into apointed tube of baked clay, which is then planted in the ground andserves to preserve the reeds from water rot; the fourth is what may becalled the natural prop, when vines are swung from tree to tree. Vinesshould be trained to the height of a man and the interval between theprops should be sufficient to give room for a yoke of oxen to plough. The least expensive kind of a vineyard is that which brings wine tothe jug without the aid of any sort of prop. There are two of thiskind, one in which the earth serves as a bed for the grapes, as inmany places in Asia, and where usually the foxes share the crop withman;[64] or, if mice appear, it is they who make the vintage, unlessyou put a mouse trap in every vine, as they do on the island ofPandataria. The other kind of vineyard, is that where each shoot whichpromises to bear grapes is lifted from the earth and supported abouttwo feet off the ground by a forked stick: by this means the grapes, as they form, learn to hang as it were from a branch and do not haveto be taught after the vintage; they are held in place with a bit ofcord or by that kind of tie which the ancients called a _cestus_. Assoon as the farmer sees the vintagers turn their backs he carriesthese props under cover for the winter so that he may use them anotheryear without expense for that account. In Italy the people of Reatepractise this custom. 

Thus there are as many methods of cultivating the vine as there arekinds of soil. For where the land is wet the vine must be trained highbecause when wine is being made and matured on the vine, it needs sun, not water--as when it is in the cup! For this reason it was, I think, that first the vine was made to grow on trees. 

_Of the different kinds of soil_

IX. It is expedient then, as I was saying, to study each kind of soilto determine for what it is, and for what it is not, suitable. Theword _terra_ is used in three senses: general, particular and mixed. It is a general designation when we speak of the orb of the earth, theland of Italy or any other country. In this designation is includedrock and sand and other such things. In the second place, _terra_ isreferred to particularly when it is spoken of without qualification orepithet. In the third place, which is the mixed sense, when one speaksof _terra_ as soil--that in which seeds are sown and developed; as forexample, clay soil or rocky soil or others. In this sense there are asmany kinds of earth as there are when one speaks of it in the generalsense, on account of the mixtures of substances in it in varyingquantities which make it of different heart and strength, such asrock, marble, sand, loam, clay, red ochre, dust, chalk, gravel, carbuncle (which is a condition of soil formed by the burning of rootsin the intense heat of the sun); from which each kind of soil iscalled by a particular name, in accordance with the substances ofwhich it is composed, as a chalky soil, a gravelly soil, or what everelse may be its distinguishing quality. And as there are differentvarieties of soil so each variety may be subdivided according toits quality, as, for example, a rocky soil is either very rocky, moderately rocky or hardly rocky at all. So three grades may be madeof other mixed soils. In turn each of these three grades has threequalities: some are very wet, some very dry, some moderate, Thesedistinctions are of the greatest importance in respect of the crops, for the skilled husbandman plants spelt rather than wheat in wetland, and on dry land barley rather than spelt, in medium land both. Furthermore there are still more subtle distinctions to be madein respect of all these kinds of soil, as for example it must beconsidered in respect of loam, whether it is white loam or red loam, because white loam is unfit for nursery beds, while red loam is whatthey require. But the three great distinctions of quality of soil arewhether it is lean or fat, or medium. Fat soils are apparent from theheavy growth of their vegetation, and the lean lie bare; as witnessthe territory of Pupinia (in Latium), where all the foliage is meagreand the vines look starved, where the scant straw never stools, northe fig tree blooms, while for the most part the trees are as coveredwith moss as are the arid pastures. On the other hand, a rich soillike that of Etruria reveals itself heavy with grain and forage cropsand its umbrageous trees are clean of moss. Soil of medium strength, like that near Tibur, which one might say is rather hungry thanstarved, repays cultivation in proportion as it takes on the qualityof rich land. "

"Diophanes of Bithynia, " said Stolo, "was very much to the point when hewrote that the best indication of the suitability of soil forcultivation can be had either from the soil itself or from what grows init: so one should ascertain whether it is white or black, if it is lightand friable when it is dug, whether its consistency is ashy, or tooheavy: or it can be tested by evidence that the wild growth upon it isheavy and fruitful after its kind. [65] But proceed and tell us of yourthird division, which relates to the measurement and laying out of thefarm. "

_Of the units of area used in measuring land_

X. Scrofa resumed: "Every country has its own system for measuringland. In Further Spain the unit of area is the _jugum_, in Campaniathe _versus_, here in the Roman country and among the Latins it isthe _jugerum_. They call a _jugum_ the area which a pair of oxencan plough in a day. The _versus_ is one hundred feet square: the_jugerum_ is the area containing two square _actus_: the _actusquadratus_ or _acnua_, as it is called by the Latins, measuring 120feet in width and as much in length. [66] The smallest fraction of ajugerum is called a _scripulum_ and is ten feet square. From this basethe surveyors some times call the butts of land which exceed a jugerum_unciae_ (twelfths) or _sextantes_ (seventy seconds) or some othersuch duodecimal division, for the jugerum contains 288 scripula, likethe ancient pound weight which was in use before the Punic wars. Twojugera, which Romulus first made the headright and which thus becamethe unit of inheritance, are called an _haeredium_:[67] later onehundred haeredia were called a _centuria_, which is 2, 400 _unciae_square. Four centuriae adjoining, so that there are two on each side, are called a _saltus_ in the distribution of the public lands. "

_Of the considerations on building a steading_

_a. Size_

XI. As the result of faulty surveys of the farm it often happens thatthe steading is constructed either too small or too large for thefarm, a mistake which in either case is of prejudice both to theproperty and its revenue. If one builds too large or too manybuildings he is eaten up by the expense of maintenance, while if onebuilds less than the farm requires the harvest is lost, for there isno doubt that the largest wine cellar must be provided for that farmon which the vintages are largest, or granary, if it is a grain farm. 

_b. Water supply_

If possible, the steading should be so built that it shall have waterwithin the walls, or certainly near at hand: it is preferable thatthis should be derived from a spring, or, if not, then from anunfailing stream. If no running water is available a cistern should beconstructed within doors, and a pond in the open, the one for the useof the men, the other for the use of the cattle. 

_c. Location, with regard to health_

XII. When you plan to build, try your best to locate the steading atthe foot of a wooded hill where the pastures are rich, and turn it soas to catch the healthiest prevailing breeze. The best situation isfacing the east so to secure shade in summer and sun in winter. But ifyou must build on the bank of a river, take care that you do not letthe steading face the river, for it will be very cold in winter andunhealthy in summer. Like precautions must be taken against swampyplaces for the same reasons and particularly because as they dry, swamps breed certain animalculae which cannot be seen with the eyesand which we breathe through the nose and mouth into the body wherethey cause grave maladies. "[68]

"But, " said Fundanius, "suppose I inherited a farm like that, whatshould I do to avoid the malady you describe?"

"The answer to that question is easy, " said Agrius. "You should sellthe farm for what you can get for it: and if you can't sell it, giveit away. "

Scrofa resumed: "Take care to avoid having the steading face thedirection from which disagreeable winds blow, yet you should not buildin a hollow. High ground is the best location for a steading: for byventilation all noxious gases are dissipated, and the steading ishealthier if exposed to the sun all day: with the further advantagethat any insects which may be bred in or brought upon the premises areeither blown away or quickly perish where there is no damp. Suddenrains and overflowed streams are dangerous to those who have theirsteadings in low or hollow places, and they are more at the hazard ofthe ruthless hand of the robber because he is able to take advantageof those who are unprepared. Against either of these risks the higherplaces are safer. "

_d. Arrangement_

XIII. In arranging the steading, see that the cattle are put wherethey will be warm in winter. Such crops as wine and oil should behoused below ground in cellars, or rather in jars placed in suchcellars, while dry crops like beans, and hay, are best stored on highboard floors. A rest room should be provided for the comfort of thehands where they can gather after the day's work or for protectionfrom cold or heat and there recruit themselves in quiet. The room ofthe overseer should be near the entrance to the farm house so that hemay know who comes in and who goes out during the night, and what theybring in or out, especially if there is no gate-keeper. The kitchenalso should be near the overseer's room because there in winter isgreat activity before daylight when food is being prepared and eaten. Good sized sheds should be built in the barn yard for the wagons andother implements which might be damaged by the rain. For while theymay be kept safe from the thief within the gates, yet if they areexposed to the weather they will be lost nevertheless. It is better tohave two barn yards for a large farm. The inner court should contain acistern like a little fish pond into which the drainage from the eavesmay collect: as here the cattle and swine and geese can drink andbathe in summer when they are driven in from work or pasture. In theouter court there should be another pond where you can handle lupinesand such other things as must be soaked in water. This exterior courtyard should be strewn thick with straw and chaff, which, by beingtrampled under the feet of the cattle, becomes the handmaid of thefarm by reason of the service it renders when it is hauled out. Everyfarm should have two manure pits, or one divided into two parts; intoone division should be put the new manure from the barn, in the otherthe old manure which is ready for use on the farm: for new manure isnot as good as that which is well rotted. [69] The manure pit is moreserviceable when its sides and top are protected from the sun byleaves and branches, for the sun draws out from the manure thoseelements which the land requires; for this reason experienced farmerssprinkle water on their manure pits, and so largely preserve itsquality: here too some establish the privies for the slaves. Oneshould build a barracks (what we call a _nubilarium_ because itaffords protection from the weather) and it should be large enough tocontain under its roof the entire crop of the farm: this should beplaced near the threshing floor and left open only on the side of thethreshing floor, so that while threshing you may conveniently throwout the corn and if it begins to cloud up then quickly throw it backagain under shelter. There should be windows in this barracks on theside most fitted for ventilation. "

"A farm would be more of a farm, " said Fundanius, "if the buildingswere constructed with reference to the diligence of our ancestorsrather than the luxury of their descendants. For they built for use, while we build to gratify an unbridled luxury. Their barns were biggerthan their houses, but the contrary is often the case today. Then ahouse was praised if it had a good kitchen, roomy stables and a cellarfor wine and oil fitted, according to the custom of the country, witha floor draining into a reservoir, into which the wine can flow when, as often happens after the new wine has been laid by, the fermentationof the must bursts both Spanish butts and our own Italian tuns. Inlike manner our ancestors equipped a country house with whatever otherthings were necessary to agriculture, but now on the contrary it isthe effort to make such a house as vast and as elegant as possible, and we vie with those palaces which men like Metellus and Lucullushave built, to the detriment of the very state itself: in them theeffort is to contrive summer dining rooms fronting the cool east, andthose designed for use in winter facing the western sun, rather than, as the ancients did, to adjust their windows with regard chiefly tothe cellars, since wine in casks keeps best when it is cool, while oilcraves warmth. For this reason also it would seem that the best placeto put a house is on a hill, if nothing obstructs it. "

_Of the protection of farm boundaries_

_a. Fences_

XIV. "Now, " resumed Scrofa, "I will speak of fences, which areconstructed for the protection of the farm or for dividing the fields. There are four kinds of such barriers: natural, dead wood, militaryand masonry. The first is the natural fence of live hedge, consistingof planted shrubs or thorns, and, as it has roots, runs no risk fromthe flaming torch of the passing traveller who may be inclined tomischief. The second kind is built of the wood of the country, butis not alive. It is made either of palings placed close together andwattled with twigs, or posts placed at some distance apart and piercedto receive the ends of rails, which are generally built two or threeto the panel, or else of trunks of trees laid on the ground and joinedin line. The third, or military fence, consists of a ditch and amound: but such a ditch should be so constructed to collect all therain water, or it should be graded to drain the surface water off thefarm. The mound is best when constructed close adjoining the ditch, orelse it should be steep so that it will be difficult to scale. It iscustomary to construct this kind of fence along the public roads oralong streams. In the district of Crustumeria one can see in manyplaces along the via Salaria ditches and mounds constructed as dikesagainst damage by the river (Tiber). [70] Mounds are some times builtwithout ditches and are called walls, as in the country around Reate. The fourth and last kind of fence is of built up masonry. There areusually four varieties: those of cut stone, as in the country aroundTusculum; those of burned brick, as in Gaul; those of unburned brickas in the Sabine country; those of gravel concrete, [71] as in Spain andabout Tarentum. "

_b. Monuments_

XV. Lacking fences, the more discreet establish the boundaries oftheir property, or of their sowings, by blazed trees, and so preventneighbourhood quarrels and lawing about corners. Some plant pinesaround their boundaries, as my wife did on her Sabine farm, orcypresses, as I have on my property on Vesuvius. [72] Others plant elms, as many have done in the district of Crustumeria: indeed, for plantingin plains where it flourishes there is no tree which can be set outwith such satisfaction or with more profit than the elm, for itsupports the vine and so fills many a basket with grapes, yieldsits leaves to be a most agreeable forage for flocks and herds, andsupplies rails for fences and wood for hearth and oven. 

"And now, " said Scrofa, "I have expounded my four points upon thephysical characteristics of a farm, which were, its conformation, thequality of the soil, its extent and layout, its boundaries and theirprotection. "

_Of the considerations of neighbourhood_

XVI. It remains to discuss the conditions outside the farm itself, for the character of the neighbourhood is of the utmost importance toagriculture on account of the necessary relations with it. Thereare four considerations in this respect also, namely: whether theneighbourhood bears a bad reputation; whether it affords a market towhich our products can be taken and whence we can bring back what wemay require at home; whether there is a road or a river leading tothat market, and, if so, whether it is fit for use; and fourth whetherthere is in our immediate vicinity any thing which may be to ouradvantage or disadvantage. Of these four considerations the mostimportant is whether the neighbourhood bears a bad reputation: forthere are many farms which are fit for cultivation but not expedientto undertake on account of the brigandage in the neighbourhood, as inSardinia those farms which adjoin Oelium, and in Spain those on theborders of Lusitania. 

On the second point those farms are the most profitable which haveopportunities in the vicinity for marketing what they raise and buyingwhat they must consume: for there are many farms which must buy cornor wine or what ever else they lack, and not a few which have asurplus of these commodities for sale. So in the suburbs of a city itis fitting to cultivate gardens on a large scale, and to grow violetsand roses and many other such things which a city consumes, while itwould be folly to undertake this on a distant farm with no facilitiesfor reaching the market. So, again, if there is nearby a town or avillage or even the well furnished estate of a rich man where you canbuy cheap what you require on the farm, and where you can trade yoursurplus of such things as props and poles and reeds, your farm willbe more profitable than if you had to buy at a distance; nay, moreprofitable even than if you were able to produce all you require athome: because in this situation you can make annual arrangements withyour neighbours to furnish on hire the services of physicians, fullersand blacksmiths to better advantage than if they were your own: forthe death of a single such skilled slave wipes out the entire profitof a farm. In carrying on the operation of a vast estate, the rich canafford to provide such servants for every department of the work:for if towns and villages are far distant from the farm, they supplyblacksmiths and all other necessary craftsmen and keep them on theplace, in order to prevent the hands from leaving the farm andspending working days in going leisurely to and from the shop whenthey might more profitably be engaged on what should be done in thefields. So Saserna's book lays down the rule that "No one may leavethe farm except the overseer, the butler, or such a one as theoverseer sends on an errand. If any one disobeys this rule, he shallbe punished for it, but if he disobeys a second time the overseershall be punished. " This rule may be better stated that no one shouldleave the farm without the approval of the overseer, and, without theconsent of the master, not even the overseer, for more than a day ata time, but in no event more frequently than the business of the farmrequires. 

On the third point, conveniences of transportation make a farm moreprofitable, and these are whether the roads are in such condition thatwagons can use them smoothly, or whether there are rivers nearby whichcan be navigated. We know that each of these means of transportationis available to many farms. 

The fourth point, which is concerned with how your neighbour hasplanted his land, also relates to your profits: because if he has anoak forest near your boundary, you cannot profitably plant olives inthat vicinity, for the oak is so perverse in its effect upon the olivethat not only will your trees bear less but they will even avoid theoaks and bend away from them until they are prostrate on the ground, as the vine is wont to do when planted near vegetables. Like the oak, a grove of thickly planted full grown walnut trees renders sterile allthe surrounding land. 

2° CONCERNING THE EQUIPMENT OF A FARM

XVII. I have spoken of the four points of husbandry which relate tothe land to be cultivated and also of those other four points whichhave to do with the outside relations of that land: now I will speakof those things which pertain to the cultivation of the land. Somedivide this subject into two parts, men and those assistants to menwithout which agriculture cannot be carried on. Others divide it intothree parts, the instruments of agriculture which are articulate, inarticulate and mute: the articulate being the servants, [73] theinarticulate the draught animals, and the mute being the wagons andother such implements. 

_Of agricultural labourers_

All men carry on agriculture by means of slaves or freemen or both. The freemen who cultivate the land do so either on their own account, as do many poor people with the aid of their own children, or forwages, [74] as when the heaviest farm operations, like the vintage andthe harvest, are accomplished with the aid of hired freemen: in whichclass may be included those bond servants whom our ancestors called_obaerati_, a class which may still be found in Asia, in Egypt and inIllyricum. With respect to the use of freemen in agriculture, my ownopinion is that it is more profitable to use hired hands than one'sown slaves in cultivating unhealthy lands, and, even where the countryis salubrious, they are to be preferred for the heaviest kind of farmwork, such as harvesting and storing grapes and corn. Cassius has thisto say on the subject: 'Select for farm hands those who are fitted forheavy labour, who are not less than twenty-two years of age and havesome aptitude for agriculture, which can be ascertained by trying themon several tasks and by enquiring as to what they did for their formermaster. ' Slaves should be neither timid nor overconfident. The foremanshould have some little education, a good disposition and economicalhabits, and it is better that they should be some what older than thehands, for then they will be listened to with more respect than ifthey were boys. It is most important to choose as foremen those whoare experienced in agricultural work, for they should not merely giveorders but lend a hand at the work, so that the labourers may learnby imitation and may also appreciate that it is greater knowledge andskill which entitles the foreman to command. The foreman should neverbe authorized to enforce his discipline with the whip if he canaccomplish his result with words. 

Avoid having many slaves of the same nation, for this gives rise todomestic rows. 

The foremen will work more cheerfully if rewards are offered them, andparticularly pains must be taken to see that they have some propertyof their own, and that they marry wives among their fellow servants, who may bear them children, some thing which will make themmore steady and attach them to the place. [75] On account of suchrelationships families of Epirote slaves are esteemed the best andcommand the highest prices. 

Marks of consideration by the master will go far in giving happinessto your hands: as, for instance, by asking the opinion of those ofthem who have done good work, as to how the work ought to be done, which has the effect of making them think less that they are lookeddown upon, and encourages them to believe that they are held in someestimation by the master. 

Those slaves who are most attentive to their work should be treatedmore liberally either in respect of food or clothes, or in holidays, or by giving them permission to graze some cattle of their own on theplace, or some thing of that kind. Such liberality tempers the effectof a harsh order or a heavy punishment, and restores the slaves' goodwill and kindly feeling towards their master. 

XVIII. On the subject of the number of slaves one will require foroperating a farm, Cato lays down the two measures of the extent ofthe farm and the kind of farming to be carried on. Writing about thecultivation of olives and vines he gives these formulas, viz. :

For carrying on an olive farm of two hundred and forty jugera, thirteen slaves are necessary, to-wit: an overseer, a housekeeper, five labourers, three teamsters, an ass driver, a swineherd and ashepherd: for carrying on a vineyard of one hundred jugera, fifteenslaves are necessary, to-wit: an overseer, a housekeeper, tenlabourers, a teamster, an ass driver and a swineherd. 

On the other hand Saserna says that one man is enough for every eightjugera, [76] as a man should cultivate that much land in forty-fivedays: for while one man can cultivate a jugerum in four days, yet heallows thirteen days extra for the entire eight jugera to provideagainst the chance of bad weather, the illness or idleness of thelabourer and the indulgence of the master. [77]

At this Licinius Stolo put in. 

"Neither of these writers has given us an adequate rule, " he said. "For if Cato intended, as he doubtless did, that we should add toor subtract from what he prescribes in proportion as our farm is ofgreater or less extent than that he describes, he should have excludedthe overseer and the housekeeper from his enumeration. If youcultivate less than two hundred and forty jugera of olives you cannotget along with less than one overseer, while if you cultivate twice ormore as much land you will not require two or three overseers. It isthe number of labourers and teamsters only which must be added to ordiminished in proportion to the size of the farm: and this appliesonly if the land is all of the same character, for if part of it is ofa kind which cannot be ploughed, as for example very rocky, or ona steep hillside, there is that much less necessity for teams andteamsters. I pass over the fact that Cato's example of a farm of twohundred and forty jugera is neither a fair nor a comparable unit. [78]The true unit for comparison of farms is a centuria, which containstwo hundred jugera, but if one deducts forty jugera, or one-sixth, from Cato's two hundred and forty jugera, I do not see how in applyingthis rule one can deduct also one-sixth of his thirteen slaves; or, even if we leave out the overseer and the housekeeper, how one candeduct one-sixth of eleven slaves. Again, Cato says that one shouldhave fifteen slaves for one hundred jugera of vineyard, but supposeone had a _centuria_ half in vines and half in olives, then, accordingto Cato's rule, one would require two overseers and two housekeepers, which is absurd. Wherefore it is necessary to find another measurethan Cato's for determining the number of slaves, and I myself thinkbetter of Saserna's rule, which is that for each jugerum it sufficesto provide four days work of one hand. Yet, if this was a good ruleon Saserna's farm in Gaul, it might not apply on a mountain farm inLiguria. In fine you will best determine what number of slaves andwhat other equipment you will require if you diligently considerthree things, that is to say, what kind of farms are there in yourneighbourhood, how large are they, and how many hands are engaged incultivating them, and you should add to or subtract from that numberin proportion as you take up more or less work. For nature gave us twoschools of agriculture, which are experience and imitation. The mostancient farmers established many principles by experiment and theirdescendants for the most part have simply imitated them. We shoulddo both these things: imitate others and on our own account makeexperiments, following always some principle, not chance:[79] thus wemight work our trees deeper or not so deep as others do to see whatthe effect would be. It was with such intelligent curiosity that somefarmers first cultivated their vines a second and a third time, anddeferred grafting the figs from spring to summer. "

_Of draught animals_

XIX. In respect of those instruments of agriculture which are calledinarticulate, Saserna says that two yokes of oxen will be enough fortwo hundred jugera of arable land, while Cato prescribes three yokesfor two hundred and forty jugera in olives: thus if Saserna iscorrect, one yoke of oxen is required for every hundred jugera, but ifCato is correct a yoke is needed for every eighty jugera. My opinionis that neither of these standards is appropriate for all kinds ofland, but each for some kind: for some land is easy and some difficultto plough, and oxen are unable to break up some land except by greateffort and often they leave the ploughshare in the furrow broken fromthe beam: wherefore in this respect we should observe a triple rule onevery farm, when we are new to it, namely: find out the practice ofthe last owner; that of the neighbours, and make some experiments ofour own. 

"Cato adds, " resumed Scrofa, "that on his olive farm there arerequired three asses to haul out the manure and one to turn the mill, and on his hundred jugera vineyard a yoke of oxen and a pair of assesfor the manure, and an ass for the wine press. "

In respect of cattle kept for all these purposes, which it iscustomary to feed in the barn yard, it should be added that you shouldkeep as many and only as many as you need for carrying on the work ofthe farm, so that more easily you can secure diligent care ofthem from the servants whose chief care is of themselves. In thisconnection the keeping of sheep is preferable to hogs not only bythose who have pastures but also by those who have none, for youshould keep them not merely because you have pasture, but for the sakeof the manure. 

Watch dogs should be kept in any event for the safety of the farm. 

XX. The most important consideration with respect to barn yard cattleis that the draft oxen should be fit for their work: when boughtunbroken they should not be less than three years old nor more thanfour, strong, but well matched, lest the stronger wear out the weaker:with large horns, black rather than any other color, broad foreheads, flat noses, deep chests and heavy quarters. Old steers which haveworked in the plains cannot be trained to service in rough andmountain land; a rule as applicable when reversed. In breaking youngsteers it is best to begin by fastening a fork shaped yoke on theirnecks and leaving it there even when they are fed; in a few days theywill become used to it and disposed to be docile. Then they should bebroken to work gradually until they are accustomed to it, as may bedone by yoking a young ox with an old one, so that he may learn whatis expected of him by imitation. It is best to work them first onlevel ground without a plough, then with a light plough, so that theirfirst lessons may be easy and in sand and mellow soil. 

Oxen intended for the wagon should be broken in the same way, at firstby drawing an empty cart, if possible through the streets of a villageor a town, where they may become quickly inured to sudden noises andstrange sights. You should not work an ox always on the same side ofthe team, for an occasional change from right to left relieves thestrain of the work. 

Where the land is light, as in Campania, they do not plough with heavysteers but with cows or asses, as they can be driven more easily toa light plough. For turning the mill and for carrying about the farmsome use asses, some cows and others mules: a choice determined by thesupply of provender. For an ass is cheaper to feed than a cow, thougha cow is more profitable. [80]

In the choice of the kind of draft animals he is to keep, a farmershould always take into consideration the characteristics of his soil:thus on rocky and difficult land the prime requirement is doubtlessstrength, but his purpose should be to keep that kind of stock whichunder his conditions yields the largest measure of profit and still doall the necessary work. 

_Of watch dogs_

XXI. It is more desirable to keep a few dogs and fierce ones than apack of curs. They should be trained to watch by night and to sleep byday chained in the kennel [so that they may be the more alert when setloose. ]

It remains to speak elsewhere of unyoked cattle, like the flocks, butif there are meadows on the farm and the owner keeps no live stock, itis the business of a good farmer after he has sold his hay to grazeand feed another's cattle on his land. 

_Of farming implements_

XXII. Concerning the instruments of agriculture which are called mute, in which are included baskets, wine jars and such things, this may besaid: Those utensils which can be produced on the farm or made by theservants should never be bought, among which are what ever may be madeout of osiers or other wood of the country, such as hampers, fruitbaskets, threshing sledges, mauls and mattocks, or what ever is madeout of the fibre plants like hemp, flax, rushes, palm leaves andnettles, namely: rope, twine and mats. Those implements which cannotbe manufactured on the farm should be bought more with reference totheir utility than their appearance that they may not diminish yourprofit by useless expense, a result which may be best secured bybuying where the things you need may be found at once of good quality, near at hand and cheap. The requirement of the kind and number of suchimplements is measured by the extent of the farm because the furtheryour boundaries lie apart the more work there is to do. "

"In this connection, " put in Stolo, "given the size of the farm, Catorecommends with respect to implements as follows: he who cultivates240 jugera in olives should have five sets of oil making implements, which he enumerates severally, such as the copper utensils, includingkettles, pots, ewers with three spouts, etc. ; the implements made outof wood and iron, including three large wagons, six ploughs with theirshares, four manure carriers, etc. So of the iron tools, what theyare and how many are needed, he speaks in great detail, as eight ironpitch forks, as many hoes and half as many shovels, etc. 

"In like manner he lays down another formula of implements for avineyard, viz. : if you cultivate 100 jugera you should have three setsof implements for the wine press and also covered storage vats ofa capacity of eight hundred _cullei_, as well as twenty harvestinghampers for grapes and as many for corn, and other things in likeproportion. 

"Other writers advise a smaller quantity of such conveniences, but Ibelieve Cato prescribed so great a capacity in order that one mightnot be compelled to sell his wine every year, for old wine sellsbetter than new, and the same quality sells better at one time thananother. Cato writes further in great detail of the kind and numberof iron tools which are required for a vineyard, such as the falx orpruning hook, spades, hoes. So also several of these instruments areof many varieties, as for instance the falx, of which this author saysthat there must be provided forty of the kind suitable for use in avineyard, five for cutting rushes, three for pruning trees and ten forcutting briers. "

So far Stolo, when Scrofa began again. "The owner should have aninventory of all the farm implements and equipment, with a copy onfile both at the house and at the steading, and it should be theduty of the overseer to see that everything is checked against thisinventory and is assigned its appropriate keeping place in the barn. What cannot be kept under lock and key should be kept in plain sight, and this is particularly necessary in respect of the utensils whichare used only at intervals, as at harvest time, like the grape basketsand such things, for what ever one sees daily is in the least dangerfrom the thief. "

3° CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF A FARM

XXIII. "And now, " interposed Agrasius, "as we have discussed thetwo first parts of the four-fold division of agriculture, namely:concerning the farm itself and the implements with which it is worked, proceed with the third part. "

_Of planting field crops_

"As I hold, " said Scrofa, "that the profit of a farm is that onlywhich comes from sowing the land, there are two considerations whichremain for discussion, what one should sow and where it is mostexpedient to sow it, for some lands are best suited for hay, some forcorn, some for wine and some for oil. So also should be considered theforage crops like basil, mixed fodder, vetch, alfalfa, snail cloverand lupines. All things should not be sown in rich land, nor shouldthin land be left unsown, for it is better to sow in light soil thosethings which do not require much nourishment, such as snail clover andthe legumes, except always chick peas (for this also is a legume likethe other plants which are not reaped but from which the grain isplucked) because those things which it is the custom to pluck (legere)are called legumes. In rich land should be sown what ever requiremuch nourishment, such as cabbage, spring and winter, wheat and flax. Certain plants are cultivated not so much for their immediate yield aswith forethought for the coming year, because cut and left lying theyimprove the land. So, if land is too thin it is the practice to ploughin for manure, lupines not yet podded, and likewise the field bean, ifit has not yet ripened so that it is fitting to harvest the beans. [81]

"Not less should you make provision for cultivating what yields youprofit in mere pleasure, like arbours and flower gardens: and thoseplantations which do not serve either for the support of man or thedelight of the senses, but are not the less useful in the economy ofthe farm. Thus suitable places must be set aside for growing willowsand reeds and other such things which affect wet places. On the otherhand, you should sow field beans as much as possible in your cornland. There are other plants which seek dry places, and still othersdemand shade, like asparagus, both when wild and cultivated: whileviolets and garden flowers, which flourish in the sun should be setout in the open. 

"So other things demand other planting conditions, like the osiersfrom which you derive your material for making basket ware, for wagonframes, winnowing baskets and grape hampers. Elsewhere you might plantand cultivate a forest for cut wood and a spinney for fowling. 

"So you should reserve ground for planting hemp, flax, rush and Spanishbroom (spartum) which serve to make shoes for the cattle, thread, cord and rope. Other situations are suitable for still other kindsof planting, as, for example, some plant garden truck and some plantother things, in a nursery, or between the rows of a young orchardbefore the roots of the trees have spread far out, but this shouldnever be done when the trees have grown lest the roots be injured. "

"In this respect, " said Stolo, "what Cato says about planting is inpoint, that a field which is rich and in good heart and without shadeshould be planted in corn, while a low lying field should be set inturnips, radishes, millet and panic grass. "

_Of planting olives_

XXIV. Scrofa resumed: "The varieties of olives to plant in rich andwarm land are the preserving olive _radius major_, the olive ofSallentina, the round _orchis_, the bitter _posea_, the Sergian, theColminian, and the waxy _albicera_: which ever of these does best inyour locality, plant that most extensively. An olive yard is not worthcultivating unless it looks to the west wind and is exposed to thesun; if the soil is cold and thin there you should plant the Licinianolive, for if you set out this variety in a rich and warm soil it willnever make a _hostus_ and the tree will exhaust itself in bearing andwill become infected with red moss. (_Hostus_ is the country name forthe yield of oil from a single tree at each _factus_ or pressing: someclaim this should amount to 160 _modii_, while others reduce it to 120_modii_, and even less in proportion to the size and number of theirstorage vats. )

"Cato advises you to plant elms and poplars around the farm so as toobtain from them leaves to feed the sheep and cattle as well as asupply of lumber: while this is not necessary on all farms, nor insome for the forage alone, it may be done with advantage as a windbreak against the north where the trees will not shut out the sun. "

Stolo added the following advice from the same author: 'If you have apiece of wet ground there plant cuttings of poplars, and also reedswhich are set out as follows: having turned the sod with a hoe plantthe scions of reed three feet one from the other. Wild asparagus (fromwhich you may cultivate garden asparagus) should also be set out insuch a place because the same kind of cultivation is suitable for itas for reeds. You should set out Greek willows around the reed bed tosupply ties for your vines. '

_Of planting vines_

XXV. "In respect of planting vines, " resumed Scrofa, "it should beobserved that the varieties fitted for the best land and exposure tothe sun are the little Aminean, the twin _Eugeneam_ and the littleyellow kind: while on rich or wet land the best varieties are thelarge Aminean, the Murgentine, the Apician and the Lucanian. Othervines, and especially the mixed varieties, do well in any kind ofland. "

XXVI. "In all vineyards care is taken that the prop should shelter thevine against the north wind. And if live cypresses are used as propsthey are planted in alternate rows and are not allowed to grow higherthan is necessary for use as a prop. Cabbages are never planted nearvines because they do each other damage. "

"I fear, " said Agrius, turning to Fundanius, "that the Sacristan mayget back before we have reached the fourth head of our subject, thatof the vintage, for I am looking forward thirstily to the vintage. "

"Be of good cheer, " said Scrofa, "and prepare the grape baskets andthe ewer. "

4° CONCERNING THE AGRICULTURAL SEASONS

XXVII. We have two standards of time, the first that of the revolutionof the year, because in it the sun completes his circuit, the otherthe measure of the month, because it includes the waxing and thewaning of the moon. 

_Of the solar measure of the year_

First I will speak of the sun, whose recurring journey is divided withreference to the pursuits of agriculture into four seasons of threemonths each, or more accurately into eight seasons of a month and ahalf each. The four seasons are Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. InSpring certain crops are sown and the sod fields are broken up, [82]so that the weeds in them may be destroyed before they have seededthemselves again, and the clods, by drying out in the sun, may becomemore accessible to the rain and when broken down by its action easierto cultivate. Such land should be ploughed not less than twice, butthree times is better. [83] The Summer is the season of the grainharvest; the Autumn, when the weather is dry, that of the vintage: andit is also the fit time for thinning out the woods, when the trees tobe removed should be cut down close to the ground and the roots shouldbe dug up before the first rains to prevent them from stooling. InWinter the trees may be pruned, provided this is done at a time whenthe bark is free from frost and rain and ice. 

XXVIII. Spring begins when the sun is in Aquarius, Summer when it isin Taurus, Autumn when it is in Leo, and Winter when it is in Scorpio. Since the beginning of each of the four seasons is the twenty-thirdday after the entrance of the sun in these signs respectively, itfollows that Spring has ninety-one days, Summer ninety-four, Autumnninety-one and Winter eighty-nine: which, reduced to the dates of ourpresent official calendar, [84] makes the beginning of Spring on theseventh day before the Ides of February (February 7), of Summer on theseventh day before the Ides of May (May 9), of Autumn on the third daybefore the Ides of August (August 11), and of Winter on the fourth daybefore the Ides of November (November 10). 

A CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS

By a more exact definition of the seasons, the year is divided intoeight parts, the first of forty-five days from the date of the risingof the west wind (February 7) to the date of the vernal equinox (March24), the second of the ensuing forty-four days to the rising of thePleiades (May 7), the third of forty-eight days to the summer solstice(June 24), the fourth of twenty-seven days to the rising of the DogStar (July 21), the fifth of sixty-seven days to the Autumn equinox(September 26), the sixth of thirty-two days to the setting of thePleiades (October 28), the seventh of fifty-seven days to the wintersolstice (December 24), and the eighth of forty-five days to thebeginning of the first. [85]

_1° February 7-March 24_

XXIX. These are the things to be done during the first of the seasonsso enumerated: All kinds of nurseries should be set out, the vinesshould be first pruned, then dug, and the roots which have protrudedfrom the ground should be cut out, the meadows should be cleaned, willows planted and the corn hoed. We call that corn land (_seges_)which has been ploughed and sowed as distinguished from plough land(_arva_) which has been ploughed but not yet sowed, while that landwhich was formerly sowed and lies awaiting a new ploughing is calledstubble (_novalis_). When land is ploughed for the first time it issaid to be broken up (_proscindere_), and at the second ploughing tobe broken down (_offringere_) because at the first ploughing largeclods are turned up and at the second ploughing these are reduced. Thethird cultivation, after the seed has been sown, is called ridging(_lirare_), that is, when by fastening mould boards on the plough, thesown seed is covered up in ridges[86] and at the same time furrows arecut by means of which the surface water may drain off. Some farmerswho cultivate small farms, as in Apulia, are wont to harrow their landafter it is ridged, if perchance any large clods have been left in theseed bed. The hollow channel left by the share of the plough is calledthe furrow, the raised land between two furrows is called the ridge(_porca_, ) because there the seed is as it were laid upon an altar(_porricere_) to secure a crop, for when the entrails are offered tothe gods this word _porricere_ is used to describe the oblation. 

2° _March 24-May 7_

XXX. These are the things to be done during the second season betweenthe vernal equinox and the rising of the Pleiades. Weed the corn land, break up old sod, cut the willows, close the pastures (to the stock)and complete any thing left undone in the preceding season. Planttrees before the buds shoot and they begin to blossom, for deciduoustrees are not fit to transplant after they put forth leaves. Plant andprune your olives. 

3° _May 7-June 24_

XXXI. These are the things to be done during the third season betweenthe rising of the Pleiades and the summer solstice. Dig the youngvines or plough them, and afterwards put the land in good order; thatis to say, fine the soil so that no clods shall remain. This is calledfining the soil (_occare_) because it breaks down (_occidare_) theclods. Thin out the vines, but let it be done by one who knowshow, for this operation which is considered of great importance isperformed only on vines and not on the orchard. To thin a vine is toselect and reserve the one, two and some times even three best newtendrils sprung from the stem of the vine, cutting off all the others, lest the stem may be unable to furnish nourishment for those whichhave been reserved. So in a nursery it is the custom to cut it backat first so that the vine may grow with a stronger stem and may havegreater strength to produce fruitful tendrils: for a stem which growsslender like a rush is sterile through weakness and cannot throw outtendrils. Thus it is the custom to call a weak stem a flag, anda strong stem, which bears grapes, a palm. The name _flagellum_, indicating something as unstable as a breeze, is derived from_flatus_, by the change of a letter, just as in the case of the word_flabellum_, which means fly fan. The name _palma_, which is givento those vine shoots which are fruitful in grapes, was it seems, atfirst, parilema, derived from _parire_ (to produce), whence by achange of letters, such as we find in many instances, it came to becalled _palma_. 

From another part of the vine springs the _capreolus_, which is alittle spiral tendril, like a curled hair, by means of which the vineholds on while it creeps towards the place of which it would takepossession, from which quality of taking hold of things (_capere_) itis called _capreolus_. 

All forage crops should be saved at this season; first, basil, thenmixed fodder (_farrago_)[87] and vetch, and last of all the hay. Ourname for basil is _ocinum_, which is derived from the Greek word[Greek: ocheos] and signifies that it comes quickly, like the pot herbof the same name. It has this name also because it quickens the actionof the bowels of cattle and so is fed to them as a purgative. It iscut green from a bean field before the pods are formed. On the otherhand that forage which is cut with a sickle from a field in whichbarley and vetch and other legumes have been sown in mixture forforage, is called _farrago_ from the instrument (_ferro_) with whichit is cut, or perhaps because it was first sown in the stubble of afield of corn (_far_). It is fed to horses and other cattle in thespring to purge and to fatten them. 

Vetch (_vicia_) is so called from its quality of conquering(_vincire_) because this plant, like the vine, has tendrils by meansof which it creeps twisting upward on the stalks of lupines or otherplants where it clings until it over-tops its host. 

If you have irrigated meadows, proceed to water them at this season, as soon as you have saved the hay. 

During droughts water your grafted fruit trees every evening. Theyprobably derive their name, (_poma_), from their appetite for drink(_potus_). 

4° _June 24-July 21_

XXXII. During the fourth season between the summer solstice and therising of the Dog Star most farmers make their harvest, because it isclaimed that to mature properly corn should be allowed fifteen days togerminate and shoot, fifteen days to bloom and fifteen days to ripen. 

Finish your ploughing: it will be more profitable in proportion as theearth is ploughed warm, when the land is broken up, fine it, that is, work it again in order that all the clods may be reduced, for at thefirst ploughing large clods are always turned up. This is the timealso to sow vetch, lentils, the small variety of chick peas, pulse(_ervilia_) and the other things which we call legumes, but whichothers, as for example the Gauls, call _legarica_, both of which namescome from the practice of picking their fruit (_legere_) because theyare not cut but gathered. 

Work the old vines a second time and the young ones thrice, especiallyif there are any clods left. 

5° _July 21-September 26_

XXXIII. During the fifth season between the rising of the Dog Starand the autumn equinox thresh your straw and rick it, continue theharrowing of your fallow land, prune your fruit trees, and mow yourirrigated meadow the second time. 

6° _September 26-October 28_

XXXIV. The authorities advise you to begin to sow at the commencementof the sixth season immediately after the autumn equinox and to keepit up for the following 91 days, but not to attempt to sow any thingafter the winter solstice, unless it is absolutely necessary, becauseseed sown before the winter solstice germinates in seven days, whilethat sown later hardly ever sprouts for 40 days. 

In like manner the authorities say that you should not begin yoursowing before the equinox, lest continued rains cause the seed to rotin the ground. The best time to plant beans is at the setting of thePleiades, but gather the grapes and make the vintage between theequinox and the setting of the Pleiades. Immediately afterward beginto prune the vines, to propagate them and plant fruit trees, but inthose regions where the frost comes early it is better to postponethese operations until the following spring. 

7° _October 28-December 24. _

XXXV. These are the things to do during the seventh season betweenthe setting of the Pleiades and the winter solstice. Plant lilies andcrocuses and propagate roses, which may be done by making cuttingsabout three inches in length from a stem already rooted, set these outand later, after they have formed their own roots, transplant them. The cultivation of violets has no place on a farm because they requireelevated beds for which the soil is scraped up and these are damagedor even washed away by heavy rains, thus wasting the fertility of theland. At any time of the year between the rising of the west wind andthe rising of Arcturus (February-September) it is proper to transplantfrom the seed beds thyme, an herb, which owes its name, _serpyllum_, to its creeping habit (_quod serpit_). This is the season also todig new ditches, clean the old ones, and to prune the trees in thearbustum and the vines which are married to them, but be careful thatyou suspend most of your work during the fifteen days before and afterthe winter solstice: it is fitting, however, to set out some treesduring this period, as, for example, elms. 

8° _December 24-February 7_

XXXVI. These are the things to do during the eighth season between thewinter solstice and the rising of the west wind. Drain the fields, ifany water is standing on them, but if they are dry and the land isfriable, harrow them. Prune the vines and the orchard. When it is notfitting to work in the fields then those things should be done whichcan be done under cover during the winter twilight. 

All these rules should be written out and posted in the farmstead andthe overseer especially should have them at the tip of his tongue. 

_Of the influence of the moon on agriculture_

XXXVII. The lunar seasons also must be considered. They are dividedinto two terms, that from the new moon to the full, and that fromthe full moon to the next moon, or until that day which we call_intermenstruus_, or the last and the first of a moon, whence atAthens this day is called [Greek: henae kai nea] (the old and thenew), though the other Greeks call it [Greek: triakas] the thirtiethday. Some agricultural operations may be undertaken with moreadvantage during the increase of the moon, others during thedecrease, [88] as, for example, the harvest or cutting of wood. "

"I observe a practice which I learned from my father, " said Agrasius, "not only never to shear my sheep, but not even to have my own haircut on the decrease of the moon, for fear that I might become bald. "

"What are the quarters of the moon, " said Agrius, "and what bearinghave they on agriculture?"

"Have you never heard in the country, " said Tremelius, "the lore aboutthe influence of Jana (Diana) on the eighth day before her waxing, andagain on the eighth day before her waning; how certain things whichought to be done during the increase can be done to better advantagein the second quarter than the first, and that what ever is fitting todo on the wane of the moon can be better done when her light is less?This is all I know about the effect of the four quarters of the moonupon agriculture. "

ANOTHER CALENDAR OF SIX AGRICULTURAL SEASONS

"There is another division of the year, " said Stolo, "which takesaccount of both the sun and the moon, namely: into six seasons, because almost all the cultivated fruits of the earth come to maturityand reach the vat or the granary after five successive agriculturaloperations and are put to use by a sixth, and these are, first, thepreparing (_praeparandum_); second, the planting (_serendum_); third, the cultivating of the growing crop (_nutricandum_); fourth, theingathering (_legendum_); fifth, the storing (_condendum_), and sixth, the consuming (_promendum_). "

1° PREPARING TIME

_Of tillage_

In the matter of preparation there are different things to be done fordifferent crops, as, if you wish to make an orchard or an arbustum, you trench and grub and plough; if you plant grain, you plough andharrow; while, if you cultivate trees, you mulch their roots bybreaking the earth with a mattock, more or less according to thenature of the tree, for some trees, like the cypress, have a small, and others like the plane tree have a large, root system (for example, that in the Lyceum at Athens described by Theophastus, which, whenit was still a young tree, had a spread of roots to the extent of 33cubits). If you break the ground with a plough and cattle, it is wellto work the land a second time before you sow your seed. So, if youare making a meadow the preparation is to close it to the stock, andthis is usually done when the pear tree is in bloom: if it is anirrigated meadow the preparation is to turn in the water at the propertime. 

_Of manuring_

XXXVIII. As part of this same operation should be considered whatplaces in a field need manure and what kind of manure you can useto the greatest advantage, for the several kinds have differentqualities. Cassius says that the best manure is that of birds, exceptswamp and sea birds, [89] but the best of all is, he claims, the manureof pigeons because it is the hottest and causes the land to ferment. This ought to be sown on the land like seed, not distributed in heapslike the dung of cattle. I myself think the best manure is that fromaviaries in which thrushes and blackbirds are kept, because it is notonly good for the land but serves as a fattening food for cattle andhogs: for which reason those who farm aviaries pay less rent when theowner stipulates that the manure is to be used on the farm, than thoseto whom it is a perquisite. Cassius advises that the manure next invalue to that of doves is human feces, and third that of goats andsheep and asses. The manure of horses is of the least value on cornland, but on meadows it is the best, because, like the manure of otherdraught animals fed on barley, it brings a heavy stand of grass. Themanure pit should be near the barn in order that it may be availablewith the least labour. If you plant a stake of oak wood in the manurepit it will not harbour serpents. 

2° PLANTING TIME

_Of the four methods of propagating plants_

XXXIX. The second operation, namely that of propagating, must beconsidered in relation to the proper time for sowing each kind ofseed, for this concerns the aspect of the field you are to sow and theseason fitting for what you are to plant. Do we not see some thingsgrow best in the spring, others in summer, some in autumn, and othersagain in winter? For each plant is sowed or propagated or harvested inseason according to its nature: so while most trees are grafted mostsuccessfully in spring, rather than the autumn, yet figs may begrafted at the summer solstice, and cherries even in winter. 

And since there are four methods of propagation of plants, by natureand by the several processes of art, namely: transplanting from oneplace to another, as is done in layering vines, what is called cuttageor propagating quick sets cut from trees, and graftage, which consistsin transferring scions from one tree to another, let us consider atwhat season and in what locality you should do each of these things. 

_a. Seeding, and here of seed selection_

XL. In the first place, the seed, which is the principle of allgermination, is of two kinds, that which is not appreciable byour senses and that which is. Seed is hidden from us when it isdisseminated in the air, as the physicist Anaxagoras holds, or isdistributed over the land by the surface water, as Theophrastusmaintains. The seeds which the farmer can see should be studied withthe greatest care. There are some varieties, like that of the cypress, which are so small as to be almost invisible, for those nuts which thecypress bears, that look like little balls covered with bark, are notthe seed but contain it. Nature gave the principle of germination toseed, the rest of agriculture was left for the experience of man todiscover, for in the beginning before the interference of man plantswere generated before they were sown, afterwards those seeds whichwere collected by man from the original plants did not generate untilafter they had been sown. 

Seed should be examined to ascertain that it is not sterile by age, that it is clean, particularly that it is not adulterated with othervarieties of similar appearances: for age has such effect upon seed asin some respects to change its very nature, thus it is said that rapewill grow from old cabbage seed, and vice versa. [90]

_b. Transplanting_

In respect of transplanting, care should be taken that it isdone neither too soon nor too late. The fit time, according toTheophrastus, is spring and autumn and midsummer, but the same rulewill not apply in all places and to all kinds of plants: for in dryand thin clay soil, which has little natural moisture, the wet springis the time, but in a rich and fat soil it is safe to transplant inautumn. Some limit the practice of transplanting to a period of thirtydays. 

_c. Cuttage_

In respect of cuttage, which consists in planting in the ground a livecutting from a tree, it behooves you especially to see that this isdone at the proper time, which is before the tree has begun to bud orbloom: that you take off the cutting carefully rather than breakit from the parent tree, because the cutting will be more firmlyestablished in proportion as it has a broad footing which can readilyput out roots: and that it is planted promptly before the sap driesout of it. 

In propagating olives select a truncheon of new grown wood abouta foot in length and the same size at each end: some call these_clavolae_ and others call them _taleae_. 

_d. Graftage_

In respect of graftage, which consists in transferring growing woodfrom one tree to another, care must be taken in selecting the treefrom which the scion is taken, the tree on which it is grafted, andthe time and the manner in which it is done: for the pear cannotbe grafted on an oak, even though it may upon the apple. In thisoperation many men who have great faith in the sayings of thesoothsayers give heed to their warning that as many kinds of graftsthere may be on a tree so many bolts of lightning will strike it, because a bolt of lightning is generated by each graft (_ictu_). [91]

If you graft a cultivated pear upon a wild pear tree no matter howgood it may be, the result will not be as fortunate as if you hadgrafted on another cultivated pear. Having regard for the result, onwhat ever kind of tree you graft, if it is of exactly the same kind, as, for instance, apple on apple, you should take care that the scioncomes from a better tree than that on which it is grafted. 

_e. A "new" method--inarching_

There is another operation recently suggested, [92] for propagating onetree from another, when the trees are neighbours. From the tree fromwhich you wish to take a scion a branch is trained to that on whichyou wish to make the graft and the scion is bound upon an incision ina branch of the stock. The place of contact of both scion and stock iscut away with a knife so that the bark of one joins evenly with thebark of the other at the point of exposure to the weather. Careshould be taken that the growing top of the scion is pointed straightupwards. The following year when the graft has knitted, the scion maybe cut from its parent tree. 

_Of when to use these different methods_

XLI. The most important consideration in propagating is, however, thetime at which you do it: thus things which formerly were propagated inthe spring now are propagated in summer, like the fig, whose wood isnot heavy and so craves heat, as a consequence of which qualityfigs cannot be grown in cold climates. For the same reason water isdangerous to a new fig graft because its soft wood rots easily. Forthese reasons it is now considered that midsummer is the best seasonto propagate figs. On the other hand it is the custom to tie a potof water above a graft of hard wood trees so that it may drip onthe graft and prevent the scion from drying up before it has beenincorporated with the stock. Care must be taken that the bark of thescion is kept intact, and to that end it should be sharpened but sothat the pith (_medulla_) is not exposed. To prevent the rain or theheat from injuring it from without, it should be smeared with clay andbound with bark. It is customary to take off the scion of a vine threedays before it is to be grafted so that the superfluity of moisturemay drain out before the scion is inserted, or, if the graft isalready in place, an incision is made in the stock a little below thegraft from which the adventitious moisture may drain off: but thisis not done with figs and pomegranates, for in all trees of acomparatively dry nature the graft is made immediately. Indeed, sometrees, like the fig, are best grafted when the scion is in bud. 

Of the four kinds of propagation which I have discussed, that ofgraftage is preferred in respect of those trees which, like the fig, are slow in developing: for the natural seeds of the fig are thosegrains seen in the fruit we eat and are so small as scarcely to becapable of sprouting the slenderest shoots. For all seeds which aresmall and hard are slow in germinating, while those which are soft aremore spontaneous, just as girls grow faster than boys. Thus by reasonof their feminine tenderness the fig, the pomegranate and the vine arequicker to mature than the palm, the cypress and the olive, which arerather dry than humid by nature. Wherefore we some times propagatefigs in nurseries from cuttings rather than attempt to raise them fromseed: unless there is no other way to secure them, as happens when onewishes to send or receive seed across the sea. For this purpose theripe figs which we eat are strung together and when they have driedout are packed and shipped wheresoever we wish, and thereafter beingplanted in a nursery they germinate. In this way the Chian, theChalcidian, the Lydian, the African and other foreign varieties offigs were imported into Italy. 

For the same reason olives are usually propagated in nurseries fromtruncheons such as I have described, rather than from its seed, whichis hard like a nut and slow to germinate. 

_Of seeding alfalfa_

XLII. You should take care not to plant alfalfa[93] in soil which iseither too dry or half wet, [94] but in good order. The authorities saythat if the soil is in proper condition a _modius_ (peck) and a halfof alfalfa seed will suffice to sow a _jugerum_ of land. This seed issowed broad-cast on the land like grass and grain. 

_Of seeding clover and cabbage_

XLIII. Snail clover (_cytisus_) and cabbage is sowed in beds wellprepared and is transplanted from them and set out so that the plantsare a foot and a half apart, also cuttings are taken from the strongerplants and set out like those which were raised from seed. 

_Of seeding grain_

XLIV. The quantity of seed required for one _jugerum_ is, of beans, four modii, of wheat five modii, of barley six modii, and of spelt tenmodii: in some places a little more or a little less; if the soil isrich, more; if it is thin, less. Wherefore you should observe how muchit is the custom to sow in your locality in order that you may do whatthe region and the quality of the soil demands, which is the morenecessary as the same amount of seed will yield in some localities tenfor one, and in others fifteen for one, as in Etruria. In Italy also, in the region of Sybaris it is said that seed yields as much as onehundred for one, and as much is claimed for the soil of Syria atGadara, and in Africa at Byzacium. [95]

It is also important to consider whether you will sow in land whichis cropped every year which we call _restibilis_, or in fallow land(_vervactum_), which is [ploughed in the spring and so] allowed aninterval of rest. "

"In Olynthia, " said Agrius, "they are said to crop the land every yearbut to get a greater yield every third year. "

"A field ought to lie fallow every other year, " said Stolo, "or atleast be planted with some crop which makes less demand upon thesoil. "

3° CULTIVATING TIME

"Tell us, " said Agrius, "about the third operation which relates tothe cultivation and the nourishment of the crops. "

_Of the conditions of plant growth_

"All things which germinate in the soil, " replied Licinius, "in thesoil also are nourished, come to maturity, conceive, are pregnant andin due time bear fruit or ear, so each fruit after its kind yieldsseed similar to that from which it is sprung. Thus if you pluck ablossom or a green pear from a pear tree, or the like from any othertree, nothing will grow again in that place during the same year, because a tree cannot have two periods of fruition in the same season. They produce only as women bear children, when their time has come. "

XLV. Barley usually sprouts in seven days after it has been sowed, andwheat not much later, while the legumes almost always sprout in fouror five days, except the bean, which is somewhat later. Millet andsesame and the other similar grains sprout in the same time unlesssome thing in the nature of the soil or the weather retards them. Ifthe locality is cold, those plants which are propagated in the nurseryand are tender by nature ought to be protected from the frosts bycoverings of leaves or straw, and, if rains follow, care should betaken that water is not permitted to stand any where about them, forice is a poison to tender roots under ground, as to sprouts above, andprevents them from developing normally. In autumn and winter theroots develop more than does the leaf of the plant because they arenourished by the warmth of the roof of earth, while the leaf above iscut down by the frosty air. We can learn this by observation of thewild vegetation which grows without the intervention of man, for theroots grow more rapidly than that which springs from them, but only sofar as they are actuated by the rays of the sun. There are two causesof the growth of roots, the vitality of the root itself by whichnature drives it forward, and the quality of the soil which yields apassage more easily in some conditions than in others. 

_Of the mechanical action of plants_

XLVI. In their effect upon plants such natural forces as I havementioned produce some curious mechanical results. Thus it is possibleto determine the time of the year from the motion of the leaves ofcertain trees like the olive, the white poplar and the willow, forwhen the summer solstice has arrived their leaves turn over. Not lesscurious is the habit of that flower which is called the heliotrope, which in the morning looks upon the rising sun and, following itsjourney to its setting, never turns away its face. 

_Of the protection of nurseries and meadows_

XLVII. Those plants, which, like olives and figs, are grown in thenursery from cuttings and are of a tender nature, should be protectedby sheds built of two planks fastened at each end: moreover theyshould be weeded, and this should be done while the weeds are stillyoung, for after they have become dry they offer resistance, and morereadily break off in your hand than yield to your pull. On the otherhand the grass which springs in the meadows and gives you hope offorage not only should not be rooted out while it is growing, butshould not even be walked upon; hence both the flock and the herdshould be excluded from the meadow at this time and even man himselfshould keep away, for grass disappears under the foot and the tracksoon becomes a path. 

_Of the structure of a wheat plant_

XLVIII. A corn plant consists of a culm bearing at its head a spike, which, when it is not mutilated, has, as in barley and wheat, threeparts, namely: the grain, the glume and the beard, not to speak of thesheath which contains the spike while it is being formed. The grain isthat solid interior part of the spike, the glume is its hull and thebeard those long thin needles which grow out of the glume. Thus as theglume is the pontifical robe of the grain, the beard is its apex. Thebeard and the grain are well known to almost every one, but the glumeto very few: indeed I know only one book in which it is mentioned, the translation which Ennius made of the verses of Evhemerus. Theetymology of the word _gluma_ seems to be from _glubere_, to strip, because the grain must be stripped from this hull: and by a likederivation the hull of the fig which we eat is called a glume. Thebeard we call _arista_ because it is the first part of the corn to dry(_arescere_), while we call the grain _granum_ from the fact that itis produced (_gerere_), for we plant corn to produce grain, not glumesor beards, just as vines are planted to produce grapes, not tendrils. The spike, which, by tradition, the country people call _speca_, seemsto get its name from _spes_, hope. For men plant with hope of theharvest. A spike which has no beard is called polled (_muticus_), for, when the spike is first forming, the beard, like the horns of a younganimal, is not apparent but lies hid like a sword in its scabbardunder a wrapping of foliage which hence is called the sheath. When thespike is mature its taper end above the grain is called the _frit_, while that below, where the spike joins the straw culm, is called the_urruncum_. 

XLIX. When Stolo drew breath, no one asked any questions, and so, believing that enough had been said on the subject of the care of thegrowing crops, he resumed. 

4° HARVEST TIME

"I will now speak about the gathering of the crops. "

_Of the hay harvest_

And first of the meadows: when the grass ceases to grow and begins todry out with the heat, then it should be cut with scythes and, as itbegins to cure, turned with forks. When it is cured it should be tiedin bales and hauled into the steading; then what hay was left lyingshould be raked together and stacked, and, finally, when this has allbeen done, the meadow should be gleaned, that is, gone over with thesickle to save what ever grass escaped the mowing, such as that leftstanding on tussocks. From this act of cutting (_sectare_) I thinkthat the word _sicilire_ (to glean with a sickle) is derived. 

_Of the wheat harvest_

L. The word harvest (_messis_) is properly used with respect to theingathering of those crops which are reaped, and from this action(_metere_) its name is derived, but it is mostly used in respect ofcorn. There are three methods of harvesting corn, one as in Umbria, where they cradle the straw close to the earth and shock up thesheaves as they are cut: when a sufficient number of shocks has beenmade, they go over them again and cut each sheaf between the spikesand the straw, the spikes being thrown into baskets and sent off tothe threshing floor, while the straw is left in the field and stacked. A second method of harvesting is practised in Picenum, where they havea curved wooden header[96] on the edge of which is fixed an iron saw:when this instrument engages the spikes of grain it cuts them off, leaving the straw standing in the field, where it is afterwards cut. Athird method of harvesting, which is used in the vicinity of Rome andin most places, is to cut the straw in the middle and take away theupper part with the left hand (whence the word to reap [_metere_] is, I think, derived from the word _medium_--connoting a cutting in themiddle). The lower part of the straw which remains standing is cutlater, [97] while the rest, which goes with the grain, is hauled off inbaskets to the threshing floor and there in an airy place is winnowedwith a shovel (_pala_) from which perhaps the chaff (_palea_) takesits name. Some derive the name of straw (_stramentum_) from the factthat it stands (_stare_), as they think the word _stamen_ is alsoderived, while others derive it from the fact that it is spread(_strare_), because straw is used as litter for cattle. 

The grain should be harvested when it is ripe: it is considered thatunder normal conditions and in an easy field one man should reapalmost a jugerum a day and still have time to carry the grain inbaskets to the threshing floor. 

_The threshing floor_

LI. The threshing floor should be on high ground so that the wind canblow upon it from all directions. It should be constructed of a sizeproportioned to your crops, preferably round and with the centreslightly raised so that if it rains the water may not stand on it butdrain off as quickly as possible, and there is no shorter distancefrom the centre to the circumference of a circle than a radius:[98] itshould be paved with well packed earth, best of all of clay, so thatit may not crack in the sun and open honeycombs in which the grain canhide itself, and water collect and give vent to the burrows of miceand ants. It is the practice to anoint the threshing floor withamurca, [99] for that is an enemy of grass and a poison to ants and tomoles. Some build up and even pave their threshing floor with rock tomake it permanent, and some, like the people of Bagiennae, even roofit over because in that country storms are prevalent at the threshingseason. In a hot country where the threshing floor is uncovered it isdesirable to build a shelter near by where the hands can resort in theheat of the day. 

_Threshing and winnowing_

LII. The heaviest and best of the sheaves should be selected on thethreshing floor and the spikes laid aside for seed. The grain isthreshed from the spikes on the threshing floor, an operation whichsome perform by means of a sledge drawn by a yoke of oxen: this sledgeconsisting of a wooden platform, studded underneath with flints oriron spikes, on which either the driver rides or some heavy weight isimposed in order, as it is drawn around, to separate the grain fromthe chaff: others use for this purpose what is called the punic cart, consisting of a series of axle trees, equipped with toothed rollers, on which some one sits and drives the cattle which draw it, as they doin hither Spain and other places. Others cause the grain to be troddenout under the hoofs of a herd of driven cattle, which are kept movingby goading them with long poles. 

When the grain has been threshed it should be tossed from the groundby means of a winnowing basket or a winnowing shovel when the wind isblowing gently, and this is done in such way that the lightest part, which is called the chaff, is blown away beyond the threshing floor, while the heavy part, which is the corn, comes clean into thebasket. [100]

_Gleaning_

LIII. After the harvest is over the grain fields should be gleaned ofshattered grain, and the straw left in the field should be gatheredand housed, but if there is little to be gained by such work, and theexpense is disproportionate, the stubble should be grazed: for infarming it is of the greatest importance that the expense of anoperation shall not exceed the return from it. 

_Of the vintage_

LIV. In vineyards the vintage should begin when the grape is ripe, butcare must be taken with what kind of grapes and in what part of thevineyard you begin: for the early grapes and the mixed variety, whichis called black, ripen some time before the others and should begathered first, like the fruit grown on the side of the arbustum, orof the vineyard, which is exposed to the sun. During the gatheringthose grapes from which you expect to make wine should be separatedfrom those reserved for the table: the choicer being carried to thewine press and collected in empty jars, while those reserved to eatare collected in separate baskets, transferred to little pots andstored in jars packed with marc, though some are immersed in the pondin jars daubed with pitch and some raised to a shelf in the storeroom. 

The stems and the skins of the grapes which have been trodden outshould be put under the press so that any must left in them may beadded to the supply in the vat. When this marc ceases to yield a flow, it is chopped with a knife and pressed again, and the must expressedby this final operation is hence called _circumcisitum_[101] and is keptby itself because it smacks of the knife. The marc finally remainingis thrown into jars, to which water is added, thus preparing a drinkwhich is called after-wine or grape juice, and is given to the handsin the winter instead of wine. 

_Of the olive harvest_

LV. And now of the harvest of the olive yard. [102] You should pick byhand, rather than beat from the tree, all the olives which can bereached from the ground or from a ladder, because this fruit becomesarid when it has been struck and does not yield so much oil: and inpicking by hand it is better to do so with the bare fingers ratherthan with a tool because the texture of a tool not only injures theberry but barks the branches and leaves them exposed to the frost. Soit is better to use a reed than a pole to strike down the fruit whichcannot be reached by hand, for (as the proverb is) the heavier theblow, the more need there is for a surgeon. He who beats his treesshould beware of doing injury, for often an olive when it is struckaway brings down with it from the branch a twig, and when this happensthe fruit of the following year is lost: and this is not the leastreason why it is said that the olive bears fruit, or much fruit, onlyevery other year. 

Like the grape, the olive serves a two-fold function after it isgathered. Some are set aside to be eaten and the rest are made intooil, which comforts the body of man not only within but without, forit follows us into the bath and the gymnasium. Those berries fromwhich it is proposed to make oil are usually stored in heaps on tablesfor several days where they may mellow a little. Each heap in turn iscarried in crates to the oil jars and to the _trapetus_, or pressingmill, which is equipped with both hard and rough stones. If the olivesare left too long in the heap they heat and spoil and the oil israncid, so if you are unable to grind promptly the heaps of olivesshould be ventilated by moving them. The yield of the olive is of twokinds, oil which is well known and _amurca_, of the use of which manyare so ignorant that one can often see it streaming from the mill andwasting upon the ground where it not only discolours the soil, butin places where it collects even makes it sterile: while if appliedintelligently it has many uses of the greatest importance toagriculture, as, for instance, by pouring it around the roots oftrees, chiefly the olive itself, or wherever it is desired to destroyweeds. [103]

_5° HOUSING TIME_

LVI. "Up to this moment, " cried Agrius, "I have been sitting in thebarn with the keys in my hands waiting for you, Stolo, to bring in theharvest. "

"Lo, I am here at the threshold, " replied Stolo. "Open the gates forme. "

_Of storing hay_

In the first place, it is better to house your hay than to leave itstacked in the field, for thus it makes more palatable provender, asmay be proven by putting both kinds before the cattle. 

_Of storing grain_

LVII. But corn should be stored in an elevated granary, exposed to thewinds from the east and the north, and where no damp air may reach itfrom places near at hand. The walls and the floors should be plasteredwith a stucco of marble dust or at least with a mixture of clay andchaff and amurca, for amurca will serve to keep out mice and weeviland will make the grain solid and heavy. Some men even sprinkle theirgrain with amurca in the proportion of a quadrantal to every thousandmodii of grain: others crumble or scatter over it, for the samepurpose, other vermifuges like Chalcidian or Carian chalk or wormwood, and other things of that kind. Some farmers have their granaries underground, like caverns, which they call silos, as in Cappadocia andThrace, while in hither Spain, in the vicinity of Carthage, and atOsca pits are used for this purpose, the bottoms of which are coveredwith straw: and they take care that neither moisture nor air hasaccess to them, except when they are opened for use, a wise precautionbecause where the air does not move the weevil will not hatch. Cornstored in this way is preserved for fifty years, and millet, indeed, for more than a century. 

On the ether hand again, in hither Spain and in certain parts ofApulia they build elevated granaries above ground, which the windskeep cool, not only by windows at the sides but also from underneaththe floor. 

_Of storing legumes_

LVIII. Beans and other legumes keep safe a long time in oil jarscovered with ashes. Cato says the little Aminnean grape, as well asthe large variety and that called Apician, keep very well when buriedin earthen pots: or they may be preserved quite as well in boiled newwine, or in fresh after-wine. The varieties which keep best when hungup are the hard grapes and those known as the Aminnean Scantian. 

_Of storing pome fruits_

LIX. The pome fruits, like the preserving sparrow apples, quincesand the varieties of apples known as Scantian, and 'little rounds'(_orbiculata_) and those which formerly were called winesap(_mustea_), and now are called honey apples (_melimela_), can all bekept safely in a cold and dry place when laid on straw, and so thosewho build fruit houses take care to have the windows give upon thenorth wind and that it may blow through them: but they should notbe left without shutters for fear that the fruits should lose theirmoisture and become shrivelled by the effect of the continuous wind. 

The vaults, the walls and the pavements of these fruiteries areusually laid in stucco to keep them cool: thus rendering them suchpleasant resorts that some men even spread there their dining couches:as well they may, for if the pursuit of luxury impels some of us toturn our dining rooms into picture galleries in order to regale evenour eyes with works of art [while we eat], should we not find stillgreater gratification in contemplating the works of nature displayedin a savory array of beautiful fruits, especially if this was notprocured, as has been done, by setting up in your fruitery on theoccasion of a party a supply of fruit purchased for the purpose intown?

Some think best to dispose their apples in the fruitery on concretetables, others on beds of straw, and some even on flocks of wool. 

Pomegranates are preserved by sticking their twigs in jars of sand, quinces and sparrow apples are strung together and hung up, but thelate maturing Anician pears are best preserved in boiled must. Sorbsand pears also are some times cut up and dried in the sun, though thesorb may be easily preserved intact by keeping them in a dry place:turnips are cut up and preserved in mustard, while walnuts keep wellin sand, as I have explained with respect to ripe pomegranates. Thereis a similar way of ripening pomegranates: put the fruit, while it isstill green and attached to its branch, in a pot without a bottom, bury this in the earth and scrape the soil around the protrudingbranch so as to keep out the air, and when the pomegranates are dug upthey will be found to be not only intact but larger than if they hadhung all the time on the tree. 

_Of storing olives_

LX. With respect to preserving olives, Cato advises that table olives, both the round and the bitter berried kinds, keep best in brine bothwhen they are dry and when they are green, but if they are bruised itis well to put them in mastich oil. Round olives will retain theirblack colour if they are packed in salt for five days, and then, thesalt having been brushed away, are exposed for two days in the sun: orthey may be preserved in must boiled down to one-third, without theuse of salt. 

_Of storing amurca_

LXI. Experienced farmers do well to save their amurca as they do theiroil and their wine. The method of preserving it is this: immediatelyafter the oil has been pressed out, draw off the amurca and boil itdown to one-third and, when it has cooled, store it in vats. There areother methods also, as that in which must is mingled with the amurca. 

6° CONSUMING TIME

LXII. Since no one stores his crops except to bring them out again, itremains to make a few observations upon the sixth and last operationin our round of agriculture. 

Crops which have been stored are brought out either to care for them, to consume them or to sell them, and as all crops are not alike thereare different times for caring for them and for consuming them. 

_Of cleaning grain_

LXIII. Grain is taken out of store to be cleaned, when the weevilbegins to damage it. When this is apparent the grain should be laidout in the sun and bowls of water placed nearby and the weevil willswarm on this water and drown themselves. Those who store their grainin the pits which are called silos should not attempt to bring out thegrain for some time after the silo has been opened because there isdanger of suffocation in entering a recently opened silo. The cornwhich, during the harvest time, you stored in the ear and which youcontemplate using for food, should be brought out during the winter tobe crushed and ground in the grist mill. 

_Of condensing amurca_

LXIV. When it flows from the oil mill, amurca is a watery fluid fullof dregs. It is the custom to store it in this state in earthen jarsand fifteen days later to skim off the scum from the top and transferthis to other jars, an operation which is repeated at regularintervals twelve times during the following six months, taking carethat the last skimming is done on the wane of the moon. Then itis boiled in a copper kettle over a slow fire until it is reducedtwo-thirds, when it may be drawn off for use. 

_Of racking wine_

LXV. When the must is stored in the vat to make wine, it should not beracked off while it is fermenting nor until this process has advancedso far that the wine may be considered to be made. If you wish todrink old wine, it is not made until a year is completed; when it is ayear old, then draw it out. But if your vineyard contains that kindof grape which turns sour early, you should eat the fruit, or sell itbefore the succeeding vintage. There are kinds of wine, like that ofFalernum, which improve the longer you keep them. 

_Of preserved olives_

LXVI. If you attempt to eat white olives immediately after you haveput them up and before they are cured your palate will reject them onaccount of their bitterness (and the same is true of the black olive)unless you dip them in salt to make them palatable. 

_Of nuts, dates and figs_

LXVII. The sooner you use nuts, dates and figs after they have beenstored, the more palatable they will be, for by keeping figs losetheir flavour, dates rot and nuts dry up. 

_Of stored fruits_

LXVIII. Fruits which are strung, such as grapes, apples and sorbs showby their appearance when they may be taken down for use, for by theirchange of colour and shrinking they reveal themselves as destined tothe garbage pile unless they are eaten in time. Sorbs which have beenlaid by when they are already dead-ripe should be used promptly, butthose which were picked green are slower to decay: for green fruit inthe store house must there go through the process of ripening whichwas denied it on the tree. 

_Of marketing grain_

LXIX. The spelt which you wish to have prepared for food should betaken out in the winter to be ground in the mill: but your seed cornshould not be taken out until the fields are ready to receive it, arule which obtains in respect of all kinds of seed. What you have forsale should be taken out at the appropriate time also, for some thingswhich cannot be kept long without spoiling should be taken out andsold promptly, while others which keep should be retained so that youmay sell when the price is high, for often commodities which are kepton hand a long time, will, if put on the market at the proper time, not only yield interest for the time you held them but even a doubleprofit. 

As Stolo was speaking, the freedman of the Sacristan ran up to us withhis eyes full of tears and, begging our pardon for having kept uswaiting so long, invited us to come to the funeral on the followingday. We all sprang up and cried out together "What? To the funeral?Whose funeral? What has happened?"

The freedman, weeping, told us that his master had been struck down bya blow with a knife, but who did it he had been unable to discover byreason of the crowd, all that he heard being an exclamation that amistake had been made. He added that when he had carried his masterhome and had sent the servants to call a doctor, whom they broughtback with them quickly, he trusted that it might seem reasonable tous that he had waited to attend upon the doctor rather than come tonotify us at once, and while he had not been able to be of any serviceto his master, who had given up the ghost in a few minutes, yet hehoped we might approve his conduct. 

Accepting these excuses as amply justified, we descended from thetemple bewildered more by the hazard of human life than surprised thatsuch a fate should be possible at Rome:[104] and so we went our severalways. 

BOOK II

THE HUSBANDRY OF LIVE STOCK

_Introduction: the decay of country life_

Those great men our ancestors did well to esteem the Romans who livedin the country above those who dwelt in town. For as our peasantstoday contemn the tenant of a villa as an idler in comparison with thebusy life of an agricultural labourer, so our ancestors regarded thesedentary occupations of the town as waste of time from their habitualrural pursuits: and in consequence they so divided their time thatthey might have to devote only one day of the week to their affairs intown, reserving the remaining seven for country life. [105]

So long as they persisted in this practice they accomplished twothings both that their farms were fertile through good cultivation andthat they themselves enjoyed the best of health: they felt no need ofthose Greek gymnasia which now every one of us must have in his townhouse, nor did they deem that in order to enjoy a house in the countryone must give sounding Greek names to all its apartments, such as[Greek: prokoiton] (antechamber) [Greek: palaistra] (exercising room)[Greek: apodutaerion] (dressing room) [Greek: peristulon] (arcade)[Greek: ornithon] or (poultry house) [Greek: peristereon] (dove cote)[Greek: oporothaekae] (fruitery) and the like. 

Since now forsooth most of our gentry crowd into town, abandoningthe sickle and the plough and prefer to exercise their hands in thetheatre and the circus rather than in the corn field and the vineyard, it has resulted that we must fain buy the very corn that fills ourbellies and have it hauled in for us, yea, out of Africa and Sardinia, while we bring home the vintage in ships from the islands of Cos andChios!

And so it has happened that those lands which the shepherds whofounded the city taught their children to cultivate are now, by theirlater descendants, converted again from corn fields back to pastures, thus in their greed of gain violating even the law, since they fail todistinguish the difference between agriculture and grazing. [106] For ashepherd is one thing and a ploughman another, nor for all that he mayfeed his stock on farm land is a drover the same as a teamster: herdedcattle, indeed, do nothing to create what grows in the land, butdestroy it with their teeth, while the yoked ox on the contraryconduces to the maturity of grain in the corn fields and forage in thefallow land. The practice and the art of the farmer is one thing, Isay; that of the shepherd another; the farmer's object being that whatever may be produced by cultivating the land should yield a profit;that of the shepherd to make his profit from the increase of hisflock; and yet the relation between them is intimate because it ismuch more desirable for a farmer to feed his forage on the land thanto sell it, and a herd of cattle is the best source of supply of thatwhich is the most available food of growing plants, namely, manure:[107]so it follows that whoever has a farm ought to practise both arts, that of agriculture and that of grazing cattle, indeed, also that offeeding game, as is done at our country houses, since no little profitmay be derived from aviaries and rabbit warrens and fish ponds. And since I have written a book concerning the first of theseoccupations--that of the husbandry of agriculture--for my wifeFundania because of her interest in that subject, now, my dearTurranius Niger, I write this one on the husbandry of live stock foryou, who are so keen a stock fancier that you are a frequent attendantat the cattle market at Macri Campi, where, by your fortunatespeculations, you have found means to make provision for many cryingexpenses. 

I could do this on my own authority because I am myself a considerableowner of live stock with my flocks of sheep in Apulia and my studof horses at Reate, but I will run through the subject, briefly andsummarily rehearsing what I gathered from conversation with certainlarge stock feeders in Epirus at the time when, being in command ofthe fleet in Greece during the war with the pirates, I lay betweenDelos and Sicily. [108]

_Of the origin, the importance and the economy of live stockhusbandry_

I. [109] When Menates had gone, Cossinius said to me: "We shall not letyou go until you have explained those three points which you began todiscuss the other day when we were interrupted. "

"What three points, " said Murrius. "Are they those concerning feedingcattle, of which you spoke to me yesterday?"

"Yes, " replied Cossinius, "they are the considerations of what was theorigin, what the importance, and what the economy of the husbandry oflive stock. Varro here had begun to discourse upon them while we werecalling on Petus during his illness, when the arrival of the physicianinterrupted us. "

"Of the three divisions of the [Greek: historikon] or interpretationof this subject, which you have mentioned, I will venture, " said I, "to speak only of the first two, of the origin and of the importanceof this industry. The third division, of how it should be practised, Scrofa shall undertake for us, as one, if I may speak Greek to acompany of half Greek shepherds [Greek: hos per mou pollon ameinon](who is better qualified than I am), [110] for Scrofa was the teacher ofC. Lucilius Hirrus, your son-in-law, whose flocks and herds in Bruttiihave such reputation. "

"But, " interrupted Scrofa, "you shall hear what we have to say only oncondition that you, who come from Epirus and are masters of the art offeeding cattle, shall recompense us and shall give public testimony ofwhat you know on the subject: for none of us knows it all. "

Having thus assumed that my share of the discussion should be thefirst or theoretical part of the subject (which I did, although I havea stock farm in Italy, because, as the proverb is, not every one whoowns a lyre is a musician), I began:

"Doubtless in the very order of nature both man and cattle haveexisted since the beginning of time, for whether we believe that therewas a First Cause of the generation of animals, as Thales of Miletusand Zeno of Citium maintained, or that there was none as was theopinion of Pythagoras of Samos and Aristotle of Stagira, it is, asDicaearchus points out, a necessity of human life to have descendedgradually from the earliest time to the present day: thus in thebeginning was the primitive age when man lived on whatever the virginsoil produced spontaneously; thence he descended to the second orpastoral age, when, as he had formerly gathered for his use acorns, [111]strawberries, mulberries and apples by picking them from trees andbushes, so now, to satisfy a like need, he captured in the woods suchas he could of the wild beasts of the field, and, having enclosed, began to domesticate them. Among these it is considered not withoutreason that sheep were foremost, both because of their utility andbecause of their docile nature, for this animal is the gentlest of alland most readily accommodated to the life of man, and supplies himwith milk and cheese for food, and skins and wool to clothe his body. 

"Finally, by the third step, man descended from the pastoral age tothat of agriculture. In this there have persisted many relics of thetwo preceding ages, which, long remaining in their original state, arefound even in our day: for in many places may yet be seen some kindsof our domestic cattle still in their wild state, such as the largeflocks of wild sheep in Phrygia, and in Samothrace a species of wildgoats like those which are called "big horns" (platycerotes) andabound in Italy on the mountains of Fiscellum and Tetrica. Every bodyknows that there are wild swine, unless you maintain that the wildboar is not a true member of the swine family. 

"There are still many cattle running at large in Dardania, Medica andThrace, while there are wild asses in Phrygia and Lycaonia, and wildhorses in certain regions of hither Spain. 

"I have now told you of the origin of the industry of feeding cattle. As to its importance, I have this to say:

"The most important persons of antiquity were all keepers of livestock, as both the Greek and Latin languages reveal, as well as theearliest poets, who describe their heroes some as [Greek: polyarnos](rich in lambs), some as [Greek: polymaelos] (rich in sheep), andothers as [Greek: polyboutaes] (rich in herds), and tell of flockswhich on account of their value were said to have golden fleeces, likethat of Atreus in Argos which he complained that Thyestes stole awayfrom him: or that ram which Aeetes sacrificed at Colchis, whose fleecewas the quest of those princes known as the Argonauts: or again likethose so called golden apples (_mala_) of the Hesperides that Herculesbrought back from Africa into Greece, which were, according to theancient tradition, in fact goats and sheep which the Greeks, from thesound of their voice, called [Greek: maela]: indeed, much in the sameway our country people, using a different letter (since the bleat of asheep seems to make more of the sound of _bee_ than of _me_) say thatsheep "be-alare, " whence by the elision of a letter as often happens, is derived the word _belare_ (or _balare_), to bleat. 

"If cattle had not been held in the highest esteem among the ancientsthe astrologers would not have called the signs of the zodiac by theirnames in describing the heavens: and they not only did not hesitate toplace them there but many even begin their enumeration of the twelvesigns with these animal names, thus giving Aries and Taurus precedenceover Apollo and Hercules, whose signs, very gods as they are, aresubordinated under the name of Gemini: nor did they deem that a sixthof these twelve signs was a sufficient proportion for the names ofcattle, but they must even add Capricornus and make it a quarter. Furthermore, in naming the constellations they selected other names ofcattle, as the goat, the kid, and the dog. And in like manner have notcertain parts both of the sea and of the land taken their names fromcattle, as witness the Aegean Sea, which is called after the Greekname for goat [Greek: aigeos], and Mount Taurus in Syria after thebull, and Mount Cantherius in the Sabine country after the horse, andthe Thracian, as well as the Cimmerian, Bosphorus, after the ox:and again many place names on land like the town in Greece known as[Greek: hippion Argos], or horse breeding Argos. Yea, Italy itselfderives its name, according to Piso, from _vitula_, our word forheifer. 

"Who can deny that the Roman people themselves are sprung from a raceof shepherds, for every one knows that Faustulus, the foster fatherof Romulus and Remus, who brought them up, was a shepherd. Is it notproof that they were shepherds that they chose the Parilia, or feastof the goddess of the shepherds, in preference to all other days, forthe founding of the city; that a penalty even to this day is assessedin terms of cattle or sheep, according to the ancient custom; that ourmost ancient money, the _as_ of cast copper, always bore the effigy ofsome domestic animal; that whenever a town was founded the limits ofthe walls and the gates were laid off with a plough drawn by a bulland a cow yoked together; that when the Roman people are purified itis done by driving around them a boar, a ram and a bull, whence thesacrifice is known as the Suovetaurilia; that we have many familynames among us derived from both the great and small cattle: thusfrom small cattle Porcius, Ovinius, Caprilius, and from great cattleEquitius, Taurius, and some of our families have received from cattlecognomens which signify for what they are esteemed, as, for instance, the Annius family are called Capra, the Statilius family are calledTaurus and the Pomponius family are called Vitulus, and so many othersare derived from cattle. 

"It remains now to discuss the art of animal husbandry, and on thissubject our friend Scrofa, to whom this age has awarded the palm forexcellence in all branches of farm management, will say what ever isto be said, as he is better qualified than am I. "

When all eyes had been turned upon him, Scrofa began:

"Doubtless the art of breeding and of feeding cattle consists ingetting the maximum profit out of those things from which the veryname of money is derived, for our word for money (_pecunia_) comesfrom _pecus_, cattle, which is the foundation of all wealth. 

"Our enquiry may be divided into nine subjects, or three parts eachwith three subdivisions, namely: (i) concerning small cattle, of whichthe three kinds are sheep, goats and swine: (2) concerning largecattle, which are likewise divided by nature into three species, neatcattle, asses and horses: and (3) concerning those instruments ofanimal husbandry which are not kept for profit but for convenience, namely: mules, dogs and shepherds. Each of these nine subjects must beconsidered under nine heads: (a) four relating to the acquisition ofcattle, (b) four to the care of them, and (c) one which has to dowith all the others. So there are at least eighty-one chaptersfor discussion of the subject, all indispensable and all of greatimportance. 

"Under the head (a) of acquisition, it is first of all necessary, toenable you to buy good live stock, that you should know at what age itis best to buy and to keep each different kind. For instance, you maybuy neat cattle for less money before they are a year old and afterthey are ten, because they begin to breed at two or three years andleave off soon after the tenth year, the beginning and the end of thelife of all live stock being sterile. The second consideration underthis head is a knowledge of the conformation of each kind of cattleand what it should be, for this is of great importance in determiningthe value of all animals. Thus experienced stockmen buy cattle withblack horns rather than white, large goats rather than small, andswine with long bodies and short heads. The third consideration underthis head is to make sure of the breeding. On this account the assesof Arcadia are celebrated in Greece, as are those of Reate in Italy, so that I remember an ass that brought sixty thousand sesterces, and afour-in-hand team at Rome that was held at four hundred thousand. Thefourth consideration is of the legal precautions to be observed inbuying live stock, for in order that title may pass from one toanother certain formalities must intervene, since neither a contractnor even the payment of the purchase money suffices in all cases totransfer a title: thus in buying you some times stipulate that theanimal is in good health, some times that it comes out of a healthyflock or herd, and some times no stipulation at all is made. 

"Under the head (b) of the care of live stock, the four considerationsare what should be done, after you have bought your cattle, in respectof feeding, of breeding, of raising them, and of maintaining theirhealth. In the matter of feeding, which is the first of theseconsiderations, the three things to be observed are where and howmuch, when, and on what your cattle will graze: thus it suits goatsbetter to graze on rough and mountain land than in fat pastures, while the contrary is true of horses. Nor are the same places fit forgrazing for all kinds of cattle both in summer and winter: thus flocksof sheep are driven from Apulia a long distance into Samnium to spendthe summer, and are reported to the tax farmer to be registered lestthey violate the regulations of the censor. [112]

"In the same way mules are driven in the summer from the prairie ofRosea to the high mountains of Gurgures. 

"The rules for feeding each kind of live stock in the barn yard mustalso be studied, as, for instance, that hay is fed to the horse andthe ox, while it will not do for swine which require mast, and thatbarley and beans should at intervals be fed to some kinds of stock, lupines to draft cattle and alfalfa and clover to milch cows. Furthermore, it is desirable to feed the ram and the bull more heavilyfor thirty days before admitting them to the flock and the herd, thepurpose being to increase their strength, while on the other hand thefeed of the cows is cut down at that time because it is deemed thatthey breed most successfully when they are thin. 

"The next consideration is concerning breeding, which I call the periodbetween conception and birth, for these are the beginning and the endof pregnancy. First of all then we should consider the stinting andthe season at which this should be accomplished, for as theseason from the rising of the west wind to the vernal equinox(February-March) is considered best for swine, so that from thesetting of Arcturus to the setting of Aquila (May-July) is best forsheep. Furthermore, a rule should be made that the male animals arekept apart from the females for some time before they are bred, aperiod which neatherds and shepherds usually fix at two months. Thenext consideration is of the rules to be observed while the animalis pregnant, because the periods of gestation differ in the severaldomestic animals: thus the mare goes twelve months, the cow ten, theewe and the goat five and the sow four. 

"In Spain is reported a phenomenon of breeding which seems incredible, but is nevertheless true, namely: that on Mount Tagnus on that part ofthe coast of Lusitania near the town of Olisippo, mares are sometimes impregnated by the wind, [113] some thing which often happens withrespect to chickens, whence their eggs are called [Greek: hypaenemios](conceived by the wind), [114] but the foals born of such mares neverlive more than three years. 

"When lambs are born in due season, or what we call _chordi_ (that isto say those lambs which are born late and have remained beyond theirseason in the belly of the dam, the name _chordi_, being derived from[Greek: chorion] the Greek name for the membrane which is called theafter birth), care must be taken to clean them and set them gently ontheir feet and to prevent the dam from crushing them. 

"On the third consideration with respect to raising young animals, youmust consider for how long they should be permitted to suck the damand when and where, and if the mother has an insufficient supply ofmilk, how you may put the young one to nurse at the udder of another:in which case they are called _subrumi_, that is to say, under theudder, for I think that rumis is an old word for udder. 

"Lambs are weaned usually at the end of four months, kids in three, pigs in two. Weanling pigs, from the fact that they are considered fitto be offered for sacrifice at that age, were formerly called _sacres_as Plautus calls them when he says, "What's the price of sacredpigs?"[115] In like manner stall fed cattle, which are being fattenedfor the public sacrifices, are called _opimi_. 

"The fourth consideration relates to the health of the cattle, asubject as important as it is complex, for a single beast which may besick or infected and ailing often brings a great calamity on an entireherd. There are two degrees of the healing art, one which requiresconsultation with a surgeon, as for men: the other which the skilfulshepherd can himself practise, and this consists of three parts, namely: the consideration of what are the causes, the symptoms and thetreatment which should be followed in relation to each malady. Thecommon causes of disease in cattle are excess of heat or of cold, overwork, or its opposite lack of exercise, or, if when they have beenworked, you give them food and drink at once without an interval ofrest. The symptoms of fever due to heat or overwork are a gapingmouth, heavy humid breath and a burning body. The cure when such isthe malady is this: bathe the animal with water, rub it with a warmmixture of oil and wine, put it on a nourishing diet, blanket itas protection against chills and give it tepid water when it isthirsty. [116] If this treatment does not suffice, let the blood, chieflyfrom the head. 

"So there are different causes and different symptoms of the maladiespeculiar to each kind of cattle, and the flock master should have themall written down. 

"It remains to speak of the ninth head (c), which I mentioned, and thisrelates to the number of cattle to be kept and so concerns both of theother heads. 

"For whoever buys cattle must consider the number of herds and how manyin each herd he can feed on his land, lest his pastures prove short ormore than he need, as so in either case the profit be lost. Furthermore, one should know how many breeding ewes there are in the flock, how many rams, how many lambs of each sex, how many culls to be weededout. Thus, if a ewe has more lambs at a birth than she can nourish, you should do what some shepherds practise--take part of them awayfrom her, which is done to the end that those remaining may prosper. "

"Beware!" put in Atticus, "that your generalisations do not leadyou astray, and that your insistence on the rule of nine does notcontradict your own definition of small and large cattle: for how canall your principles be applied to mules and to shepherds, since thosewith respect to breeding certainly cannot be followed so far as theyare concerned. As to dogs I can see their application. I admit eventhat men may be included in them, because they have their wives onthe farm in winter, and indeed even in their summer pasture camps, a concession which is deemed beneficial because it attaches theshepherds to their flocks, and by begetting children they increase theestablishment and with it the profit on your investment. "

"If Scrofa's number cannot be measured with a carpenter's rule, " saidI, "neither can many other generalisations, as, for instance, when wesay that a thousand ships sailed against Troy, or that a certain courtof Rome consists of a hundred judges (_centumviri_). Leave out, if youwish, the two chapters relating to breeding in so far as mules areconcerned. "

"But why should we, " exclaimed Vaccius, "for it is related that onseveral occasions at Rome a mule has had a foal. "

To back up what Vaccius had said, I cited Mago and Dionysius aswriting that when mules and mares conceive they bear in the twelfthmonth. "If, " I added, "it is considered a prodigy in Italy when a mulehas a foal, it is not necessarily so in all countries. For is it nottrue that swallows and swans breed in Italy, which do not lay in otherlands, and don't you know that the Syrian date palm, which bears fruitin Judea, does not yield in Italy?"

"If you prefer, " said Scrofa, "to make out the entire eighty-onechapters without any on the care of mules during the breeding season, there are subjects with which you can fill this double vacancy byadding those two kinds of extraordinary profit which is derived fromlive stock. One of these is the fleece which men shear or pull fromsheep and goats, the other, which is more widely practised, thatfrom milk and cheese: the Greek writers indeed actually treat thisseparately under the title [Greek: turopoiia], and have writtenextensively about it. "

_Of sheep_

II. "And now, since I have completed my task and the economy of livestock husbandry has been defined, do you, men of Epirus, requite usby expounding the subject in detail, so that we may see of what theshepherds of Pergamis and Maledos are capable. "

At this challenge, Atticus (who then was known as T. Pomponius but nowas Q. Caecilius retaining the same cognomen)[117] began as follows:

"I gather that I must make the beginning since you seem to turn youreyes upon me: so I will speak of those cattle which you, Varro, havecalled primitive, for you say that sheep were the first of the wildbeasts of the field which were captured and domesticated by man. 

"In the first place you should buy good sheep, and they are so judgedprimarily in respect of their age, that they are not what is knownas aged nor yet undeveloped lambs, because neither can yield you anyprofit, the one no longer, the other not yet: but you may deem thatage which holds out a promise preferable to that whose only future isdeath. So far as concerns conformation, a sheep should have a roundbarrel, wool thick and soft and with long fibre, and, while heavy allover the body, it should be thickest on the back and neck, and yet thebelly also should be covered, for unless the belly was covered ourancestors were wont to call a sheep _apica_ and throw it out. Theyshould have short legs, [118] and, if they are of the Italian breed, longtails, or short tails if they come from Syria. The most importantpoint to guard is that your flock is headed by a good sire. Thequality of a ram can usually be determined from his conformation andfrom his get. So far as concerns conformation, a ram should have aface well covered with wool, horns twisted and converging on themuzzle, tawny eyes, woolly ears, a deep chest, wide shoulders andloin, a long and large tail. You should see also whether he has ablack or a spotted tongue, [119] for such rams usually get black orspotted lambs. You may judge them by their get, if their lambs are ofgood quality. In buying sheep we practise the formalities which thelaw requires, following them more or less strictly in particularcases. Some men in fixing a price per head stipulate that two latelambs or two toothless ewes shall be counted as one. In other respectsthe traditional formula is employed thus: the buyer says to theseller, "Do you sell me these sheep for so much?" And the selleranswers, "They are your sheep, " and states the price. Whereupon thebuyer stipulates according to the ancient formula: "Do you guaranteethat these sheep, for which we have bargained, are in such good healthas sheep should be; that there is none among them one-eyed, deaf orbare-bellied; that they do not come out of an infected flock and thatI will take them by good right and title?"

"Even when this is done the title to the flock does not pass untilthey have been counted, but, nevertheless, the purchaser can hold theseller to the bargain if he does not make delivery, even though thepurchase money has not passed, and by a like right the seller can holdthe buyer if he does not pay up. 

"I will next speak about those other four subjects which Scrofaoutlined, namely: the feeding, breeding, raising and physicking ofsheep. In the first place, one should see that provision is made forfeeding the flock throughout the entire year, as well indoors as out. The stable should be in a suitable location, protected against thewind, looking rather to the East than the South, on cleared andsloping ground so that it can be easily swept out and kept clean, formoisture not only rots the wool of the sheep but their hoofs as welland causes scab. When sheep have stood for several days you shouldstrew the stable with new bedding, so that they may be morecomfortable and be kept cleaner, and thus eat with more appetite. Youshould also contrive stalls separated from the others in which you maysegregate the ewes about to yean, as well as any which may be ailing. This precaution is practicable, however, only with sheep fed at thesteading, but those who graze their sheep in the mountain pastures andfar from cover, carry with them wicker hurdles or nets, and other suchconveniences with which they contrive folds for such separation. Sheepindeed are grazed far and wide so that often it happens that theirwinter quarters are many miles from their summer pastures. "

"I know that to be true, " said I, "for my flocks winter in Apulia andspend the summer in the mountains above Reate: thus the public cattledrifts between these two localities balance the separated pastures, asa yoke balances two baskets. "[120]

Atticus resumed: "When sheep are fed continually in the same localitydistinction must be made in the times of feeding them according to theseasons: thus in summer they are driven out[121] to pasture at day breakbecause then the dewy grass is more appetizing than at midday, whenit is dry. At sunrise they are driven to water, to make them morelickerish on their return. About noon and during the heat of theday they are permitted to lie in the shade of rocks or under broadspreading trees until the fresher evening air invites them to feedagain until sunset. [122] A sheep should always graze with the sun behindit, because its head is very sensitive to heat. At sunset the flockshould be given a short rest and then driven again to water, and sobrought back to feed again until it is dark, for at that time of daythe grass has renewed its pleasant savour. This routine is usuallyfollowed from the rising of the Pleiades until the autumn equinox. 

"After the harvest it is of two-fold advantage to turn the flock in onthe stubble, as they will fatten on the shattered grain and improvethe land for next year's planting by spreading their manure in thetrampled straw. 

"The rules for pasturing sheep in winter and spring differ from thesummer rules in this, that at those seasons the flock is not drivento pasture until the hoar frost has evaporated and they feed all daylong, one watering about noon being enough. 

"This is about all there to say on the subject of feeding sheep, so Ipass to the consideration of breeding. The rams which you are aboutto use for breeding should be separated from the flock for two monthsbefore the season, and fed heavily by giving them a ration of barleywhen they come into the stable from the pasture: it will make themstronger for their duty. 

"The best breeding season is from the setting of Arcturus to thesetting of Aquila, (May-July) because lambs begotten later are aptto be born runts, and weak. As a ewe is pregnant for one hundred andfifty days, this arrangement causes her to drop her lambs at the endof autumn when the temperature is mild and the grass is renewed by thefirst rains. During the breeding season the flock should drink onlythe same kind of water, since a change not only makes spotted wool butinjures the offspring. When all the ewes have been stinted, the ramsshould be separated from them again, because it injures ewes to beteased while they are pregnant. Ewe lambs should never be bred beforethey are two years old, as they cannot earlier produce strong lambs, but will themselves degenerate: indeed, it is better to keep themuntil the third year. To this end some shepherds protect their ewelambs from the ram by tying baskets made of rushes or something ofthat kind over their rumps, but it is better to feed them apart fromthe flock. 

"I come now to the consideration of how lambs should be raised. 

"When the ewes begin to yean they are driven into a stable which hasstalls set apart for the purpose, where the new born lambs can beplaced near a fire to strengthen them, and there the ewes are kept twoor there days until the lambs know their dams and are able to feedthemselves. Thereafter the lambs are still kept up but the ewes aredriven out to pasture with the flock, being brought back to them inthe evening to be suckled and then once more separated, lest the lambsbe trampled by the ewes at night. In the morning before the ewes goout to pasture they are given access to their young again until thelambs are satisfied with milk. After about ten days have elapsed thelambs are picketed out of doors, being tethered with fibre or suchother light material, to stakes planted some distance apart so thatthe little fellows may not injure themselves as they frisk togetherall day. 

"If a lamb will not suck, it should be held up to the teat and its lipsgreased with butter or suet, and so made to smell at the milk. A fewdays later some soft vetch or tender grass may be given them beforethey go out to pasture and after they come in. And so they are nurseduntil they are four months old. 

"There are some shepherds who do not milk the ewes during the nursingperiod, but those who do not milk them at all do better, as thus theybear more wool and more lambs. 

"When the lambs are weaned great attention is necessary to prevent themfrom wasting away in their longing for the dam: they should be temptedto eat by giving them appetizing food, and care should be taken thatthey do not suffer from cold or heat. When at last they have forgottenthe taste of milk and no longer yearn for the dam, they may be drivenout with the flock. 

"A ram lamb should not be altered until he is five months old, nor yetin very hot or very cold weather. Those which you wish to keep forrams should be chosen as far as possible from dams who are in thehabit of having twin lambs. 

"Most of these recommendations apply equally to those fine wool sheepwhich are called _pellitae_, because they are jacketed with skins, asis done at Tarentum and in Attica, to protect their wool from fouling, for by this precaution the fleece is kept in better plight for dyeing, washing or cleaning. Greater diligence is required to keep clean thefolds and stables of such sheep than is necessary for the ordinarybreeds: so they are paved with stone to the end that no urine maystand anywhere in the stable. 

"Sheep eat whatever is put before them--fig leaves, marc, even straw. Bran should be fed to them in moderation, lest they eat either toomuch or too little of it, in either of which cases it is bad for thedigestion, but clover and alfalfa agree with them best and make bothfat and milk with the utmost facility. 

"So far as concerns the health of the flock, there are many thingsI might add, but, as Scrofa has said, the flock master keeps hisprescriptions written down in a book and carries with him what heneeds in the way of physic. 

"It remains to speak of the number of sheep in a flock. Some make thismore, some less, for there is no natural limit. In Epirus almost allof us have a rule not to allow more than one hundred short wool sheepor fifty fine wool jacketed sheep to a shepherd. "

_Of goats_

III. As Atticus stopped, Cossinius took him up. "Come, my dearFaustulus, " he cried, "you have bleated long enough. Take now from me, as from a late born Homeric Melanthius, [123] a small offering from myflock of goats, and at the same time learn a lesson in brevity. Hewho wishes to form a flock of goats should consider in choosing them:first of all that they are of an age capable of breeding, and that forsome time to come, for a tiro is more useful for that purpose than aveteran. As to conformation, see to it that they are strong and large, with a smooth body and thick coat: but beware of the short hairedgoat, for there are both kinds. The she goat should have twoexcrescences, like little teats, hanging under the muzzle: those whichhave them are fecund:[124] the larger the udder the more milk and butterfat she will yield. The qualities of a buck are that his coat shouldbe largely white: his crest and neck short and his gullet long. Youwill have a better flock if you buy at one time goats which have beenaccustomed to run together, rather than by putting together a lot ofgoats picked up here and there. 

"Concerning breeding, I refer to what Atticus has said about sheep, with this difference: that while you select a breed of sheep which areslow of foot, because they are of quieter disposition, all goats areas excitable as they are agile. Of, this last characteristic Catorecords in his book _Origines_: 'In the mountains of Socrate andFiscellus there are wild goats which leap from rock to rock a distanceof more than sixty feet. ' For as the sheep which we feed are sprungfrom wild sheep, so the goats which we herd are sprung from wildgoats: and it is from them that the island of Caprasia, near the coastof Italy, gets its name. 

"As it is recognized that the best breed of goats is one which bearstwo kids at a birth, breeding bucks are chosen from such a racewhenever possible. Some fanciers even take the trouble to import bucksfrom the island of Melia, where are bred what are considered thelargest and most beautiful specimens of the race. 

"I hold that the formula for buying sheep cannot altogether apply togoats because no sane man ever guaranteed that goats are withoutmalady, for the fact is that they are forever in a fever. For thisreason the usual stipulation has had a few words cut out of it for usein respect of goats, and, as Manilius gives it in his treatise on thelaw of Sales, runs as follows: 'Do you guarantee that these goats arewell today; that they are able to drink, and that I will get goodtitle to them?'

"There is a wonderful fact concerning goats which has been statedby certain ingenious shepherds and is even recorded in the book ofArchelaus, namely, that they do not breathe through their nostrils, like other animals, but through their ears. [125]

"Upon Scrofa's four considerations which relate to the care of goatsI have this to say. The flock is better stabled in the winter if itsquarters look toward the Southeast, because goats are very sensitiveto cold. So also, as for most cattle, the goat stable should be pavedwith stone or brick that the flock may be less exposed to damp andmud. When the flock passes the night out of doors, a place should beselected having the same exposure and the fold strewn with leaves toprotect the flock from fouling themselves. 

"There is not much difference in the method of handling goats in thepasture from sheep, but goats have this characteristic, that theyprefer the mountain woodland pastures to meadows, for they feedeagerly on the brushwood and in cultivated places crop the shrubbery;indeed, their name _caprae_ is derived from _carpere_, to crop. Forthis reason it is customary to stipulate in farm leases that thetenant shall not graze any goat on the leased land, for their teethare the enemies of all planted crops: wherefore the astrologers werecareful to station them in the heavens outside of the pale of thetwelve signs of the zodiac, but there are two kids and a goat not farfrom Taurus. 

"So far as concerns breeding, it is the custom to separate the bucksfrom the pastured flock at the end of autumn and confine them apart, as has been said with respect to rams. The nannies which conceive atthis time drop their kids in four months, and so in the spring. Inwhat regards rearing the kids, it is enough to say that when they arethree months old they are raised and may join the flock. What shall Isay of the health of these animals who never have any? yet the flockmaster should have written down what remedies are used for certain oftheir maladies and especially for the wounds which often befall themby reason of their constant fighting among themselves and theirfeeding in thorny places. It remains to speak of number: this isless to the herd in the case of goats than with sheep because of thewantonness and wandering habit of the goat: sheep, on the other hand, are wont to flock together and keep in one place. 

"For another reason it is the custom in Gaul to divide the goats intomany flocks rather than concentrate them in large ones, because apestilence quickly takes possession of a large herd and sweeps it todestruction. About fifty goats is considered to be a large enoughflock. 

"The experience of Gaberius, a Roman of the equestrian order, willillustrate the reason for this: for he, who had a thousand jugera ofland near Rome, met one day a certain goatherd leading ten goats totown, and heard him say that he made a denier[126] a day out of eachgoat, whereupon Gaberius bought a thousand goats, hoping that he mightthereby derive from his property an income of a thousand deniers aday: but so it fell out that he lost all his goats after a briefillness. On the other hand, among the Sallentini and near Casinum theygraze their goats in flocks of one hundred. 

"Almost the same difference of opinion exists as to the relative numberof bucks to nannies, for some, and I am among them, allow a buck toevery ten nannies, but others, like Menas, make it fifteen, and someeven twenty, like Murrius. "

_Of swine_

IV. "And now, " concluded Cossinius, "which of you Italian swinebreeders will stand forth and tell us of his herd? Surely he should beable to speak with the most authority whose cognomen is Scrofa. "

At this pleasantry, Tremelius turned upon Cossinius and said: "You seemto be ignorant why I am called Scrofa, but, in order that our friendssitting beside you may understand, you should know my family did notalways bear this swinish cognomen, nor am I of the race of Eumaeus. Thefirst of us to be called Scrofa was my grandfather who, when he wasquaestor under the praetor Licinius Nerva, and was left in command ofthe army in the province of Macedonia during the absence of the praetor, it so happened that the enemy thought they had an opportunity to gain avictory and began to attack the camp. My grandfather, in exhorting thesoldiers to take up their arms and go out against the enemy, exclaimedthat he would soon scatter them as a sow (scrofa) does her pigs, and hewas as good as his word. For in that battle he so overwhelmed anddiscomfited the enemy, that on account of it the praetor Nerva washailed Imperator and my grandfather obtained his cognomen and so wascalled Scrofa. [127] So, while neither my great grandfather nor any of myancestors of the Tremelian family was ever called Scrofa, yet as I amnot less than the sixth of our family in succession who has attainedpraetorian rank, it ill becomes me to run away in the face of yourchallenge, so I will tell you what I know about swine. Indeed from myyouth I have been devoted to agriculture, so that I am perhaps as wellacquainted with that animal as is any of you great stockmen: for who ofus cultivates a farm but keeps hogs, and who has not heard his fathersay that that man is either lazy or a spendthrift who hangs in the meathouse a flitch of bacon obtained from the butcher rather than from hisown farm. 

"He who wishes to have a proper herd of swine ought to choose them, inthe first place, of the right age, and in the second place, of goodconformation: which means large everywhere except in the head and feetand of a solid colour rather than spotted: but the boar should havewithout fail a thick neck in addition to these other qualities. Swineof good breed may be known from their appearance, if both boar and soware of good conformation; from their get, if they have many pigs ata birth; and from their origin, if you buy them in a place with areputation for producing fat rather than lean hogs. The usual formulafor buying runs thus: 'Do you warrant that these hogs are in goodhealth; that I shall take good title to them; that they have committedno tort, and that they do not come out of a diseased herd?'

"Some add a particular stipulation that they are not affected withcholera. 

"In the matter of pasture, a marshy place is well fitted for hogs, because they delight not only in water, but in mud, the reason forwhich appears in the tradition that when a wolf has fallen upon a hoghe always drags the carcass into the water because his teeth cannotendure the natural heat of hog flesh. 

"Swine are fed mostly on mast, though also on beans, barley and otherkinds of corn, which not only make them fat but give the meat anagreeable relish. In summer they go out to pasture early in themorning and before the heat of the day: at midday they are broughtinto some shady place, preferably where there is water: in theafternoon, when the heat has abated, they are fed again. In the wintertime they do not go out to pasture until the hoar frost has evaporatedand the ice has melted. 

"In the matter of breeding, the boar should be separated from the herdfor two months before the season, which should be arranged betweenthe rising of the west wind and the vernal equinox, for thus it willbefall that the sows (which are big for four months) will have theirlitters in summer when forage is plenty. Sows should not be bred undera year old, but it is better to wait until the twentieth month so thatthey may have pigs at two years. They are said to breed regularly forseven years after the first litter. During the breeding season theyshould be given access to muddy ditches and sloughs, so that they maywallow in the mud, which is the same relaxation to them that a bathis to a man. When all the sows are stinted, the boars should besegregated again. A boar is fit for service at eight months and socontinues until his prime, after which his vigor decreases until he isfit only for the butcher to make of his flesh a dainty offering forthe people. Our name for the hog, _sus_, is called [Greek: hus]in Greek, but formerly it was [Greek: thus], derived from [Greek:thuein], meaning to offer as a sacrifice, for it seems that victimswere chosen from the race of swine for the earliest sacrifices;evidence of which remains in the tradition that pigs are sacrificedat the initiation to the mysteries of Ceres, that when a treatyis ratified peace begins with the slaughter of a pig, and that insolemnizing a marriage the ancient kings and mighty men of Etruriacaused the bride and the bridegroom to sacrifice a pig at thebeginning of the ceremony, a practice which the earliest Latins andthe Greek colonists in Italy seem also to have followed: nam etnostrae mulieres, maxime nutrices, naturam qua feminae suntin virginibus appellant porcum, et graecae [Greek: choiron], significantes esse dignum insigni nuptiarum. [128]

"The hog is said to be created by nature for the food of man[129] andso life and salt perform the same functions for him, as they bothpreserve his flesh. 

"The Gauls[130] are reputed to put up not only the largest quantity butthe best quality of pork: evidence of its quality being that even nowhams, sausage, [131] bacon and shoulders are imported every year fromGaul to Rome: while Cato writes concerning the amount of pork cured bythe Gauls: 'In (northern) Italy the Insubres are wont to put up threeor four thousand cuts of pork [the bulk of which can be appreciatedfrom the fact that among that people][132] the hog some times grows sofat that it is not able to stand on its feet or to walk, so that itis necessary to put it on a cart to move it any where. ' Atilius theSpaniard, who is a truthful man and learned in many things, tells ofa hog which was killed in further Spain or Lusitania from which twochops, sent to the Senator L. Volumnius, were found to weigh three andtwenty pounds, the fat on them being so thick that it measured a footand three fingers from the skin to the bone. "

"I can testify to some thing not less extraordinary than what you haverelated, " said I, "for in Arcadia I saw with my own eyes a hog whichwas so fat that not only was it unable to get up but a shrew mousehaving eaten a hole in its back had there made its nest and wasrearing a family. I have heard that this same thing happened in thecountry of the Veneti. "

"Usually, " resumed Scrofa, "the fecundity of a sow may be learned fromher first litter, for in later litters she does not vary much from thenumber of pigs in the first. 

"In the matter of rearing young swine, which we call _porculatio_ itis customary to leave pigs with the sow for two months, and then whenthey are able to feed themselves to separate them. Pigs born in thewinter are apt to be runts on account of the cold and because the sowrefuses to suckle them, partly by reason of her lack of milk at thatseason and partly to protect her teats from the teeth of the hungrypigs. 

"Each sow should suckle her pigs in her own stye, because a sow willnot drive strange pigs away from her, and it results that if thelitters are mingled the breed deteriorates. The year is naturallydivided for the sow into two parts, because they breed twice a year, being heavy in pig for four months and suckling for two. The styeshould be built about three feet deep and a little more in width andsuch a height from the ground as will permit a pregnant sow to get outwithout straining herself, as that might cause her to abort. A goodmeasure of the proper height from the ground is what is necessary toenable the swineherd to keep watch that no little pigs are crushed bythe sow, and to clean out the bedding easily. There should be a doorto the stye with the lower sill elevated a foot and a palm high so asto prevent the pigs from following the sow when she goes out. As oftenas the swineherd cleans out the stye he should strew the floor withsand, or some thing else to absorb moisture. 

"When a sow has had her pigs she should be fed liberally to enable herto make milk: for this the ration is usually two pounds of boiledbarley, indeed some feed this both at morning and at night if otherfeed is lacking. When pigs are taken from their dam they are sometimescalled _delici_ or weanlings being then no longer _lactantes_ orsucklings. 

"Pigs are considered to be clean ten days after birth, and for thatreason were then called by the ancients sacred, as being then firstfit for sacrifice: and so in the _Menaechmi_ of Plautus, when acharacter thinking some one in Epidamnus to be out of his wits andseeking to purify him, asks: 'How much are sacred pigs here. '

"If the farm affords them, pigs should be fed grape husks and stalks. 

"After they have lost the name of _lactantes_ the shoats are called_nefrendes_ because they are not yet able to break down (_frendere_that is _frangere_) the bean stalks. _Porcus_ is the ancient Greekname for them but is fallen into disuse, for the Greeks now call them[Greek: choiros]. 

"While she is giving suck the sow should be watered twice a day topromote the flow of milk. A sow should bear as many pigs as she hasteats: if she has less it is considered that she is unprofitable, butif more, a prodigy. In this respect there is the ancient traditionthat the sow of Aeneas bore thirty white (_albos_) pigs atLavinium, [133] which portended that after thirty years the inhabitantsof Lavinium would found the town of Alba: indeed, vestiges of this sowand of her pigs may still be seen at Lavinium where there is a brazenimage of them now in the public square, and the true body of the sowis shown by the priests, preserved in pickle. 

"Sows are able at first to suckle eight little pigs, but as they growlarger half of them are usually taken away by experienced swineherds, because the sow cannot supply milk enough for all, and too many pigsfed together do not prosper in any event. A sow should not be drivenout of the stye for ten days after having her litter except forwater, but after that time she is permitted to graze in a paddock soconveniently near at hand that she may return to the stye frequentlyto suckle the pigs. When the pigs are large enough they are permittedto follow the sow to pasture, but at home they should be penned apartfrom the sow and fed by themselves until they overcome their yearningfor the dam, which usually happens in ten days. The swineherd shouldtrain his shoats to do every thing at the sound of the trumpet. Thistraining is begun by letting the shoats hear the trumpet outsidetheir pens and then at once come out to a place where barley has beenscattered broad cast (for thus less is wasted than if the feed isput in heaps and more of the shoats can get to it easily). By sucheducation it is possible to collect pasturing hogs at the sound of atrumpet and prevent their being lost when scattered in the woods. [134]

"Boars are altered most successfully when they are a year old, but inno case should this be done when they are less than six months old. After the operation they are no longer called boars, but barrows. 

"Concerning the health of swine, I will say one thing only by way ofexample: if the sow is not able to supply milk the sucking pigs shouldbe fed, until they are three months old, on roasted wheat (for when itis raw it loosens the bowels) or on barley boiled in water. 

"As to number: it is considered that ten boars to an hundred sows isenough; some even reduce this proportion. 

"The practice varies as to the number to a herd, but my judgment isthat a hundred is a moderate number: some make it more, say 150: somefeed two herds together, and some do even more than that. A small herdis less expensive than a large one because the swineherd requires lessassistance. A swinefeeder should fix the number to be fed as a herd ona principle of utility, not by the number of boars he may happen tohave, for that is determined by nature. "

So far Scrofa. 

_Of neat cattle_

V. At this point we were joined by the Senator Q. Lucienus, a man aslearned as he is agreeable and intimate with us all. "Hail, my fellowcitizens of Epirus, " he exclaimed in Greek, [135] "and you, my dearVarro, 'shepherd of men, ' for I have already greeted Scrofa thismorning. "

While one saluted him, another reproached him for having come so lateto our club. 

"I will see to that, my merry men, for I am about to offer you my backand a scourge: or else, Murrius, you who are my friend: come with mewhile I pay a forfeit to the goddess Pales, so that you may bear mewitness if our friends here seek to make me do it again. "

"Tell him, " said Atticus, turning to Murrius, "what we have beentalking about and what is still on the programme, so that when histurn comes he may be prepared. In the meantime we will take up thesecond order of domestic live stock and proceed to a discussion of thelarger cattle. "

"In this, " said Vaccius, "my name would seem to assign me a part, since cows (_vaccae_) are included in that category. Wherefore I willtell what I know about neat cattle, so that he who knows less maylearn, while he who knows more may correct me when I fall down. "

"Be careful what you do, Vaccius, " said I, "for the genus _Bos_ isof the first importance among cattle, certainly in Italy, which isthought to have taken its very name from that family, for, as Timaeusrecords, in ancient Greece a bull was called [Greek: italos], whenceis derived our word _vitula_, and from this Italy is supposed to havetaken its name because of the number and beauty of its breed, ofcattle (_vituli_). Others claim that the name comes from that ofthe famous bull Italus which Hercules drove out of Sicily into thiscountry. 

"The ox is indeed the companion and fellow labourer of man and theminister of Ceres: wherefore the ancients, holding him inviolable, made it a capital offence to kill an ox. [136] Both Attica andPeloponnesus bear witness of the regard in which the ox was held: forhe who first yoked oxen to the plough is celebrated at Athens underthe name Buzyges and at Argos under that of Homogyros. "

"I know, " replied Vaccius, "the importance of the ox and that hisvery name is used to signify that quality, as in words like [Greek:bousukon](big fig), [Greek: boupais](a big boy), [Greek: boulimos] (aravenous hunger), [Greek: boopis] (large eyed), and again that a certainlarge grape is called _bumamma_ (cow teat). Furthermore, I know it wasthe form of a bull that Jupiter assumed when he wooed Europa and boreher across the sea from Phoenicia: that it was a bull which protectedthe children of Neptune and Melanippe from being crushed in a stableby a herd of cattle: I know too that the bees which give the sweetesthoney are generated from the carcase of an ox, whence the Greeks callthem [Greek: bougeneis] (born of an ox), an expression which Plautiuslatinized on the occasion where the praetor Hirrius, was accused atRome of having libeled the Senate. 'But be of good cheer, I willgive you at least as great satisfaction as did he who wrote theBugonia. '[137]

"In the first place there are said to be four ages of cattle, during which they are known by the successive designation of calf(_vitulus_), yearling (_juvencus_), prime (_novellus_) and aged(_vetulus_). These designations are further divided according to sex, as bull-calf and heifer-calf, or bull and cow. 

"A cow which is sterile is called _taura_: when pregnant, _horda_, from which last name a certain festival is called the _hordicalia(Fordicidia_) because cows in calf are sacrificed upon it. 

"He who wishes to buy a herd of neat cattle should take care first thatthey are of an age to produce, rather than past breeding; that theyare well set up, clean limbed, square bodied, large, with black hornsand broad brows, large black eyes, hairy ears, flat cheek bones, snub-nosed, not hump-backed but rather with the back bone slightlyroached, wide nostrils, blackish lips, a neck muscular and long withdew laps hanging from it, the barrel large and well ribbed, theshoulders broad and the quarters good, a tail sweeping the heels, the end being frizzled in a heavy brush, the legs rather short andstraight with knees projecting a little and well separated, the feetnarrow and not inclined to spread in walking, the hoofs not beingsplayed but consisting of light and even bones, and a hide which isnot rough and hard to the touch. The best colour is black, next red, third chestnut and last white: for a white coat indicates weakness, asblack indicates endurance: of the other two colours red is more commonthan chestnut, and both than black and white. In addition you shouldbe particular that the bull is of good breed, which is determinedfrom his conformation and his get, as calves usually reproduce thequalities of their sire. And, finally, it is of importance whence theycome. Gallic cattle are considered in Italy to be the best for work, while on the other hand Ligurian cattle are worthless. The foreigncattle of Epirus are not only better than all the Greek cattle buteven than the Italian: nevertheless, there are those who chooseItalian cattle for victims and to serve as offerings to the gods onaccount of their size: and without doubt they may be preferred forsuch holy offices, so great is the distinction of their majestic bulkand their candid coats: and they are the more suitable for such usebecause white cattle are not so common in Italy as in Thrace at thegulf of Melas, where there are few of any other colour. 

"When cattle are bought already broken for work we stipulate thus: 'Doyou guarantee these cattle to be in good health and warrant me againstliability for any tort committed by them?'

"When we buy them unbroken, we say: 'Do you guarantee these yearlingsto be in good health and to come out of a healthy herd, and warrant meagainst liability for tort?'

"When butchers buy for the shambles they use a fuller formularecommended by Manilius: but those who buy for the altar do notusually stipulate for health in their victims. 

"Neat cattle pasture best in groves where there is brushwood and muchleafage: and so when they are wintered by the sea they are driven upto pasture in summer in the hills where shrubbery abounds. 

"These are my breeding rules:

"For a month before breeding I cut down the food and drink of the cowsbecause it is deemed that they breed more certainly when they arethin. On the other hand, I fatten the bulls up on grass and straw andhay for two months before the breeding season, and during that time Ikeep them apart from the cows. Like Atticus, I have two for seventycows, one a yearling, the other two years old. When that constellationhas risen which the Greeks call Lyra, and we Romans, Fides, I turnthe bull into the herd again. The bull indicates whether a male or afemale calf has been conceived by the side on which he leaves the cow:if male, on the right; if female, on the left. "Why this is so, " saidVaccius, turning to me, "I leave to you who read Aristotle. "

"A cow should not be served under two years, so that she may have herfirst calf in the third year: it would be better in the fourth. Mostcows bear for ten years, some even more. The most suitable time forstinting cows is during the forty days following the rising of theDolphin, or even a little later, for thus they will drop their calvesat the most temperate season of the year, for a cow goes ten monthspregnant. On this subject I have come upon an extraordinary statementin a book that a bull which has just been altered can get a cow withcalf. 

"Breeding cows should be pastured where there is abundant grass andplenty of water, and care should be taken to protect them fromcrowding too close together, and from being struck, or from fightingwith one another: moreover, to protect them against being worried insummer by cattle flies and those minute insects which get under theirtails, some farmers shut them up during the heat of the day in pens, which should be strewn with leaves or some other bedding on which theycan rest comfortably. In summer they are driven to water twice a day, in winter once. Against the time when they are due to drop theircalves you should arrange to give them access to fresh forage near thestable which they can eat with appetite as they go out, for at thattime they are very dainty about their food. A watch out must be keptto prevent their frequenting chilly places, for cold depresses thevitality as much as hunger. 

"These are the rules for raising neat cattle: the suckling calvesshould not be suffered to sleep with their dams, for they might crushthem, but should be given access to them in the morning and when theyreturn from pasture. When the calves are weaned the dams should becomforted by having green stuff thrown into their stalls for them toeat. The floor of a calf stable, like most others, should be pavedwith stone to keep their hoofs from rotting. The calves may bepastured with their dams after the autumn equinox. Bull calves shouldnot be altered before they are two years old, as they recover withdifficulty if the operation is performed sooner, while if it is donelater they are apt to be stubborn and useless. 

"As in the case of other cattle, the herd should be gone over everyyear and the culls thrown out because they occupy the room of thosewhich might be profitable. If a cow loses her calf she should be givenanother to nurse, taken from a cow which has not a sufficient supplyof milk. Calves six months old are fed wheat bran and barley meal andyoung grass, and care should be taken that they are watered morningand evening. 

"The rules for taking care of the health of neat cattle are many. Ihave those which Mago has recorded written out and I take care that myherdsman reads them frequently. 

"I have already said that a yearling and a two-year old bull should beprovided for every sixty cows, though some have more or less cows inthe herd: thus Atticus has two bulls for every seventy cows. Someobserve one rule as to the number of cattle to the herd, some another. I am among those who think that one hundred is enough, but Atticushere, like Lucienus, has one hundred and twenty. "

So far Vaccius. 

_Of asses_

VI. While Vaccius was speaking, Murrius had returned with Lucienus andnow began:

"I propose to tell about asses as well I may, because I am from Reatewhere the best and the largest are found; indeed, I have sold to theArcadians themselves asses of this race and of my own breeding. He whowishes to establish a good herd of asses should see in the first placethat he procures jacks and jennies of prime age so that they may breedas long as possible, strong, well made in all parts, of full body andof a good breed, that is to say derived from those localities whencethe best specimens come; thus the Peloponnesians, so far as possible, buy asses bred in Arcadia and we in Italy those from the valley ofReate. For if the best of those delicious fish we call _muraenaeflutae_ are taken on the coast of Sicily and the best sturgeons atRhodes, it does not follow that they are of equal delicacy in allseas. 

"There are two kinds of asses, one wild, which is called the onager, of which there, are many herds in Phrygia and Lycaonia; the otherdomestic, as they are all over Italy. The onager is fit for use forbreeding because he is easily tamed and once domesticated neverreverts to a wild life. [138]

"Because their young take after their parents, it is important tochoose both jack and jenny of good conformation. The conditions ofbuying and selling asses are much the same as for other kinds ofcattle and include stipulations as to their health and against tort. They are best fed on corn and barley bran. The jennies are bred beforethe solstice so that they may have their foals at the same season inthe following year, for their period of gestation is twelve months. The jennies should be relieved from work while in foal for fatigue atthat time injures the offspring: but the jacks, on the contrary, areworked all the time, because it is lack of exercise which is bad forthem. 

"In the matter of rearing, practically the same rules apply to asses asto horses. The foals are not separated from their dams for the firstyear after they are born: during the second year they are permittedto stay with their dams at night, but they should then be tied with aloose halter or some other such restraint. In the third year you beginto break them for whatever service they are intended. 

"As to the number: they are not usually kept in herds unless it may befor transport service; generally they are used to turn the mill, orfor carrying about the farm, or even for the plough where the soilis light, as in Campania. Herds of asses are some times employed bymerchants, like those who transport wine, or oil, or corn, or anyother commodity, from Brundisium or Apulia to the sea, by packtrains. "

_Of horses_

VII. Here Lucienus took up the discourse. "It is my turn, " he said, "to open the barrier and drive in my horses: and they are not onlystallions, of which, like Atticus, I keep one for every ten breedingmares, but mares as well, such as Q. Modius Equiculus, that gallantsoldier, was wont to esteem for use even in war nearly as much asstallions. [139]

"He who wishes to have such studs of stallions and mares as may be seenin Peloponnesus and in Apulia should first consider age and see thathe obtains them not less than three nor more than ten years old. Theage of a horse, as also of nearly all animals whose hoofs are notcloven, even horned animals, may be known from the condition of theteeth: thus at thirty months of age a colt is said to lose the milkincisors from the middle of his mouth, two above and two below. At thebeginning of the fourth year, in like manner he sheds the same number, being the incisors adjoining those previously lost, and at that agealso the teeth called canine begin to appear. At the beginning of thefifth year he loses two more incisors, and at that time the new teethshow hollow. In the sixth year the new teeth begin to fill out theircavities, and by the seventh usually all have been renewed and thepermanent mouth is made. What is the age of a horse beyond this pointit is not possible to determine accurately, except that when the teethproject and the eye brows are white and have hollows under them, it isconsidered that a horse is sixteen years old. 

"A breeding mare should be of medium size, for it is not fitting thatthey should be either very large or very small, but the quarters andbelly should be broad. 

"A breeding stallion on the other hand should be chosen with a largebody, well made and all his parts in harmony. What sort of horse itwill turn out to be can be determined from the points of the foal, forit should exhibit a small head: limbs well knit together: a black eye, wide nostrils: ears well pricked: a mane which is thick, dark andcurly, of fine hairs and falling on the right side of the neck: abreast broad and well developed: strong shoulders: a moderate belly:the loins flat and rising to the quarters: long shoulder blades: aback bone well doubled [with ridges of meat] but if these are notprominent in no event should the bone itself stand out: a tail largeand curly: legs straight and even and rather long: knees round andsmall and not turned in as you look at them: hard hoofs: veins visibleall over the body (for a horse of this kind is fit for treatment whenhe is sick). 

"The breed is of the greatest importance, for there are many. In thisrespect the celebrated breeds take the names of the countries fromwhich they come: thus in Greece we have the Thessalian breed: in Italythe Apulian from Apulia, and the Rosean from Rosea. [140]

"It is a sign that they will make good horses if, when at pasturewith the herd, the colts contend with one another for superiority inrunning or in any thing else, or if when a stream is to be crossedthey leap it at the head of the herd and do not look back for theothers. 

"Horses are bought in almost the same manner as cattle or asses, because they change ownership by similar formalities, all of which areset forth in the book of Manilius. 

"Horses should be pastured whenever possible in meadows of grass, andin the stable and stall they are fed on hay. 

"When a mare has foaled she should be fed on barley and watered twice aday. 

"In the matter of breeding, the period of service is from the vernalequinox to the solstice so that the foal may come at a suitableseason, for they are supposed to be born on the tenth day of thetwelfth month after the mare was stinted. Those which are born afterthe time are usually defective and unfit for use. When the season hascome the stallion should be admitted to the mare twice a day, in themorning and in the evening, under the direction of the _origa_ (so thestudgroom is called), for a mare held in hand is stinted more quickly, nor does the stallion waste his seed by excess of ardor. When a mareis stinted she makes it known by defending herself. If the stallionshows an aversion for a mare, her parts should be smeared when sheis in heat with the marrow of a shrimp macerated in water to theconsistency of honey, and the stallion allowed to smell of it. 

"Although it may seem incredible, what I am about to relate is true andshould be remembered. Once upon a time a studgroom tried to make astallion cover his mother, but could never get him to come near her:so one day the groom muffled the stallion's head and put him to hismother successfully: but when the bandage was removed and the stallionsaw what he had done, he fell upon the groom and killed him with histeeth. 

"When the mares have been stinted it must be seen to that they areworked only in moderation and are kept out of cold places, becausecold is of the greatest prejudice to a mare in that condition. Forthis reason the floor of their stable should be kept dry and thewindows and doors should be kept shut: and furthermore the maresshould be separated one from another by long poles fastened back fromthe manger so that they may not fight. 

"Mares in foal should neither be over-fed nor starved. 

"There are some who breed their mares only every other year and claimthey get better colts, on the same principle that as corn land isexhausted by continuous cropping, so is a mare which is bred everyyear. [141]

"The foal should be led out to pasture with its dam on the tenth dayafter it is born, so to avoid burning its tender hoofs by standingon manure in the stable. When five months old a colt should be fed, whenever he is brought into the stable, a ration of barley meal wholewith its bran, or any other product of the earth which he will eatwith appetite. When they are a year old they may be fed barley in thegrain mixed with bran, and this should be kept up as long as theysuckle, for they should not be weaned until they have completed thesecond year. From time to time while they are still with their damsthey should be handled so that they may not be wild after they areseparated. To the same end it is well to hang bridles in their stallsso that while they are still colts they may become accustomed to thesight of them and the sound of their clanking as well. When a colt haslearned to come to an outstretched hand you should put a boy on hisback, for the first two or three times stretched out flat on hisbelly, but afterwards sitting upright. The time to do this is whenthe colt is three years old, for then he has his full growth and isbeginning to develop muscles. 

"There are those who say that a colt may be broken at eighteen months, but it is better to wait until the third year. Then is the time tooto begin to feed him that mixture of grain in the milk which we call_farrago_, for this is very good for a horse as a purgative. Itshould be fed for ten days to the exclusion of all other food. On theeleventh day and until the fourteenth you should feed barley, adding alittle to the ration every day for four days and then maintaining thatquantity for the ten days succeeding: during this period the horseshould be exercised moderately, and when in a sweat rubbed down withoil. If it is cold a fire should be lit in the stable. 

"As some horses are suitable for military service, some for the cart, some for breeding, some for racing, and others for the carriage, itfollows that the methods of handling and looking after them all arenot the same. Thus the soldier chooses some and rears and trains themfor his particular use, and so in turn does the charioteer and thecircus rider. Nor does he who wishes a cart horse choose the sameconformation or give the same training as to a horse intended for thesaddle or the carriage: for as the one desires mettle for militaryservice, the other prefers a gentle disposition for use on the road. It was to provide for this difference of use that the practice ofcastrating horses was inaugurated, for horses that are altered are ofa quieter disposition: they are called geldings, as hogs in the samestate are called barrows and chickens are called capons. 

"As to medicine for the horse, there are so many symptoms of theirmaladies and so many cures that the studgroom must have them writtendown: indeed, on this account in Greece the veterinarians are mostlycalled [Greek: hippiatroi] (horse leeches). "

_Of mules_

VIII. While we were talking a freedman came from Menas and said thatthe sacrificial cakes were cooked and every thing ready for thesacrifice--that whoever wishes to take part had only to come. 

"But I will not suffer you to go, " I protested, "until you havefulfilled your promise and given me the third chapter of our subject, that concerning mules and dogs and shepherds. "

"What is to be said about mules, "[142] replied Murrius, "may be saidbriefly. Mules and hinnies are mongrels and grafts as it were on astock of a different species, for a mule is got by an ass out of amare, and a hinny by a horse out of a she ass. Both have their uses, but neither is fit to reproduce its kind. For this purpose it is thecustom to put a newborn ass colt to nurse to a mare because mares'milk will make it more vigorous: it is considered better than asses'milk, or indeed than any other kind of milk. Later they are fed onstraw, hay and barley. The foster mother must be given good attentionalso, as she must bring up her own colt in addition to her service asa wet nurse. An ass raised in this way is fit to get mules when he isthree years old, nor will he contemn the mares because he has becomeused to their kind. If you use him for breeding earlier he willquickly exhaust himself and his get will be poor. 

"If you have no ass foal to have brought up by a mare and you wish abreeding jackass, you should buy the largest and handsomest you canfind; the best breed, as the ancients said, was that of Arcadia, butnowadays we who know maintain that the breed of Reate is best: wherebreeding jacks have brought thirty and even forty thousand sesterces($1, 800-$2, 000). 

"Jacks are bought like horses, with the same stipulations andguarantees. We feed them principally on hay and barley, increasing theration at the breeding season so as to infuse strength into their getby means of their food. The breeding season is the same as for horses, and, like them again, we have the jack handled by a studgroom. 

"When a mare has dropped a mule colt or filly we bring it up with care. Those which are born in marshy and swampy country have soft hoofs, butif they are driven up into the mountain in summer, as we do at Reate, their hoofs become hardened. 

"In buying mules you must consider age and conformation, the one thatthey may be able to work under a load, the other that the eye may havepleasure in looking at them: for a team of two good mules is capableof drawing any kind of a wagon on the road. 

"You, my friend from Reate, " Murrius added, turning to me, "can vouchfor what I have said, as you yourself have herds of breeding mares athome and have bred and sold many mules. 

"The get of a horse out of a she ass is called a hinny: he is smallerin the body and usually redder in colour than a mule, and has earslike a horse, but mane and tail like an ass. Hinnies are carried bythe dam twelve months, like a horse, and, like the horse too, they areraised and fed, and their age can be told by their teeth. "

_Of herd dogs_

IX. "It remains, " said Atticus, "to speak of the last of thequadrupeds on our programme, that is to say, of dogs, which are of thegreatest importance to us who feed the woolly flock, for the dog isthe guardian of such cattle as lack the means to defend themselves, chiefly sheep and goats. For the wolf is wont to lie in wait forthem and we oppose our dogs to him as defenders. Hogs can defendthemselves, as well pigs, boars, barrows and sows, for they are nearakin to the wild boar, which we know often kills dogs in the woods, with their tusks. What shall I say of large cattle? I know of aninstance of a herd of mules pastured together, which, when they wereattacked by a wolf, joined in forming a circle about him and killedhim with blows of their hoofs: and again, bulls often stand together, rump to rump, and drive off wolves with their horns. But of dogs thereare two kinds, hunting dogs, which are used against wild beasts andgame, and herd dogs, which are used by the shepherd. I will discussthe latter methodically, following Scrofa's nine heads. 

"Of the first importance is the choice of dogs of suitable age, forpuppies and old dogs cannot protect themselves, much less the sheep, and so often become themselves the prey of wild beasts. 

"In appearance they should be handsome, of good size, with black ortawny eyes: a symmetrical nose: lips blackish or ruddy, neither drawnback above nor hanging underneath: a short muzzle, showing two teethon either side, those of the lower jaw projecting a little, thoseabove rather straight and not so apparent, and the other teeth, whichare covered by the lips, very sharp: a large head, ears large andturned over: a thick crest and neck: long joints: straight legs, rather bowed than knock-kneed: feet large and well developed, so thatin walking they may spread out: toes slightly splayed: claws hard andcurved: the pad of the foot neither horny nor hard but as it werepuffed and soft: short-coupled: a back bone neither projecting norroached: a heavy tail: a deep bark, and wide gaping chops. The colourto be preferred is white because it gives the dog a lion-like aspectin the dark. [143] Finally, the females should have large teats equallydistributed. Care should be taken that they are of good breed, suchas those called for their place of origin, Laconian, Epirot andSallentian. Be careful not to buy a sheep dog from a professionalhunter or a butcher, because the one is apt to be lazy about followingthe flock, while the other is more likely to make after a hare or adeer which it might see, than to tend the sheep. 

"It is better either to buy, from a shepherd, dogs which are accustomedto follow sheep or dogs which are without any training at all. While adog does readily whatever he has been trained to do, his affection isapt to be stronger for the shepherds than for the flock. [144]

"Once P. Aufidius Pontianus of Amiternum bought certain flocks of sheepin further Umbria, the dogs which herded them being included inthe bargain, but not the shepherds, who were, however, to make thedelivery at the Saltus of Metapontum and the market of Heraclea: whenthese shepherds had returned home, their dogs, longing for theirmasters, a few days later of their own will came back to the shepherdsin Umbria, having made several days journey without other food thanwhat the fields afforded. Nor had any one of those shepherds done whatSaserna advises in his books on agriculture, 'Whoever wishes to be followed by a dog should throw him a cooked frog. '[145]

"It is of importance that all your dogs should be of the same breed, for when they are related they are of the greatest aid to one another. 

"Now as to Scrofa's fourth consideration, that concerning the manner ofbuying: this is accomplished by delivery by the former owner to thepurchaser. 

"The same stipulations as to health and against liability for tort aremade as in the case of cattle, leaving out whatever is inapplicable todogs. Some make a price on dogs at so much per head, others stipulatethat the puppies shall go with the mother, others that two puppiesshall count as one dog--as two lambs usually count as a sheep. Usuallyit is provided that all the dogs which have been accustomed to betogether should be included in the bargain. 

"The food appropriate for dogs is more like that of man than of sheep, for they are fed on scraps and bones rather than on grass and leaves. Care must be taken that they are fed regularly, for, if food is notprovided, hunger will lead them in search of it away from theflock, unless, indeed, they shall find it in one another, therebycontradicting the old proverb, [146] or perchance they may realize thefable of Actaeon and turn their teeth against their master himself. You would do well to feed them on barley bread soaked in milk, becausewhen they have become accustomed to that diet they will not readilydesert the flock. They should never be suffered to taste the flesh ofa carrion sheep lest the relish should tempt them to indulge in suchfood again. They may be fed also broth made out of bones, or bonesthemselves when broken up, for that makes their teeth stronger and themouth wider: and thereby the jaws are stretched, while the zest of themarrow makes the dog fiercer. They should be accustomed to take theirfood in the day time where the flock is feeding and at night where theflock is folded. 

"In the matter of breeding it is the practice to line the bitch at thebeginning of spring, for then she is said to be in heat, that is tosay, to show a readiness for breeding. When they are lined at thisseason they pup about the solstice, for they go three months. Whilethey are in pup they should be fed barley bread rather than wheatbread, for it is more nourishing and makes more milk. 

"In the matter of bringing up the puppies after birth: if there aremany in the litter you should choose those you wish to keep anddestroy the others: the fewer you keep the better they will benourished, for then their portion of the mother's milk will be larger. 

"Chaff or some thing else of that sort should be spread under them, because the better they are bedded the more easily they are broughtup. Puppies open their eyes twenty days after birth. [147] During thefirst two months they are not separated from their mother, but weanthemselves gradually. A number of puppies should be kenneled together, where they may be encouraged to fight, which will make them fiercer, but they should never be suffered to tire themselves since wearinessdevelops cowardice. They should also be accustomed to be tied, atfirst with a light leash, and if they attempt to gnaw it they shouldbe punished by whipping, so that they may not get the habit. On rainydays their kennels should be bedded with leaves or grass, for tworeasons: that they may not soil themselves or suffer from cold. Somecastrate their puppies thinking them less likely to leave the flock, but others do not, thinking that the operation makes them less fierce. Some rub their ears and between their toes with a suffusion of bitteralmonds steeped in water because flies, ticks and fleas usuallydevelop sores in those parts, unless it is your practice to so anointthem. To protect them from wounds from wild beasts we place collars onthem, of the kind which we call _melium_, which is a girth around theneck made from strong leather studded with nails and lined with softleather to protect the neck from being chafed by the hard iron headsof the nails: for if a wolf or other wild beast is once wounded bythese nails all the other dogs are safe from his attack, even if theyhave no collars. 

"The number of dogs to be kept is determined by the size of the flock, usually one dog for every shepherd is considered enough, but thepractice varies. Thus there should be more in localities where wildbeasts are plentiful, and those increase the number also who are wontto drive their flocks over the long forest drift ways to their summeror their winter feeding grounds. 

"But two dogs are enough for a flock kept on a farm: in which casethey should be male and female, for they are more attached and, byemulation, fiercer, and if one is sick for a protracted time the flockwill not be without a dog. "

Here Atticus looked around as if to enquire whether he had omitted anything. 

"This is the silence, " said I, "which summons another player on theboards. "

_Of shepherds_

X. "The rest of this act, " I added, "relates to how many and what kindof shepherds are necessary. "

Cossinius took the cue. "For large cattle, " he said, "men of full ageare required; for small cattle boys will do: but in either case thosewho drive their flocks and herds on the drift ways must be stouterthan those who remain on the farm and return to the steading everyday. 

"So in the wood pastures _(saltus)_ it behooves one to have young menand usually armed men, while on the farm boys or even girls may tendthe flock. Those who use the distant feeding grounds should requiretheir shepherds to feed their flocks together all day, but at nightto remain each one with his own flock. They should all be underthe supervision of one flock master, who should be older and moreexperienced than the others, because they will obey more cheerfullyone who surpasses them in age and knowledge; and yet the flock mastershould be of such years that he may not be prevented by age from hardwork: for neither old men nor boys can endure the steeps of the driftways, nor the ardours and roughness of the mountains, which must besuffered by those who follow flocks, especially cattle and goats, towhom the rocks and the forests are pleasant grazing places. 

"So far as concerns the conformation of the men chosen for theseoccupations, they should be strong and swift and active, with readylimbs not only able to follow the cattle but to defend them from theincursions of wild beasts and of brigands: men who can load the packson the sumpter beasts: can run and throw a javelin. [148]

"Every nation is not fit for tending cattle, especially the Basculi andthe Turduli [of Spain]. The Gauls are the best of all, particularlyfor draught cattle. 

"In the matter of the purchase of shepherds, there are six usualmethods of obtaining lawful title to a slave: (i) by inheritance, (2)by due form of mancipation, which is delivery of possession by onewho has the legal right, (3) by the legal process called surrender incourt (_cessio in jure_) from one who has that right, the transfertaking place where it should, (4) by prescriptive use (_usucapion_), (5) by purchase of a prisoner of war "under the crown" (6) by auctionat the distribution of some one's property by order of court under theprocess known as _bonorum emptio_. [149]

"The _peculium_ or personal property of the slave usually passes withhim to a new master unless it is specially excepted in the terms ofsale: there is also the usual guaranty as to the health of the slaveand that he has committed no theft or tort for which his master islegally responsible, and, unless the purchase is by mancipation, thebargain is bound by an obligation of double indemnity, or in theamount of the purchase price alone, if that is the agreement. 

"The shepherds should take their meals separately during the day, eachone with his flock, but in the evening they should meet at a commonsupper under the supervision of the flock master. [150] It should be theduty of the flock master to see that every thing is provided which maybe required by the flock or by the shepherds, chiefly the victualsfor the men and medicine for the flock: for which the master shouldprovide beasts of burden, either horses or some thing else which cancarry a load on its back. 

"As to what relates to the breeding of shepherds, it is easy, so far asconcerns those who remain on the farm all the time because they canhave a fellow servant to wife at the farmstead, for Venus Pastoralisdemands no more. Some hold that it is expedient also to furnishwomen[151] for those who pasture the flocks in the Saltus and theforests and have no residence but find their shelter from the rainunder improvised sheds: that such women following the flocks andpreparing the food for the shepherds keep the men better satisfied andmore devoted to their duty. But they must needs be strong though notdeformed, and not less capable of work then the men themselves, asthey are in many localities and as may be seen throughout Illyricum, where the women feed the flocks or carry in wood for the fire and cookthe food, or keep watch over the household utensils in their cottages. 

"As to the method of raising their children, it suffices to say thatthe shepherd women are usually both mothers and nurses at the sametime. "

At this Cossinius looked at me and said: "I have heard you relatethat, when you were in Liburnia, you saw women big with child bringingin fire wood and at the same time carrying a nursing child, or eventwo of them, thus putting to shame those slender reeds, the women ofour class, who are wont to lie abed under mosquito bars for days at atime when they are pregnant. "

"That is true, " I replied, "and the contrast is even more marked inIllyricum, where it often happens that a pregnant woman whose time hascome will leave her work for a little while and return with a new bornchild which you would think she had found rather than borne. [152]

"Not only this, the custom of that country permits the girls as much astwenty years of age, whom they call virgins, to go about unprotectedand to give themselves to whomever they wish and to have childrenbefore marriage. "

"As to what pertains to the health of man and beast, " resumedCossinius, "and the leech craft which may be practised without the aidof a physician, the flock master should have the rules written down:indeed, the flock master must have some education, otherwise he cannever keep his flock accounts properly. [153]

"As to the number of shepherds, some make a narrow, some a broad, allowance. I have one shepherd for every eighty long wool sheep:Atticus here has one for every hundred. One can reduce the numberof men required in respect of large flocks (like those containinga thousand head or more) much more readily than in respect ofcomparatively small flocks, like Atticus' and mine, for I have onlyseven hundred head of sheep, and you, Atticus, have, I believe, eighthundred, though we are alike in providing a ram for every ten ewes. Two men are required to care for a herd of fifty mares: and each ofthem should have a mare broken for riding to serve as a mount in thoselocalities where it is the custom to drive the mares to pasture, asoften happens in Apulia and Lucania. "

_Of milk and cheese and wool_

XI. "And now that we have fulfilled our promise, let us go, " saidCossinius. 

"Not until you have added some thing, " I cried, "concerning thatsupplemental profit from cattle which was promised; namely, of milkand cheese and the shearing of wool. "

So Cossinius resumed:

"Ewes' milk, and, after it, goats' milk, is the most nourishing of allliquids which we drink. As a purgative, mares' milk ranks first, and, after it, in order, asses' milk, cows' milk and goats' milk, butthe quality depends upon what has been fed to the cattle, upon thecondition of the cattle, and upon when it is milked. 

"So far as concerns the food of the cattle, milk is nourishing whichis made from barley and stover and other such kinds of dry and hardcattle food. 

"So far as concerns its purgative qualities, milk is good when madefrom green stuff, especially if it is grass containing plants which, taken by themselves, have a purgative effect upon the human body. 

"So far as concerns the condition of the cattle, that milk is bestwhich comes from cattle in vigorous health and from those still young. 

"So far as concerns the time of milking, that milk is best which comesneither from a 'stripper' nor from a recently fresh dam. 

"The cheese made of cows' milk is the most agreeable to the taste butthe most difficult to digest: next, that of ewes' milk, while theleast agreeable in taste, but the most easily digested, is that ofgoats' milk. 

"There is also a distinction between cheese when it is soft and newmade and when it is dry and old, for when it is soft it is morenourishing and digestible, but the opposite is true of old and drycheese. 

"The custom is to make cheese from the rising of the Pleiades in springto their rising in summer, and yet the rule is not invariable, becauseof difference in locality and the supply of forage. 

"The practice is to add a quantity of rennet, equal to the size of anolive, to two _congii_ of milk to make it curdle. The rennet takenfrom the stomachs of the hare and the kid is better than that fromlambs, but some use as a ferment the milk of the fig tree mixed withvinegar, and some times sprinkled with other vegetable products. In parts of Greece this is called [Greek: opos], elsewhere [Greek:dakruos]. "

"I am prepared to believe, " I said, "that the fig tree standing besidethe chapel of the goddess Rumina[154] was planted by shepherds for thepurpose you mention, for there is it the practice to make libations ofmilk rather than of wine or to sacrifice suckling pigs. For men usedto use the word _rumis_ or _ruma_ where we now say _mamma_, signifyinga teat: hence even now suckling lambs are called _subrumi_ from theteat they suck, just as we call suckling pigs _lactantes_ from _lac_, the milk that comes from the teat. "

Cossinius resumed:

"If you sprinkle your cheese with salt it is better to use the mineralthan the marine kind. 

"Concerning the shearing of sheep, the first thing to be looked intobefore you begin is that the sheep are not suffering from scab orsores, as it is better to wait, if necessary, until they are curedbefore shearing. 

"The time to shear is between the vernal equinox and the summersolstice, when the sheep begin to sweat (it is the sweat which givesnew clipped wool its name _sucida_). As soon as the sheep are shearedthey are smeared with a mixture[155] of wine and oil, some add whitewax and hogs' grease. If they are sheep which are kept blanketed, theinside of the blanket should be anointed with this mixture before itis put on again. 

"If the sheep has suffered any wound during the shearing, it should betreated with liquid tar. 

"Long wool sheep are usually sheared about the time of the barleyharvest: in some places before the hay harvest. 

"Some men shear their sheep twice a year, as in hither Spain, investingdouble work because they think they get more wool, just as some menmow their meadows twice a year. Careful shepherds are wont to shear ona mat so as not to lose any of the wool. A clear day should be chosenfor the shearing and it is usually done between the fourth and thetenth hours (10 a. M. -4 p. M. ) since wool sheared in the hot sun issofter, heavier and of better colour by reason of the sweat of thesheep. Wool which has been collected and packed in bags is called_vellera_ or _velamina_, words derived from _vellere_, to pull, whenceit may be concluded that the practice of pulling wool is older thanshearing. Those who pull the wool today make a practice of starvingtheir sheep for three days before, because when they are weak the woolyields more readily. "

"Speaking of shearing, " I said, "it is reported that the firstbarbers were brought into Italy from Sicily in the year 453 after thefoundation of Rome (B. C. 300) by P. Ticinius Menas, as appears fromthe inscription in the public square of Ardea. The statues of theancients show that formerly there were no barbers because most of themhave long hair and a heavy beard. "[156]

Cossinius resumed:

"As the wool of the sheep serves to make clothes, so the hair ofgoats is employed: on ships, in making military engines and certainimplements of industry. Certain nations, indeed, are clad in goatskins, as in Gaetulia and Sardinia. Their use for this purpose bythe ancient Greeks is apparent, because old men in the tragedies arecalled [Greek: diphtheriai], from the fact that they were clad ingoat skins: and it is the custom also in our comedies to dress rusticcharacters in goat skins, like the youth in the _Hypobolimaeus_ (theCounterfeit) of Caecilius, and the old man in the _Heautontimorumenos_(the Self Tormentor) of Terence. 

"It is the practice to shear goats in the greater part of Phrygiabecause there the goats have heavy coats, of which cilicia (so calledbecause the practice of shearing goats began in the city of that name)and other hair cloth materials of that kind are made. "

With this Cossinius stopped, and, while he was waiting for criticismof what he had said, Vitulus' freedman, coming into town from thegardens [of his master] turned to us and said, "I was on my way toyour house to invite you to come early so as not to shorten theholiday. "

And so, my dear Turranius Niger, we separated: Scrofa and I going tothe gardens of Vitulus; the others, some home and some to see Menas. 

BOOK III

THE HUSBANDRY OF THE STEADING

_Introduction: the antiquity of country life_

I

There are two modes of human life, my dear Pinnius, which aremanifestly as different in the time of their origin as they are intheir habitat, that of the country and that of the town. Country lifeis much the more ancient, for time was when men lived altogether inthe country and had no towns: indeed, the oldest town in Greece, according to the tradition, is the Boeotian Thebes, which was foundedby King Ogyges, and in our own land that of Rome, founded by KingRomulus of which now it may be affirmed with confidence, as was notpossible when Ennius wrote:

 "'Tis seven hundred years, or more or less, Since first illustrious Rome began her sway, With hallowed augury. "

Now, if it is admitted that Thebes was founded before the deluge, which is known by Ogyges' name, its age is not more than abouttwenty-one hundred years: and if that period is compared with thelapse of time since men began to cultivate the land and to live inhuts and hovels, knowing naught of city walls and gates, it is evidentthat life in the country preceded life in town by a tale of immemorialyears. Nor is this to be wondered at since 'God made the country andman made the town. '[157] While the tradition is that all the arts wereinvented in Greece within a thousand years, there never was a timewhen the earth could not be cultivated. And, as life in the countryis the more ancient, so it is the better life: for it was not withoutgood reason that our ancestors were wont to plant colonies of citizensin the country, because by them they were both fed in times of peaceand protected in times of war: nor was it without significance thatthey called both the Earth and Ceres by the common name of Mother andesteemed that those who worshipped her lead a life at once pious anduseful and were the sole representatives left on earth of the race ofSaturn. A proof of this is that the mysteries peculiar to the cult ofCeres were called _Initia_, the very name indicating that they relatedto the beginning of things. 

A further proof that country life was earlier than that of town isfound in the name of the town of Thebes, which was bestowed from thecharacter of its situation rather than from the name of its founder:for in the ancient language, and among the Aeolians who had theirorigin in Boeotia, a small hill is called _tebas_ without theaspirate; and in the Sabine country, where Pelasgians from Greecesettled, they still have the same locution: witness that hill calledTebae which stands in the Sabine country on the via Salaria not farfrom the mile stone of Reate. At first agriculture was conducted on sosmall a scale that it had little distinction, since those who followedit, being sprung from shepherds, at once sowed their corn andpastured their flocks on the same land, but as later this art grew inimportance the husbandry of live stock was separated, and it befelthat some men were called farmers and others shepherds. 

The art of feeding live stock should really be divided into twobranches, as is not yet fully appreciated, one relating to the stockkept at the steading, the other to the stock pastured in the fields. The latter, which is designated by the name _pecuaria_, is well knownand highly esteemed so that rich men, either lease or buy muchpasture land in order to carry it on: the other, which is known as_villatice_, has, because it seemed to be of less importance, beentreated by some as an incident of the husbandry of agriculture, whenin fact it should be made a part of the husbandry of live stock: norhas it been described separately and at length by any one, so far as Iknow. 

And so, as I think that there are three branches of farm managementwhich are undertaken for profit, namely: agriculture, live stock andthe industries peculiar to the steading, I have planned three books, of which I have already written two, the first concerning thehusbandry of agriculture, which I dedicated to my wife Fundania, andthe second concerning the husbandry of live stock to Turranius Niger:the third, relating to the profits of those industries which arecarried on at the steading, I now send herewith to you; for the factthat we are neighbours and entertain a mutual affection seems todemand that it should be dedicated to you above all others. 

Although you have a villa, which is remarkable for the beauty of itsworkmanship within and without, and for the splendour of its mosaicpavements, still you deem it to be bare unless you have the wallsdecorated also with books: so in like manner that your villa may bemore distinguished by the profits you derive from it than by thecharacter of its construction, and that I may be of assistance to thatend, so far as may be, I have sent you this book, which is a summaryof some conversations which we have had on the subject of what makesthe perfectly equipped villa: and so I begin as follows:

_Of the definition of a Roman villa_

II. The Senator Q. Axius, my fellow tribesman, and I had cast ourvotes at the comitia for the election of aediles, and, although it wasthe heat of the day, we wished to be on hand when the candidate whomwe were supporting should go home. So Axius said to me: "What wouldyou think of taking shelter in the _villa publica_[158] while the votesare being sorted rather than in the booth of our candidate. " "I hold, "said I, "not only with the proverb that bad advice is worst for himwho gives it, but that good advice is good for both the giver and thetaker. "

And so we made our way to the _villa publica_, where we found AppiusClaudius, [159] the Augur, seated on a bench waiting for any call for hisservices by the Consul: on his left was Cornelius Merula (blackbird)of the Consular family of that name, and Fircellius Pavo (pea-cock)of Reate, and on his right Minutius Pica (mag-pie) and M. PetroniusPasser (sparrow). When we had approached them Axius, smiling, said toAppius: "May we come into your aviary where you are sitting among thebirds?"

"By all means, " replied Appius, "and especially you who set before mesuch birds as still make my mouth water, when I was your guest a fewdays ago at your Reatine villa on my way to lake Velinus to settle thecontroversy between the people of Interamna and Reate. [160]

"But" he added, "is not this villa, which our ancestors constructed, simpler and so better than that elaborate one of yours at Reate: doyou see any where here any furniture of citrus wood or ormolu, anydecorations of vermillion or blue, any tessellations or mosaic work, all of which on the other hand were displayed in your house? And whilethis is open to the entire people, yours is available to you alone:this is the resort for the citizens after the comitia in the CampusMartius, and for all alike, while yours is reserved for mares andasses. And furthermore it should be considered that this building isuseful in carrying on the public business, for here the consuls reviewthe army on parade, here the arms are inspected, here the censorsenumerate the people. "

"Tell me, " retorted Axius, "which is useful, this villa of yoursgiving on the Campus Martius, more extravagantly arrayed with objectsof art than all Reate put together, so bedizened is it with picturesand garnished with statues, or mine where there is no trace of theartists Lysippus or Antiphilus, but there are many of the farm handand the shepherd?

"And since there can be no villa where there is no farm and that wellcultivated, how can you call this house of yours a villa which has noland appurtenant to it and no cattle or horses? Again, tell me, pray, how does your villa compare with that of your grandfather and greatgrandfather, for one cannot see at yours, as one could always see attheirs, cured hay in the mows, the vintage in the cellar, and theharvest in the granary? Because, forsooth, a house is situated out oftown, it is no more a villa for that reason than the houses of thosewho dwell beyond the Porta Flumentaria or in the Aemiliana suburb. "

"Since it appears that I do not know what a villa is, " replied Appius, smiling, "I wish you would be good enough to instruct me, so that Imay not make a fool of myself, as I am planning to buy from M. Seiushis villa at Ostia: for if a mere house is not a villa unless it isequipped with a jackass costing forty thousand sesterces ($2, 000), like that you showed me at your place, I fear that I would be makinga mistake in buying Seius' house on the shore at Ostia in the beliefthat it is a villa. But it was our friend Merula here who put me inmind of buying this house, for he told me that he had spent severaldays there and that he had never seen a more delightful villa, and yethe saw there no paintings, nor any bronze or marble statues, neitherdid he see any wine press, or oil mill, or oil jars. "

"And what kind of a villa is this, " said Axius, turning to Merula, "where there are neither the ornaments of a town house nor theutensils of a farm?"

"Do you consider, " said Merula, "that your house on the bank ofVelinus, which neither painter nor architect has ever seen, is anyless a villa than the one you have in Rosea so elegantly decoratedwith the work of an architect and which you share with your famousjackass?"

Axius admitted, with a nod, that a simple farm house was as muchentitled to be called a villa as any house which united thecharacteristics of both town and country, and asked what he deducedfrom this. 

"What?" said Merula. "Why, if your estate in Rosea is to be approvedby reason of the husbandry which you carry on, and is properly calleda villa because there cattle are fed and stabled, then, by the samereasoning, all those houses should be called villas in which largeprofits are derived from husbandry: for what difference does it makewhether you derive your profit from sheep or from birds? Is the incomeany sweeter which comes from cattle in which bees are generated, thanfrom the bees themselves, such as work in their hives at the villa ofSeius? Do you sell to the butcher the hogs which you raise at yourfarm for more than Seius sells his wild boars to the meat market?"

"Am I any less able, " replied Axius, "to have these things at my farmat Reate: is Sicilian honey made at Seius' place and only Corsicanhoney at Reate, [161] and does the mast which he buys for his wild boarsmake them fat while that which I get for nothing from my woods makesmine lean?"

"But, " said Appius, "Merula does not deny that you _can_ carry on atyour villa the kind of husbandry which Seius does at his, yet I myselfhave seen that you don't. 

"For there are two kinds of husbandry of live stock: one in the fields, as of cattle; and the other at the steading, as of chickens andpigeons and bees and other such things which are usually kept at avilla. 

"About the latter, Mago the Carthaginian, and Cassius Dionysius andothers have treated specially in different parts of their books, andit would seem that Seius has read their precepts and so has learnedhow to make more profit from his villa alone by such husbandry thanothers make out of an entire farm. "

"Certainly, " agreed Merula, "for I have seen there great flocks ofgeese, chickens, pigeons, cranes and pea-cocks: also dormice, fish, wild boars and other such game. [162] The freedman who keeps his bookswhich Varro has seen, assured me when he was doing the honours in theabsence of his master, that Seius derives an income of more than fiftythousand sesterces ($2, 500) per annum from his villa. "

As Axius seemed astonished, I asked him: "Surely you know the estateof my aunt in the Sabine country which is at the twenty-fourth milestone from Rome on the via Salaria. "

"Of course, I do, " Axius replied, "for it is there that I am wont todivide the day in summer on my way from Reate to town and to spend thenight when I come thence in winter. "

"Well, " I continued, "in that villa there is an aviary from whichI know that there were taken in one season five thousand thrushes, which, at three deniers apiece, means that that department of theestablishment brought in a revenue of sixty thousand sesterces thatyear, or twice the yield of the entire two hundred jugera of your farmat Reate. "[163]

"What, sixty thousand, " exclaimed Axius, "sixty thousand: you aremaking game of me!"

"Sixty thousand, " I affirmed, "but in order that you might realizesuch a lucky throw you will require either a public banquet or atriumph on the scale of that of Scipio Metellus, or club dinners, which indeed have now become so frequent as to raise the price ofprovisions of the market. "

"You will perchance expect this return every year, " said Merula, "so Itrust that your aviary may not lead you into a loss. But surely in suchgood times as these it could not happen that you would fail, exceptrarely, for what year is there that does not see such a feast or atriumph, or club dinners, such as now-a-days consume victuals withoutnumber. Nay, " he added, "it seems that in our habit of luxury such apublic banquet is a daily occurrence within the gates of Rome. "[164]

To supplement the examples of such profits: L. Albutius, a learnedman and, as you know, the author of certain satires in the manner ofLucilius, has said that the returns from feeding live stock on hisAlban farm are always less than his income from his villa, for thefarm yields less than ten thousand sesterces and the villa more thantwenty. He even maintains that if he should establish a villa nearthe sea in such a place as he might choose he could derive from itan income of more than a hundred thousand sesterces. Did not M. Catorecently sell forty thousand sesterces worth of fishes from the fishponds of Lucullus after he had accepted the administration of hisestate?"

"My dear Merula, " exclaimed Axius, "take me, I beg of you, as yourpupil in the art of the husbandry of the steading. "

"I will begin, " replied Merula, "as soon as you promise me a minervalin the form of a dinner. "[165]

"You shall have it, " said Axius, "both today, and hereafter as well, off those delicacies you will teach me to rear. "

"I fear, " replied Merula, "that what you may offer me at the beginningof your experience with villa feeding will be dead geese or deceasedpea-cocks. "

"And what difference will it make to you, " retorted Axius, "if I doserve you fish or fowl which has come to an untimely end: for in noevent could you eat them unless they were dead: but I beg you, " headded, "matriculate me in the school of villa husbandry and expound tome the theory and the practice of it. "

Merula accepted the invitation cheerfully. 

_Of the Roman development of the industries of the steading_

III. "In the first place, " he said, "you should know what kind ofcreatures you may raise or feed in or about a villa, either for yourprofit or for your pleasure. There are three divisions for this study:poultry houses, warrens and fish ponds. 

"I include under the head of poultry houses the feeding of all kinds offowls which are usually kept within the walls of a steading: under thehead of warrens not merely what our great grandfathers meant--placeswhere rabbits were usually kept--but any enclosure adjoining a villain which game animals are enclosed to be fed. In like manner I includeunder the head of fish ponds all those places in which fish are keptat a villa either in fresh or salt water. 

"Each of these divisions may be separated into at least two parts: thusthe first, that with respect to poultry houses, should be treated withreference to a classification of fowls as between those which arecontent on land alone, such as pea-cocks, turtle doves, thrushes; andthose which require access to water as well as land, such as geese, widgeons and ducks. So the second division, that relating to game, hastwo different classifications: one which includes the wild boar, theroe buck and hares; the other bees, snails and dormice. 

"The third, or aquatic division, likewise has two classifications, oneincluding fresh water fish, the other salt water fish. 

"In order to secure and maintain a supply of these six classes of stockit is necessary to provide a force of three kinds of artificers, namely: fowlers, hunters and fishermen, or else you may buy breedingstock from such men, and trust to the diligence of your servants torear and fatten their offspring until they are ready for market. Certain of them, such as dormice, snails and chickens, may, however, be obtained without the aid of a hunter's net, and doubtless thebusiness of keeping them began with the stock native to every farm:for the breeding even of chickens has not been a monopoly of the Romanaugurs, to make provision for their auspices, but has been practisedby all farmers from the beginning of time. [166] From such a start in thekind of husbandry we are now discussing, the next step was to providemasonry enclosures near the steading to confine game, and these servedas well for shelter for the bee-stand, for originally the bees werewont to make their hives under the eaves of the farm house itself. 

"The third division, that of keeping fish, had its origin in simplefresh water ponds in which fish taken in the streams were kept. 

"There have been two steps in the development of each of these threeconveniences; the earlier distinguished by the ancient simplicity, the later by our modern luxury. The earlier stage was that of ourancestors, who had but two places for keeping poultry: one the courtyard of the steading in which chickens were fed and their profitderived from eggs and pullets, the other above ground, for theirpigeons were kept in the dormers or on the roof of the farm house. 

"Now-a-days, on the contrary, what our ancestors called hen-houses areknown as _ornithones_, and serve to house thrushes and pea-cocksto cater to the delicate appetite of the master: and indeed suchstructures now have larger roofs than formerly sufficed to cover anentire farm house. 

"Such has been the progress in respect of warrens also: your father, Axius, never saw any game but rabbits, nor did there exist in his timeany such extensive enclosures as now are made, many jugera in extent, to hold wild boars and roe bucks. You can witness, " he said, turningto me, "that you found many wild boars in the warren of your farm atTusculum, when you bought it from M. Piso. "

In respect of the third class, who was there who used to have any kindof a fish pond, except of fresh water, stocked merely with cat fishand mullets, while today our elegants declare that they would as soonhave a pond stocked with frogs as with those fish I have named. Youwill recall the story of Philippus when he was entertained at Casinumby Ummidius: a pickerel caught in your river, Varro, was put beforehim, he tasted it and forthwith spat it out, exclaiming "May I perish, but I thought it was fish!"[167]

As the luxury of this age has enlarged our warrens, so has it carriedour fish ponds even to the sea itself and has herded shoals of seafish into them. Have not Sergius Orata (goldfish) and Licinius Murena(lamprey) taken their cognomens from fishes for this reason? And whodoes not know the fame of the fish ponds of Philippus, of Hortensius, and of the brothers Lucullus?

"Where, then, Axius, do you wish me to begin?"

_Of aviaries_

IV. "I prefer, " replied Axius, "that you should begin with thesequel--_postprincipia_, as they say in the camps--that is, withthe present day rather than with the past, because the profits frompea-cocks are greater than those from hens, I will not dissemble thatI wish to hear first of _ornithones_ because the thrushes which arekept in them make the very name sound like money: indeed, the 60, 000sesterces of Fircelina have consumed me with avarice. "

"There are two kinds of _ornithones_, " replied Merula; "one forpleasure, like that so much admired which our friend Varro here has athis villa near Casinum: the other for profit, such as are maintainedcommercially, some even indoors in town, but chiefly in the Sabinecountry which abounds in thrushes. There is a third kind, consistingof a combination of the two I have mentioned, such as Lucullusmaintained at his Tusculan villa, where he contrived a dining roomunder the same roof as his aviary to the end that he might feastdelicately, satisfying two senses, now by eating the birds cooked andspread on a platter, now by seeing them flying about the windows: butthe truth is that he was disappointed, for the eyes did not take asmuch pleasure from the sight of the flying birds as the nostrils wereoffended by their odour. "

_a. For profit_

V. "But, as I gather you would prefer, Axius, I will speak of that kindof _ornithon_ which is established for profit, whence, but not where, fat thrushes are served. 

"For this purpose is built a dome, in the form of a peristyle, witha roof over it and enclosed with netting, sufficiently large toaccommodate several thousand thrushes[168] and blackbirds; indeed, somealso include other kinds of birds, such as ortolans and quail, whichsell for a good price when fat. Into this enclosure water should beconducted through a conduit and so disposed as to wind through theaviary in channels narrow enough to be cleaned easily (for if thewater spreads out it is quickly polluted and rendered unfit to drink)and draining like a running stream to find its vent through anotherconduit, so that the birds may not be exposed to the risk of mud. Thedoor should be low and narrow and well balanced on its hinges likethe doors they have in the amphitheatres where bulls are fought: fewwindows and so placed that the birds cannot see trees and wild birdswithout, for that makes the prisoners pine and grow thin. The placeshould have only so much light as may be necessary to enable the birdsto see where they are to perch and to eat and drink. The doors and thewindows should be lightly stuccoed round about to keep out rats andother such vermin. 

"Around the wall of the building on the inside are fastened manyperches where the birds can sit, and another such convenience shouldbe contrived from poles set on the ground and leaning against thewalls and tied together with other poles fastened transversely atregular intervals, thus giving the appearance of the rising degrees ofa theatre. Down on the ground near the drinking water you should placethe birds' food, which usually consists of little balls of a pastemade out of figs and corn meal: but for twenty days before you intendto market your thrushes it is customary to feed them more heavily, both by giving them more food and that chiefly of finer meal. 

"In this enclosure there should also be cages with wooden floors whichmay serve the birds as resting places supplementing the perches. 

"Next to the aviary should be contrived a smaller structure, called the_seclusorium_, in which the keeper may array the birds found dead, torender an account of them to his master, and where he may drive thebirds which are ready for market from the larger aviary: and to thisend this smaller room is connected with the main cage by a large doorand has more light: and there, when he has collected the number hewishes to market, the keeper kills them, which is done secretly, lestthe others might despond at the sight and themselves die before theyare ready for market. 

"Thrushes are not like other birds of passage which lay their eggs inparticular places, as the swan does in the fields and the swallowsunder the roof, but they lay anywhere: for, despite their masculinename (_turdus_) there are female thrushes, just as there are maleblackbirds, although they have a purely feminine name (_merula_). 

"All birds are divided as between those which are of passage, likeswallows and cranes, and those which are domestic, like chickens andpigeons: thrushes are birds of passage and every year fly from acrossthe sea into Italy about the time of the autumn equinox, returningabout the spring equinox. At another season doves and quail do thesame in immense numbers, as may be seen in the neighbouring islands ofPontia, Palmaria and Pandataria, for there they are wont to rest a fewdays on their arrival and again before they set out across the seafrom Italy. "

_b. For pleasure_

"So, " said Appius to Axius, "if you enclose five thousand thrushesin such an aviary as Merula has described and there happens to be abanquet or a triumph, you will gain forthwith that sixty thousandsesterces which you so keenly covet and be able to lend the money outat good interest. " And then, turning to me, he added, "Do you tell usof that other kind of ornithon, namely: for pleasure merely, for it issaid that you have constructed one near Casinum which surpasses notonly the original built by the inventor of such flying cages, ourfriend M. Laenius Strabo of Brundisium (who was the first to keepbirds confined in the chamber of a peristyle and to feed them throughthe net), but also the vast structures of Lucullus at Tusculum. "

"You know, " I said, "that there flows through my estate nearCasinum[169] a stream which is both deep and clear and fifty-seven feetwide between the masonry embankments, so that it is necessary to usebridges to get from one part of the property to the other. On theupper reach of this stream is situated my Museum[170] and at a distanceof 950 feet below is an island formed by the confluence of anotherstream. Along the bank for this distance is an uncovered walk ten feetbroad and between this walk and the field is the location of my aviaryenclosed on both sides, right and left, with high masonry walls. The_ornithon_ itself is built in the shape of a writing tablet with acapital on it, the main quadrangle being forty-eight feet wide andseventy-two feet long, the capital semi-circular with a radius oftwenty-seven feet. To this a covered walk or portico is joined, asit were across the bottom of the page of the tablet, with passagesleading on either side of the _ornithon_ proper which contains thecages, to the upper end of the interior quadrangle [_adjoining thecapital_]. This portico is constructed of a series of stone columnsbetween which and the main outside walls are planted dwarf shrubs, a net of hemp being stretched from the top of the walls to thearchitrave of the portico, and thence down to the stylobate or floor. The exterior spaces thus enclosed are filled with all kinds of birdswhich are fed through the net, water being provided by a small runningstream. On the interior sides of the porticos, and adjoining them atthe upper end of the interior quadrangle, are constructed on bothsides two narrow oblong basins. Between these basins a path leadsto the _tholus_, or rotunda, which is surrounded with two rows ofcolumns, like that in the house of Catulus, except that I havesubstituted columns for walls. Beyond these columns at the end isa grove of large transplanted trees forming a roof of leaves, butadmitting light underneath, as that is entirely cut off by the highwalls on the sides. Between the exterior row of columns of the_tholus_, which are of stone, and the interior row, which are of pine, there is a narrow space, five feet in width. The exterior columns arefilled in with a transparent net instead of walls, thus permitting thebirds to look out upon the grove and the wild birds there but withoutescaping: the interior columns being filled in with the net of themain aviary. The space between the two rows of columns thus enclosedis equipped with perches for the birds in the form of many rods letinto all the columns in ascending array like the degrees of a theatre;and here are enclosed all kinds of birds, but chiefly singing birds, like nightingales and blackbirds, for whom water is conducted by meansof a small canal and food is supplied under the net. [_Under thelantern of the tholus is a basin of water: and around this_] a footand nine inches below the stylobate or pedestal of the interior rowof columns, runs a stone platform. This is five feet in width and twofeet above the level of the basin, thus affording a space on whichmy bird guests may hop about from the cushions to the little columns[_which are there provided for them_]. [171]

"The basin is immediately surrounded with a quay a foot in widthadjoining [but below the level of] the platform and has a littleisland in the middle. Around the platform and the quay are contriveddocks for ducks. On the island is a little column arranged to turnon its axis and carrying a wheel-shaped table with hollow drum-likedishes fashioned at the ends of the spokes two and a half feet wideand a palm in depth. This is turned by a boy whose business that is, so that meat and drink is put before all my bird guests in turn. Fromthe elevation of the platform, where mats are usually placed, theducks go out to swim in the basin, and from this streams flow intothe two basins I have already described, and little fish may be seendarting from one to the other, while warm or cold water may be turnedon the guests from the circumference of the revolving table, which Ihave described as equipped with spokes. 

"Within the dome is an arrangement to tell the hours by marking theposition in the heavens of the sun by day and Hesperus by night: andfurthermore, as in the clock which [Andronicus] Cyrrestes constructedat Athens, the eight winds are depicted on the dome, and, by means ofan arrow connecting with a vane, the prevailing wind is indicated tothose within. "[172]

As we were talking an uproar was heard on the Campus Martius. Whilethis did not astonish old parliamentary hands[173] like ourselves, whoknew the enthusiasm of an election, yet we were anxious to know whatit meant, and at this moment Pantuleius Parra came up and told us thatwhile the votes were being sorted some one was caught stuffing theballot box[174] and had been haled before the consul by the supportersof the rival candidate. Pavo rose to go, for it was understood thathe who had been arrested was the campaign manager of Pavo's owncandidate. 

_Of pea-cocks_

VI. "Now that Fircellius is gone you can speak freely of pea-cocks, "said Axius, "for if you should say any thing to their disadvantage inhis presence, you might perchance have a crow to pluck with him onaccount of his relationship. "[175]

"Within my memory, " said Merula, "the practice of keeping commercialflocks of pea-cocks has largely developed and it has so developedthat M. Aufidius Lurco is said to derive an income of sixty thousandsesterces per annum from them. If you keep them for profit it is wellto have somewhat fewer males than females; while the contrary is trueif you keep them for pleasure, for the pea-cock far surpasses his henin beauty. With us they are fed in the country, but abroad it is saidthat they are kept on islands, as at Samos in the grove of Juno and atPlanasia, the island of M. Piso. In setting up a flock age and beautymust be considered, for nature has given the palm of beauty to thepea-cock among all the birds. The hens are not fit for breeding undertwo years of age, nor when they are aged. They are fed all kinds ofgrain but chiefly barley. Scius makes a practice of feeding them amodius of barley apiece for the month before they begin to breed, hispurpose being to make them more productive. He expects his overseer toraise three pea fowl for every hen, and he sells them when matured forfifty deniers ($10) a piece, a price such as one never obtains for asheep. [176]

"Furthermore, he buys eggs and sets them under dunghill hens, transferring the young pea fowls so hatched to the shelter set apartfor their kind. This house should be built large enough for the numberof pea fowl to be kept and should be equipped with separate roostingplaces smoothly stuccoed, so that snakes and such vermin may not beable to get into it: and, furthermore, it should have attached to ita run in which the pea fowl may feed on sunny days, and both theseplaces should be kept clean, as this kind of fowl demands. The keepershould make the rounds often with a shovel to collect and preservetheir manure, which is not only fit for use in agriculture but servesalso as bedding for your pea chicks. 

"It is said that Q. Hortensius was the first to serve pea-cocks atdinner, on the occasion of his inauguration as an augur, an evidenceof prodigality which was more approved by the luxurious than by goodmen of simple manners: but many others quickly followed his example, so that the price of pea fowl was raised until an egg sold for fivedeniers ($1) and a pea fowl itself readily for fifty ($10), thus aflock of an hundred of them easily yields an income of forty thousandsesterces, ($2, 000), or even sixty ($3, 000), if, as Abuccius advises, one obtains three chickens from every pea hen. "

_Of pigeons_

VII. In the meanwhile an apparitor came to Appius from the Consul andsaid that the augurs were summoned. As Appius went out from the _villapublica_, a flock of pigeons flew in, whereupon Merula said to Axius:"If you had established a [Greek: peristerogropheion] you would thinkthat these were your pigeons, although they are wild, for it is thecustom to keep both kinds in a [Greek: peristerotropheion]. One is thewild dove (or, as some call them the rock dove, or _saxatilis_), suchas live in the towers and dormers (_columines_) of a farm house, whence they get the name _columbae_, because, on account of theirnatural timidity, they seek the highest places on the roof. On thisaccount wild doves usually frequent towers, to which they may flyfrom the fields of their own accord, and return. [177] The other kind ofpigeons is tamer and are wont to seek their food at the very thresholdof a house. This kind is usually white in colour, the wild varietybeing mottled but without any white. From these two stocks a third ormixed variety has been developed for commercial profit and these arecollected in the place which some call a _peristereon_ (pigeon house), and others a _peristerotropheion_ (place for raising pigeons), wherethere are often confined as many as five thousand at a time. 

"A pigeon house is made like a great dome, with arched roof, a narrowentrance, and grilled windows or with wider lattices on all sides sothat the interior may be well lighted and yet no snake or other suchpest may have access. The walls and the dome within and the edges ofthe windows without should be smeared with light stucco to keep outrats and lizards, for nothing is so timid as a pigeon. A round nestshould be provided for each pair of pigeons and these should bearranged in close order so that there may be established as many aspossible of them ranked from the ground to the very dome. Each nestshould have a door no bigger than necessary to enable the pigeons togo in and out but within should be of three palms in diameter. Undereach rank of nests should be fastened planks two palms broad for theuse of the pigeons as a vestibule on coming out. Water should be ledinto the pigeon house, both for them to drink and to bathe in, forpigeons are very clean birds. For this reason the keeper of thepigeons should sweep out the house several times a month, for thatwhich soils it has so great a. Value in agriculture that some writerseven claim that it is the best of all manures. Furthermore, the keeperin these rounds may tend any pigeon which is ailing, remove any whichare dead, and take out such squabs as are fit for market. Likewise, those which are setting should be transferred to a particular place, separated from the others by a net but from which the mothers maybe free to get out of doors: which is done for two reasons: first, because if they become weary or decrepit from being cooped too long, they will be refreshed by the free air when they go abroad: secondly, because they serve as decoys for other pigeons, for their squabs willalways bring them home themselves unless they are struck down by acrow or cut off by a hawk. Pigeon breeders rid themselves of thelast mentioned pests by planting in the ground two rods smeared withbirdlime and bent in one upon the other, and then tie on some baitso disposed that when the hawk falls upon his prey he finds himselfentangled in the birdlime and is taken. 

"It may be noted that the pigeon has a homing instinct, as is proved bythe practice of many in letting pigeons loose from their bosoms in thetheatre expecting them to return home, for if they did not return thepractice would not persist. 

"The food for pigeons is placed in mangers fastened around the wallsand filled from the outside by means of conduits. They thrive onmillet, wheat, barley, peas, beans and vetch. This regimen should befollowed also, as far as possible, in the care of the wild pigeons, which live on the towers and the roofs of the barn. 

"In equipping a [Greek: peristereon] pigeons of good age should besecured, neither squabs nor veterans, and as many males as females. Nothing is more prolific than the pigeon, for in forty days theyconceive, lay, hatch and raise a brood, and they keep this up nearlyall the year, stopping only from the winter solstice until spring. Squabs are hatched in pairs, and as soon as they have grown up andhave strength breed with their own mothers. Those who fatten squabs inorder to sell them dearer, make a practice of isolating them as soonas they are covered with feathers, then they cram them with whitebread which has been chewed:[178] in winter this is fed twice a day, insummer three times a day, morning, noon and night, the midday mealbeing omitted in winter. Those which are just beginning to havefeathers are left in the nests, but their legs are broken, and, inorder that they may be crammed, the food is put before the mothers, for they will feed themselves and their squabs on it all day long. Squabs which are reared in this way become fat more quickly thanothers and have whiter flesh. 

"A pair of pigeons will commonly sell at Rome for two hundred _nummi_, if they are well made, of good colour, without blemish, and of goodbreed: some times they even bring a thousand _nummi_, and there isa report that recently L. Axius, a Roman of the equestrian order, declined that sum, refusing to sell for less than four hundreddeniers. "[179]

"If I could procure a fully equipped [Greek: peristereon], " criedAxius, "as readily as I have bought a supply of earthen ware nests, Iwould have had it already on the way to my farm. "

"As if, " remarked Pica, "there were not many of them here in town. Butperhaps those who have pigeon houses on their roofs do not seem to youto be justified in calling them [Greek: peristereonas] even thoughsome of them represent an investment of more than one hundred thousandsesterces. I advise you to buy out one of them and learn how to pocketa profit here in town, before you build on a large scale in thecountry. "

_Of turtle doves_

VIII. "So much for that then, " said Axius. "Proceed, please, to thenext subject, Merula. "

"For turtle doves, " said Merula, "in like manner a house should beconstructed proportioned to the number you intend to feed, and this, like the pigeon house, I have described, should have a door andwindows and fresh water and walls and a vaulted roof, but in place ofbreeding nests the mutules should be extended through the walls orpoles set in them in regular order with hempen mats on them, thelowest rank being not more than three feet from the floor, the rest atintervals of nine inches, the top rank six inches from the vault, andof equal breadth as the mutule stands out from the wall. On thesethe doves are fed day and night. For food they are given dry wheat, usually a half modius for every one hundred and twenty doves. Everyday the house should be cleaned out, that they may not be injured bythe accumulation of manure, and because also it has its place in theeconomy of the farm. The best time for fattening doves is about theharvest, for then the mothers are in their best condition and produceyoung ones not only in the largest number but the best for cramming:so that is the time when they are most profitable. "

_Of poultry_

IX. "Tell me now, if you please, Merula, " said Axius, "what I shouldknow of raising and fattening poultry and wood pigeons, then we canproceed to the discussion of the remainder of our programme. "

"There are three kinds of fowls usually classed as poultry, " repliedMerula, "dunghill fowl, jungle fowl and guinea fowl. The dunghill fowlare those which are constantly kept in the country at farms. 

"He who wishes to establish an [Greek: ornithoboskeion] from which, bythe exercise of intelligence and care, he can take large profits, asthe people of Delos do with such great success, [180] should observe fiveprincipal rules: 1° in regard to buying, what kind and how many hewill keep: 2° in regard to breeding: 3° in regard to eggs, how theyare set and hatched: 4° in regard to chicks, how and by whom they arereared, and 5°, which is a supplement of all the foregoing, how theyare fattened. 

"The females of the dunghill fowl are called hens, the breeding malescocks, and the males which have been altered capons. Cocks arecaponized by burning the spurs[181] with a hot iron until the skin isbroken, the wound being poulticed with potters' clay. 

"He who wishes to have a model [Greek: ornithoboskeion] should equip itwith all three kinds of fowls, though chiefly the dunghill variety. Inpurchasing these last it is important to choose fertile hens, whichare indicated by red feathers, black wings, unequal toes, large heads, combs upstanding and heavy, for such hens are more likely to lay. 

"A lusty cock may be known by his muscular carriage, his red comb, abeak short, strong and sharp, eyes tawny or black, wattles a whitishred, neck spotted or tinged with gold, the second joint of his legswell covered with feathers, short legs long spurs, a heavy tail, andprofuse feathers, also by his spirit and his frequent crowing, hisreadiness to fight, and that he is not only not afraid of such animalsas do the hens harm, but even goes out to fight them. You must becareful, however, not to buy for breeding any fowls of the breedsknown as Tanagran, Medean and Chalcidean, for, while they arebeautiful to look at and are fit for fighting with one another, theyare practically sterile. 

"If you wish to keep a flock of two hundred, choose an enclosed placeand there construct two large poultry houses side by side and lookingto the East, each about ten by five feet and a little less than fivefeet in height, and furnished with windows three by four feet in whichare fitted shutters of wickerwork, which will serve to let in plentyof fresh air and light and yet keep out such vermin as prey uponchickens. 

"Between the two houses should be a door by which the _gallinarius_ whotakes care of them, may have access. Within the houses enough polesare arranged to serve as roosts for all the chickens: opposite eachroost a nest should be set in the wall. In front of the house shouldbe an enclosed yard to which the fowls may have access in the day timeand where they can dust themselves, [182] and there should be constructedthe keeper's house, which should be equipped all about with nests, either set into the walls or firmly fastened to them, for the leastdisturbance injures eggs when they are setting. 

"When the hens begin to lay, straw should be spread in their nests andthis should be renewed when they begin to set, for in such beddingare bred mites and other insects which will not suffer the hen to bequiet, with the result that the eggs are hatched unequally or rot. 

"A hen should not be allowed to set on more than twenty-five eggs, although such is her fecundity that she lays more than that in aseason. The best time for hatching is from the spring to the autumnequinox. Eggs laid before or after this season, or the first eggs laidby a pullet, should never be set. Hens used for setting should beold rather than young, without sharp beaks and claws, for those soequipped are better employed in laying than in setting. Hens a year ortwo years old are better fitted for laying. 

"If you set pea-cock eggs under a hen, you should wait ten days beforeadding hen eggs to the nest, to insure them all hatching together, forthe period of incubation of chicken eggs is thrice seven days and thatof the eggs of pea-fowl is thrice nine. Sitting hens should be shut upday and night, except for a time in the morning and evening, when theyare let out to eat and drink. 

"The keeper should make the rounds every few days and turn the eggs, so that they may be kept warm all over. It is said that you can tellwhether an egg is fertile or sterile by putting it in water: for if itis sterile it will float, while if it is fertile it will sink. Thosewho shake their eggs to ascertain this fact make a mistake for therebythey destroy the germ in them. It is also said that you can tell asterile egg by the fact that it is transparent when held against thelight. 

"To preserve eggs they should be rubbed with fine salt or soaked forthree or four hours in brine, and then cleaned off or packed in chaffor straw. Care should be taken to set eggs only in uneven numbers. Thekeeper can tell whether an egg is fertile or not four days after it isset, by holding it to the light, when he should throw it out if it isfound to be empty and substitute another for it. 

"The new hatched chickens should be taken from every nest and given toa hen who has only a few to care for. When in this way a setting henhas less than half her eggs left unhatched, they should be taken fromher and put under another hen which has eggs still unhatched. It isnot well to give more than thirty chicks to a hen. Chicks shouldbe fed for the first fifteen days in the dust to protect them frominjuring their tender beaks on the hard ground: their diet beingcrushed barley mixed with cress seed and soaked in wine, for preparedin this way the grain is digestible. They should be kept away fromwater in the beginning. When they begin to have feathers on their legsthe mites should be carefully picked off their heads and necks, forthese banes often destroy them. Deer's horn should be burnt aroundtheir coops to keep snakes away, for the very smell of those vermin isfatal to young chickens. They should be allowed to run in the sun andto scratch in a dung heap, which serves to develop them. This ruleapplies not only to young chickens but also to the entire [Greek:ornithoboskeion], and should be practised all summer and even inwinter on mild and sunny days. A net should be stretched over thechicken yard to keep the fowls themselves from flying out and toprotect them from hawks and other birds of prey. Fowls should beprotected from heat as well as cold, for both are harmful to them. When the chicks have got their feathers it is best to accustom them tofollow one or two hens, leaving the other hens free to go to laying, in which occupation they are more useful than in rearing chicks. 

"A hen should be set after the new moon, for those which begin earlierseldom hatch many chicks. 

"They hatch usually in twenty days. 

"And now since I have discussed the dunghill fowl at some length, Iwill make up to you by brevity with respect to the other kinds offowls. 

"Jungle fowl are rarely seen at Rome, and then usually in cages. Theyresemble guinea chickens more than dunghill fowls. When perfect inform and appearance they are often carried in the public processionswith parrots and white blackbirds and other such rarities. They do notusually lay or raise their chickens on a farm, but in the forests. Theisland of Gallinaria, which lies in the Tuscan sea off the coast ofItaly, opposite the Ligurian mountains (and the towns of Intermeliiand Alba Ingannua) derives its name from them, though some maintainthat the name comes from dunghill fowl which were carried to thatisland by sailors and have there run wild. Guinea fowl (_gallinaeafricanae_) are large, mottled and have their humps in their backs. The Greeks call them [Greek: meleagrís]. [183] They are the last fowlswhich the culinary art has introduced to our dining tables, on accountof their gamy flavour. [184] By reason of their rarity they sell for ahigh price. 

"Of the three kinds of fowls, the ordinary dunghill fowl is usedchiefly for cramming. For this purpose they are shut up in a smallconfined and darkened coop, because both exercise and light areenemies of fat. Any large chickens may be selected for this operation, not necessarily of that breed which the peasants call Melicaincorrectly, for as the ancients said Thelis when they meant Thetis, so the country people still say Melica for Medica. This name was givenat first to the fowls which were imported from Medea on account oftheir great size and then to all of that breed, but now the name isgiven indiscriminately to all large fowls by reason of their generalresemblance. After the feathers have been pulled from their tails andwings they are crammed with balls of barley paste, with which may bemixed darnel meal, or flax seed soaked in soft water. They are fedtwice a day but care must be taken to see that the last meal isdigested before another is put before them. After they have been fedand their heads have been cleaned of mites, they are shut up again. This process is kept up for twenty-five days, when they will be fat. 

"Some cram them on wheat bread soaked in water, or even in wine ofgood flavour and bouquet, claiming that they are thereby made fat andtender in twenty days. [185]

"If in the process of cramming the fowls lose their appetite from toomuch food, the ration should be reduced daily during the last ten daysin the same proportion as it was increased during the first ten days, so that the ration will be the same on the twentieth as on the firstday. 

"Wood pigeons are crammed and fattened in the same way. "

_Of geese_

X. "Let us now pass, " said Axius, "to that tribe which cannot live inthe barn yard all the time, or even on land, but requires access toponds. I mean those whom you philhellenes call amphibia. I understandthat you call the places in which geese are kept by the Greek name[Greek: chaenoboskeion], and that Scipio Metellus and M. Seius haveseveral large flocks of geese. "

"It is Seius' practice, " said Merula, "to maintain his flocks ofgeese[186] in accordance with the five rules I have laid down forpoultry, namely: with respect to choice of individuals, breeding, eggs, goslings and the process of cramming. 

"On the first point he requires the slave who buys his geese to selectthem of good size and of white plumage, because they reproduce theirown qualities in their goslings. This is necessary for there isanother kind of geese of variegated plumage, which are called wild, and do not flock freely with the other kind and are domesticated withdifficulty. 

"The best time for breeding geese is at the end of winter and forlaying and hatching from the beginning of February or March until thesummer solstice. They breed usually in the water, diving to the bottomof the stream or pond. [187] A goose lays only three times a year: andeach one should be furnished with a coop about two and a half feetsquare and bedded with straw: each of their eggs should be marked foridentification, for they will not hatch any eggs but their own. Theyare usually set on nine or eleven eggs, never more than fifteen, norless than five. In cold weather they set for thirty days, in warmweather twenty-five. When they are hatched the goslings are sufferedto remain with their mother for five days, and then daily, when theweather is fine, they are driven out to the meadows or to the pondsor some swampy place. The gosling houses may be built either above orbelow ground, but never more than twenty should be housed together andcare must be taken lest the floor be damp and that they are bedded onchaff or some thing of that kind, and that the house is so constructedas to keep out weasels and other beasts which prey on goslings. Geeseare fed in wet places and it is the practice to sow especially fortheir food supply, using for this purpose any kind of grain, butparticularly that salad plant called endive[188] which keeps greenwherever there is water, freshening at the mere contact of waterhowever dry it may be. This is gathered to be fed to them, for if theyhave access to the place where it is growing they will destroy theplant by trampling on it, or else kill themselves by eating too muchof it, for they are greedy by nature. For this reason they must bewatched, as often in feeding their greediness leads them to seize aroot and to break their own necks in attempting to pull it from theground: for the neck is weak, as the head is soft. 

"If there is none of this plant they should be fed barley or some othergrain. When the farrago season is on, feed that to them, but in thesame manner as I have described in respect of endive. While they aresetting they may be fed ground barley soaked in water. The goslingsmay be fed for the first two days on barley cake (_pollenta_) or rawbarley, and for the next three days fresh water cress chopped fine ina dish. When they are of an age to be kept by themselves in flocks oftwenty, in the kind of house I have described, they are fed on barleymeal or farrago or some kind of young herbage cut up. 

"For cramming, goslings are picked out when they are about six monthsold, and are shut up in the fattening pen and there are fed threetimes a day as much as they will eat, of crushed barley and flourdust mixed with water, and after meals they should be made to drinkcopiously. Kept on this diet they will be fat in about two months. [189]After every meal the feeding place must be cleaned, for, while geeselike a clean place, they never leave any place clean in which theyhave been. "

_Of ducks_

XI. "Whoever wishes to keep a flock of ducks and to establish a [Greek:naessotropheion], should choose for it, above all others if it ispossible, a swampy location because that is most agreeable to theducks, but, if not, then a situation sloping to a natural lake orpool, or to an artificial pond, with steps leading down to it, practicable for the ducks. The enclosure where they are kept shouldhave a wall fifteen feet high, such as you saw at Seius' villa, withonly one door opening into it. All around the wall on the insideshould run a broad platform on which are built against the wall theduck houses, fronting on a level concrete vestibule in which isconstructed a permanent channel in which their food can be placed inwater, for ducks are fed in that way. The entire wall should be givena smooth coating of stucco to keep out polecats[190] and other animalsof prey, and the enclosure should be covered with a net of large meshto prevent eagles from pouncing in and the ducks themselves fromflying out. [191]

"For food they are given wheat, barley, grape marc, and some times evenlobsters and other such aquatic animals. The pond in the enclosureshould be fed with a large head of water so that it may be kept alwaysfresh. 

"There are other kinds of similar birds, like teals and coots which maybe fed in the same way. 

"Some even keep partridges, which, as Archelaus writes, conceivewhen they hear the voice of the male bird. By reason of the naturalabundance and the delicacy of their flesh, these last are not crammedlike those domestic fowls I have described, but they are fattened byfeeding in the ordinary way. 

"And now, as I think that I have completed the first act of the dramaof the barn yard, I am done. "

_Of rabbits_

XII. At this point Appius returned and, after an exchange of questionsand answers as to what had been said and done during his absence, hesaid: "Here beginneth the second act of those industries which arewont to be practised at a villa, namely of those enclosures which arestill known as _leporaria_ from their ancient special designation. Today a warren no longer means an acre or two in which hares are kept, but some times forests of vast extent in which troops of red deerand roe deer are enclosed. Q. Fulvius Lippinus is said to have fortyjugera enclosed in the neighbourhood of Tarquinii[192] where he keepsnot only those animals I have named but wild sheep as well. Parksof still larger extent are found in the territory of Statonia (inEtruria) and in certain other places: indeed, in transalpine Gaul T. Pompeius has so great a game preserve that the enclosure is about fourmiles in extent. [193]

"It is the practice to keep in such enclosures not only the animalsI have named, but also snail houses and bee hives and jars in whichdormice are fed, but the care and the increase and the feeding of allthese things are easy, except in the case of bees. Who does not knowthat a _leporarium_ should be enclosed with masonry walls which areat once smooth and high the one to keep out wild cats and badgers andother such beasts: the other to prevent wolves from getting over. Within should be coverts where the hares may lurk in the day timeunder bushes and grass, and trees with broad spreading branches toward off the attacks of the eagle. 

"Who does not know also that if he introduces only a few hares of bothsexes in a short time the place will be full of them, for such isthe fecundity of this quadruped that two pair are enough to stock anentire warren in a short time. Often a mother who has just had herlitter is found to be big with another: indeed, Archelaus says that ifyou want to know how old a hare is you have only to count the numberof openings in her belly, for without doubt there is one for everyyear of her life. 

"It has recently become the practice to cram hares as well as poultry, and for this purpose they are taken out of the warren and shut up insmall hutches where they are fattened. There are three kinds of hares:the first, our common Italian kind, which has short front legs andlong hind legs, the upper part of the body dark coloured, the bellywhite, and long ears. Some say that our hare conceives a second timewhile it is still big. In transalpine Gaul and Macedonia they grow toa great size, but in Spain and in Italy they are not so large. Thesecond kind is native in Gaul near the Alps, and is white all over thebody: these are brought to Rome, but rarely. The third kind is nativein Spain and is like our hare in every way except that it is smallerand is called rabbit (_cuniculus_). [194] L. Aelius thinks that the hare(_lepus_) gets his name from his swiftness, as it were that he islight of foot (_levipes_), but I think the name is derived from theancient Greek, because the Aeolians of Boeotia call him [Greek:leporis]. The rabbits derive their latin name of _cuniculi_ from thehabit of making underground burrows to hide in [for _cuniculus_ is aSpanish word for mine]. If possible you should have all these threekinds in your warren. I am sure you already have the first two kinds, "Apius added, turning to me, "and, as you were so many years in Spaindoubtless some rabbits followed you home. ""

_Of game preserves_

XIII. Then addressing himself again to Axius, Appius continued:

"You know, of course, that wild boars are kept in game parks, and thatthose which are brought in wild are fattened with as little trouble asthe tame ones which are born in the park, for you have doubtless seenat the farm near Tusculum, which Varro here bought from M. PupiusPiso, wild boars and roe bucks assemble at the sound of the trumpetto be fed at regular hours, when from a platform, the keeper scattersmast to the wild boars and vetch or some such forage to the roebucks. "

"I saw this done, " put in Axius, "more dramatically when I was avisitor at the villa of Q. Hortensius in the country near Laurentum. He has there a wood of more than fifty jugera in extent, all enclosed, but it might better be called a [Greek: theriotropheion] than awarren; there on high ground he caused his dinner table to be spread, and while we supped Hortensius gave orders that Orpheus be summoned:when he came, arrayed in his long robe, with a cithara in his hands, he was desired to sing. At that moment a trumpet was sounded and atonce Orpheus was surrounded by a large audience of deer and wild boarsand other quadrupeds: it seemed to be not less agreeable a spectaclethan the shows of game, without African beasts, which the Aedilesprovide in the Circus Maximus. "

_Of snails_

XIV. And turning to Merula, Axius continued: "Appius has lightenedyour task, my dear Merula, so far as concerns the matter of game, andbriefly the second act of our drama may be brought to an end, for Ido not seek to learn any thing about snails and dormice, which is allthat is left on the programme, for there can be no great trouble inkeeping them. "

"It is not so simple as you seem to think, my dear Axius, " repliedMerula, "for a place suitable for keeping snails[195] I must be not onlyin the open air but entirely surrounded by water, otherwise you willbe kept running not only after the children but also the parents whichyou have supplied for breeding. "

"In other words, " said I, "they must be enclosed by water to save themaintenance of a slave catcher. "

"A place which is not baked by the sun and on which the dew remains ispreferable, " continued Merula. "If the place you use for your snailsis not supplied with dew naturally, as often is the case in sunnysituations, and there is no available shady recess, such as is foundunder rocks or hills whose feet are laved by a lake or a stream, thenyou must supply dew artificially. This may be done by leading into thesnailery a pipe on the end of which is fixed a rose nozzle, throughwhich water is forced against a rock so that it scatters in spray. Theproblem of feeding snails is small, for they supply themselves withouthelp, finding what they require as they creep over the level groundand also while clinging to the sides of a wall, if no running waterprevents their access to it. On the hucksters' stands they keep alivea long time, as it were chewing their own cud, all that is done forthem being to supply a few laurel leaves and scatter a little branover them: so a cook never knows whether he is cooking them alive ordead. 

"There are many kinds of snails, such as the small white ones, whichcome from Reate: the large variety which are imported from Illyricum, and the medium size which come from Africa: but they vary in size incertain localities of each of those countries. Thus, there is found inAfrica a variety which are called _solitannae_ of so great size thattheir shells will hold ten quarts:[196] and so in the other countriesI have named they are found together of all sizes. They produce aninnumerable progeny, which at first are very small and soft butdevelop their hard shell with time. If you have large islands in theenclosure you may expect a rich haul from your snails. 

"Snails are fattened by placing them in a jar smeared with boiled mustand corn meal, on which they feed, and pierced with holes to admit theair, but they are naturally hardy. "

_Of dormice_

XV. "Dormice[197] are preserved on a different systern than snails, forwhile the one is confined by barriers of water, the other is kept inby a wall which must be coated on the inside with smooth stone orstucco to prevent their escape. Young nut trees should be planted inthe enclosure, and when these are not bearing, mast and chestnutsshould be thrown in to the dormice, for that is what makes themfat. Roomy cages should be provided for them in which to rear theiryoung. [198] Little water is necessary, for dormice do not require muchwater, but on the contrary affect dry places. They are fattened injars which are usually kept indoors. The potters make these jars indifferent shapes, but with paths for the dormice to use contrived onthe sides and a hollow to hold their food, which consists of mast, walnuts and chestnuts. [199] Covers are placed on the jars and there inthe dark the dormice are fattened. "

_Of bees_

XVI. "It remains now, " said Appius, "to rehearse the third and lastact of our drama of the husbandry of the steading and to discuss thekeeping of fishes. "

"The third, indeed, " exclaimed Axius, "shall we deprive ourselves ofhoney because in your youth you never drank mead in your own house, such was your practice of frugality?"

"He speaks the truth, " said Appius, to us, "for I was indeed left apoor orphan with two brothers and two sisters to provide for, and itwas not until I had married one of them to Lucullus without portionand he had named me his heir that I began to drink mead in my ownhouse and to supply it to my household: but there never was a day whenI did not offer it to all my guests. But apart from that, it has beenmy fortune, not yours, [200] Axius, to have known these winged creatureswhom nature has endowed so richly with industry and art, and that youmay appreciate that I know more than you do of their almost incrediblenatural art, listen to what I am to say. It will then be for Merulato develop the practice of the bee keeper, or, as the Greeks call it, [Greek: melittourgia], as methodically as he has his other subjects. 

"To begin then, [201] bees are generated partly by other bees and partlyfrom the decaying carcase of an ox: so Archelaus in one of hisepigrams calls them

 'flitting offspring of decaying beef, '

and else where he says, 'wasps spring from horses, bees from calves. '

"Bees are not of a solitary habit like eagles, but are of a socialnature, like men, a characteristic they share with daws, but not forthe same reason, for bees live in colonies, the better to work andbuild, while daws congregate for gossip. Thus the life of a bee is oneof intelligence and art, for man has learned from them to manufacture, to build, and to store his food: three occupations which are not thesame but are diverse in their nature, for it is one thing to providefood, another to manufacture wax and honey, and still another to builda house. Has not each cell in a honey comb six sides, or as many as abee has feet, the art of which arrangement appears in the teaching ofthe geometricians that of all polygons the hexagon covers the largestarea within a circle. [202] Bees feed out of doors, but it is at homethat they manufacture that which is the sweetest of all things, acceptable to gods and men alike: for honey comb is offered on thealtars and honey is served at the beginning of a dinner and again atdessert. 

"Bees have institutions like our own, consisting of royalty, governmentand organized society. Cleanliness in all things is their aim: and sothey never alight in any place where there is filth or an evil odour, or even where there is a strong savour of such an unguent as we mayconsider agreeable. For the same reason if one who approaches them iscovered with perfume, [203] they do not lick him as flies do, but theysting him, and by the same token no one ever sees bees crawling onmeat and blood and grease, as flies do. And so they only settle inplaces of sweet savour. They do a minimum of damage because in theirharvesting they leave what they touch none the worse. [204] They are notso cowardly as not to resist who ever attempts to disturb them, andyet they are fully conscious of their own weakness. They are calledthe Winged Servants of the Muses, because when they swarm they arequickly brought together by the music of cymbals and the clapping ofhands: and as men assign Helicon and Olympus to be the haunts of theMuses, so nature has attributed the flowery and uncultivated mountainsto the bees. They follow their king[205] wheresoever he goes, supportinghim when he is tired and even taking him upon their backs if he isunable to fly, so do they wish to serve him. [206] As they are not idlersthemselves, so do they hate those who are, and thus driving out thedrones, they exclude them from the hive, because they are of noservice but merely consume honey: and it happens that a few bees, buzzing with wrath, will drive out a number of drones. 

"They smear every thing about the entrance to the hive with a gum whichis found between the cells which the Greeks call [Greek: erithakae]. They live under the discipline of an army, taking turns in resting andall doing their equal share of work, and they send out colonies andcarry out the orders of their leaders, given with the voice, but as itwere with a trumpet: and in like manner they have signs of peace andof war. 

"But, Merula, now in my course I pass on the torch to you, as ourAxius here is doubtless languishing while he has listened to all thisnatural history, for I have said nothing of profit. "

"I do not know, " said Merula, "whether what I can say on the subjectof the profit to be derived from bees will satisfy you, Axius, but Ihave as my authorities not only Seius, who takes five thousand poundsof honey every year from the hives he leases, [207] but also our friendVarro here, for I have heard him tell of two brothers Veiani, from theFalerian territory, whom he had under his command in Spain and who, although their father left them only a small house with a curtilage ofnot exceeding a jugerum in extent, nevertheless made themselves rich. They set bee hives all about the house and planted part of the landin a garden and filled up the rest with thyme and clover and thatbee plant known to us as _apiastrum_, though some call it [Greek:meliphullon], others [Greek: mellissophullon] and still others_melittaena_: and by this means they were wont to derive, as theyestimated, an average income of not less than ten thousand sestercesper annum from honey; but they did this by being willing to wait untilthey could sell at their own time and price rather than by forcing themarket. "

"Tell me, " exclaimed Axius, "where and how I should establish abee-stand to make such a handsome profit. "

"The apiary, " replied Merula, "which some call by the Greek names[Greek: melitton] and [Greek: melittotropheion], and others_mellarium_, should preferably be placed near the house[208] in alocation where there is no echo (for such sounds are deemed to putthem to flight, as timid men are by the din of a battle) and where thetemperature is mild, exposed neither to the heat of summer nor thecold of winter, giving preferably to the Southeast and near of accessto places where their food is abundant and there is a supply of freshwater. If there is no natural supply of food available you shouldplant such things as best serve bees for pasture, namely: roses, thyme, bee balm, [209] poppies, beans, lentils, peas, basil, gladiolus, alfalfa, and especially clover which is of great service to the beeswhich are sick, for it begins to bloom at the vernal equinox and lastsuntil that of autumn. As clover is the best food for sick bees, sothyme is the best for making honey, and it is because Sicily aboundsin good thyme that it takes the palm for producing honey. On thisaccount some men bruise thyme in a mortar and mix warm water with itand then spray all their nursery plants with it for the sake of thebees. 

"The hives should be set as near the house as convenient: some men evenput them under the very portico for greater safety. Hives are made invarious shapes and sizes and of different material;[210] thus some makethem round out of wicker work: others of frame covered with bark:others use hollow tree trunks: others vessels of pottery: some evenbuild them square out of rods, allowing about three feet in length anda foot in height, but these dimensions should be reduced where youhave not enough bees to fill a hive of that size, for fear that thebees might become discouraged by too large an empty space. 

"The bee hive derives its name _alvus_, which is the same as our wordfor belly, from the fact that it holds food, that is to say, honey;and it is on this analogy that hives are usually shaped to imitate theform of the belly, small in the waist and bulging out below. When thehives are made of wicker work they should be coated evenly within andwithout with ox dung[211] so that the bees may not be driven away bythe roughness of their roof. The hives should be so ordered under theshelter of a wall that they may not be disturbed nor touch one anotherwhen arranged in ranks, for it is the practice to place hives in twoand some times three separated ranks, but the opinion is that it isbetter to reduce the ranks to two than to increase them to four. Inthe middle of the hive small openings are made on the right and theleft to serve as entrances for the bees, and on top is placed apracticable cover, which may be removed to give access to the honeycomb. This is best when made of bark, and worst of pottery, becausethat is strongly affected both by the cold of winter and the heat ofsummer. In spring and summer the bee keeper should inspect each hiveat least three times a month, fumigating them lightly, cleaningand throwing out dirt and worms. At the same time he should takeprecautions to keep down the number of princes, for they keep the beesfrom work by stirring up sedition. There are said to be three kinds ofroyalties among the bees: the black, the red and the mottled, or, asMenecrates writes, two: the black and the mottled: and as the latteris the better it behooves the bee keeper, when he finds both kinds ina hive, to kill the black one, as he is forever playing politics[212]against the other king, whereby the hive must suffer, for inevitablyone of the kings will flee or be driven out, in either case taking hisparty with him. 

"Of working bees the small round mottled variety is considered thebest. The drone, or, as some call him, the thief, [213] is black with alarge belly. The wasp, which has some resemblance to a bee, is not, however, a fellow labourer, but attacks the bees with his sting, wherefore the bees keep him at a distance. 

"Bees are themselves distinguished as wild and tame. I call those wildwhich feed in the forests, and those tame which feed in cultivatedplaces. The forest bees are smaller in size and hairy but betterworkmen. 

"In buying bees it behooves the purchaser to see whether they arewell or ailing. The signs of health are a thick swarm, well groomedappearance and a hive being filled in a workmanlike manner. The signsof lack of condition on the other hand are a hairy and bristlingappearance and a dusty coat, unless this last is caused by a pressureof work, for under such circumstances they often wear themselves downand become thin. 

"If the hives are to be transferred from one place to another it isnecessary to choose a fit time to make the move and a suitable placeto receive them. As to time, spring is preferable to winter because inwinter they have difficulty in adjusting themselves to a new locationand so often run away, as they do also if you move them from a goodlocation to a place where proper pasture is not available. Nor is atransfer from one hive to another in the same place to be undertakencarelessly, but that to which the bees are to be transferred should berubbed with bee balm, which will serve as a bait for them, andsome pieces of honey comb should be placed in it, not far from theentrances, for fear that the bees might run away if they found thelarder of their new home empty. 

"Menecrates says that bees contract a malady of the bowels from theirfirst spring pasture on the blossoms of the almond and the cornelcherry and are cured by giving them urine to drink. [214]

"That gummy substance which the bees use, chiefly in summer toconstruct a sort of curtain between the entrance and the hive, iscalled _propolis_, and by the same name is used by physicians inmaking plasters: by reason of which use it sells in the Via Sacra formore than honey itself. That substance which is called _erithacen_, and is used to glue the cells together, is different from both honeyand _propolis_: it is supposed to have a quality of attraction forbees and is accordingly mixed with bee balm and smeared on the branchor other place on which it is desired to have a swarm light. The combis made of wax and is multicellular, each cell in it having six sidesor as many as nature has given the bee feet. It is said that bees donot gather from the same plants all the materials which enter in thesefour substances which they manufacture, namely: propolis, erithacen, wax and honey. Thus from the pomegranate and the asparagus they gatherfood alone, wax from the olive tree, honey from the fig, but not ofgood quality: other plants like the bean, the bee balm, the gourd andthe cabbage serve a double purpose and yield both wax and food: whilethe apple and the wild pear serve a similar double purpose but forfood and honey and the poppy again for wax and honey. 

"Others again provide material for three purposes, food, honey andwax, such as the almond and the charlock. [215] In like manner thereare flowers from each of which they derive a different one of thesesubstances, and others from which they derive several of them: whilethey make distinctions in respect of plants according to the qualityof the product they yield, --or rather the plants make the distinctionfor them--as with respect to honey, some yield liquid honey, like theskirwort, [216] and others thick honey like the rosemary. So again honeyof insipid flavour is made from the fig, good honey from clover, andthe best of all from thyme. 

"And since drink is part of a bee's diet and water is the liquid theyuse, there should be provided near the stand a place for them todrink, which may be either a running stream or a reservoir not morethan two or three fingers deep in which bricks or stones are placedin such a way as to project a little from the water, and so furnisha place for the bees to sit and drink; but the greatest care must betaken to keep this water fresh, as it is of high importance to themaking of good honey. 

"As the bees cannot go out to distant pasture in all weathers, foodmust be prepared for them, as otherwise they will live on their supplyof honey and so deplete the store in the hive. For this purpose tenpounds of ripe figs may be boiled in six congii of water and bitsof the paste thus prepared should be set out near the hives. Othersprovide honey water in little dishes and float flocks of clean wool onthem through which the bees may suck without risk of either gettingmore than is good for them or of being drowned. One such dish shouldbe provided for each hive and they should be kept filled. Others againbray dried grapes and figs together and, mixing in some boiled must, make a paste of which bits are exposed near the hives during such partof the winter as the bees are still able to go forth in search offood. 

"When a swarm is about to come out of the hive (which happens when anumber of young bees have matured, and the hive determines to sendtheir youth out to found a colony, as formerly the Sabines often werecompelled to do on account of the number of their children)[217] thereare two signs by which the intention may be known: one that forseveral days before hand, and especially in the evening, many beesweave themselves together and hang upon the entrance of the hive likegrapes: the other that when they are about to go forth or have alreadybegun to go they buzz together lustily, as soldiers do when they breakcamp. Those who have come forth first fly about the hive waiting forthe others, who have not yet collected, to join them. When the beekeeper notices this he has only to throw dust on them and at thesame time beat upon some copper vessel to collect them, thoroughlyfrightened, where he desires in some nearby place on which he hassmeared erithacen and bees' balm and other things in which theydelight. When they have settled down he should place near them a hivesmeared within with the same baits, and then, by blowing a light smokearound them, compel them to enter the hive. When thus introduced intotheir new abode the swarm makes itself at home cheerfully, so thateven if placed next to the parent hive they will prefer their newcolonial settlement. 

"And now, having told you all I know about the care of bees, I willspeak of that for which the industry is carried on, that is to say, ofthe profit. 

"The honey is taken off when the hive is full, as may be determined byremoving the cover of the hive, for if the openings of the combs areseen to be sealed, as it were with a skin, then the hive is fullof honey: but the bees themselves give notice of this condition bykeeping up a loud buzzing within, by their agitation when they go inand out and by driving out the drones. 

"In taking off honey some say that you should be content with nineparts, leaving the tenth, because if you take it all the bees willdesert the hive: others leave a still larger proportion than I havementioned. 

"As those who crop their corn land every year obtain good yields onlyat intervals, so it is with bee hives: you will have more industriousand more profitable bees if you do not exact of them the same tributeevery year. 

"It is considered that honey should be taken off for the first time atthe rising of the Pleiades, for the second time at the end of summerbefore Arcturus has reached the zenith, and for the third time afterthe setting of the Pleiades, but this last time beware not to takemore than one-third of the store even if the hive is full, leavingthe other two-thirds for the winter supply, but if the hive is onlypartially filled nothing should be taken off. In any event, when alarge amount of honey is to be taken off a hive it should not be doneall at once or ostentatiously less the bees be discouraged. Thosecombs which, on being taken off, are found to be partly unfilled withhoney or to be soiled, should be pared with a knife. 

"Care must be taken that the weaker bees in a hive are not oppressed bythe stronger, for this diminishes the profit: to this end the minorityparty[218] may be colonized under another king. When bees are given tofighting with one another, you should sprinkle them with honey water, upon which they will not only cease fighting but will crowd togetherand kiss one another: and this will prove the case even more if theyare sprinkled with mead, for the savour of the wine in it will causethem to apply themselves so greedily that they will fuddle themselvesin sucking it. If the bees seem lazy about coming out to work and anypart of them get the habit of remaining in the hive, they should befumigated and odoriferous herbs, like bees' balm and thyme, should beplaced near the hive. Watchful care is necessary to protect them fromruin by heat or cold. If the bees are overtaken by a sudden rain orcold while at pasture (which rarely happens for they usually foreseesuch things) and are stricken down by the heavy rain drops and laidlow and stunned, you should gather them in a dish and place them undercover in a warm place until the weather has cleared, when they shouldbe sprinkled with ashes of fig wood (making sure that the ashes arerather hot than warm) the dish should then be shaken gently withouttouching the bees with your hand, and placed in the sun. When the beesfeel this warmth they revive and get on their feet again, just asflies do after they have been apparently drowned. This should be donenear the hive so that when the bees have come to themselves they mayreturn home and to work. "

_Of fish ponds_

XVII. Here Pavo returned and said: "You may weigh anchor now if youwish. The drawing of the lots of the tribes to determine a tie vote isover and the herald is announcing the result of the election. "

Appius arose without delay and went to congratulate his candidate, andescort him home. 

Merula said: "I will leave the third act of our drama of the husbandryof the steading to you, Axius, " and went out with the others, leavingAxius with me to wait for our candidate whom we knew would come tojoin us. Axius said to me: "I do not regret Merula's departure at thispoint, for I am quite well up on the subject of fish ponds, whichstill remains to complete our programme. 

"There are two kinds of fish ponds, of fresh water and salt water. Theformer are commonly maintained by farmers and without much expense, for the Lymphae, the homely goddesses of the Fountains, supply thewater for them, while the latter, the sea ponds, are the play thingsof our nobles and are furnished with both water and fishes, as it wereby Neptune himself: serving more the purposes of pleasure than ofutility, their accomplishment being rather to empty than to fill theexchequers of their lords. For in the first place they are built atgreat expense, then they are stocked at great expense, and finallythey are maintained at great expense. 

"Hirrus was wont to derive an income of twelve thousand sesterces fromthe buildings surrounding his fish ponds, all of which he spentfor food for his fishes: and no wonder, for I remember that on oneoccasion he lent two thousand _murenae_ to Caesar[219] by weight(stipulating for their return in kind), so that his villa (whichwas not otherwise extraordinary) sold for four million sesterces onaccount of the stock of fish. 

"In sooth, the inland ponds of our farmer folk may well be called_dulcis_, and those other _amara_. [220]

"A single fish pond suffices us simple folk, but those amateurs musthave a series of them linked together: for as Pausias and otherpainters of his school have boxes with as many compartments as theyhave different coloured wax, so must they fain have as many ponds asthey have different varieties of fish. 

"These fish are furthermore sacred, more sacred, indeed, than thosefish which you, Varro, say you saw in Lydia, (at the same time thatyou saw the dancing isles)[221] which came to the shore, where the altarwas erected for a sacrifice, in shoals at the sound of the Greek pipe, because no one ever ventured to molest them; so no cook has ever beenknown to have 'sauced' one of these fishes. [222]

"When our friend Hortensius had those fish ponds at Baulii, whichrepresented so large an investment, he was wont to send to Puteoli tobuy the fish he served on his table, as I have often seen when I wasvisiting him. And it was not enough that his fishes did not supplyhis table, but he was at pains to supply theirs, taking greaterprecautions lest his mullets (_mulli_) should go hungry than I do formy mules in Rosea, and it was not at less cost that he supplied meatand drink to his stock than I do to mine. For I raise my asses, whichbring such fancy prices, at the cost of one servant, a little barleyand the water which springs from my land, while Hortensius must needsmaintain a fleet of fishermen to keep him supplied with small fry tofeed to his fish, or, when the sea runs high and such deep sea forageis cut off by a storm, and it is not possible even to draw live baitashore in a net, he is fain to buy in the market for the delectationof the denizens of his ponds the very salt fish which is the food ofthe people. "

"Doubtless, " said I, "Hortensius would prefer to have you take thecarriage mules out of his stable than one of his barbel mules from thefish pond. "

"Yes, indeed, " agreed Axius, "and he would rather have a sick slavedrink cold water than that his beloved fish should be risked in thatwhich is fresh. On the other hand, M. Lucullus was reputed to be socareless and neglectful of his fish ponds that he did not provide anysuitable quarters for his fishes in hot weather, but permitted them toremain in ponds which were unhealthy with stagnant water: a practicevery different from that of his brother L. Lucullus, who yieldednothing to Neptune himself in his care of his fishes, for he pierceda mountain at Naples, and so contrived that the sea water in his fishponds should be renewed by the action of the tides. Furthermore, hehas arranged that his beloved fishes may be driven into a cool placeduring the heat of the day, just as the Apulian shepherds do when theydrive their flocks along the drift ways to the Sabine mountains: forso great was his ardour for the welfare of his fishes that he gave acommission to his architect to drive at his sole cost a tunnel fromhis fish ponds at Raise to the sea, and by throwing out a molecontrived that the tide should flow in and out of his fish ponds twicea day, from moon to moon, and so cool them off. "

At this moment, while we were talking, there was a sound of foot stepson the right and our candidate came into the _villa publica_ arrayedin the broad purple of his new rank as an aedile. We went to meet himand, after congratulations, escorted him to the Capitol, whence hedeparted for his home and we to ours. 

So there, my dear Pinnius, is the brief record of our discourse on thehusbandry of the steading. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: "The manner in which the ancients managed their fallowis certainly most worthy of our attention: their care in ploughing, according to the situation of the land, and nature of the climate, andtheir manner of adapting the kind of ploughing to answer the purposesintended by the operation, are also most worthy of our imitation. Their exactness in these things exceeds any thing of the kind foundamongst the moderns, and is even beyond what any practical writer onagriculture has proposed. This is an evidence that tillage is not evenin this age brought to that perfection of which it is capable: andthat, notwithstanding all the improvements lately introduced, we mayyet receive some instruction from a proper attention to the preceptsand practices of the ancients. I am desirous to add that thisattention may be useful by preventing improvers from running intoevery specious scheme of agriculture produced by a lively imaginationand engaging them to study the great variety of soils and evenclimates in this island, and to be careful in adapting to these theirseveral operations. " Dickson _Husbandry of the Ancients_, XXIII. 

The Rev. Andrew Dickson, who died in 1776, was minister of Aberlady inthe county of East Lothian, the son of a progressive and successfulScots farmer, and had experience in practical agriculture, as well asin scholarship, as his book shows. ]

[Footnote 2: The compilation of rural lore, known as the _Geoponica_, which exists in Greek, was made at Byzantium for the EmperorConstantine VII about the middle of the tenth century A. D. It is verylargely a paraphrase of the Roman authors, and is useful principallyin elucidating their textual difficulties. ]

[Footnote 3: Donald G. Mitchell made an interesting collation, in his_Wet Days at Edgewood_, of the large number of books on agriculturewhich have been written in old age and by men of affairs, in manylands and many languages. ]

[Footnote 4: It is interesting to record, however, that Varro receivedthe _Navalis Corona_ for personal gallantry in the war against thepirates. This distinction was even more rare than our modern Medal ofHonor or Victoria Cross, and was awarded only to a commander who leaptunder arms on the deck of an enemies' ship and then succeeded incapturing her. ]

[Footnote 5: Caesar did not live to accomplish this, but some yearsafter his death a public library was established at Rome by AsiniusPollio, which Pliny says (H. N. VII, 31) was the first ever built, those at Alexandria and Pergamus having been private institutions ofthe kings. 

In a land where public libraries have been every where founded outof the accumulations of Big Business, it is interesting to note thatPollio derived the funds with which this the first of their kind wasendowed, from the plunder of the Illyrians!]

[Footnote 6: Cf. Sellar, _Roman Poets of the Augustan Age_. Virgil Ch. V. Boissier, _Etudes sur M. T. Varron_, Ch. IX. Servius _Comm. In Verg. Georg_. I, 43. 

It does not appear that many of the commentators on Virgil havetaken the trouble to study Varro thoroughly. They are usually betterscholars than farmers. ]

[Footnote 7: It is not remarkable that Virgil failed to makeacknowledgment to Varro in the _Georgics_ when he failed to makeacknowledgment to Homer in the _Aeneid_. See Petrarch's _Epistle toHomer_ for a loyal but vain attempt to justify this neglect. ]

[Footnote 8: _Cf_. W. H. Myers' _Classical Essays_, p. 110: "For in theface of some German criticism it is necessary to repeat that in orderto judge poetry it is, before all things, necessary to enjoy it. Wemay all desire that historical and philological science should pushher dominion into every recess of human action and human speech, butwe must utter some protest when the very heights of Parnassus areinvaded by a spirit which surely is not science, but her unmeaningshadow; a spirit which would degrade every masterpiece of human geniusinto the mere pabulum of hungry professors, and which values a poet'stext only as a field for the rivalries of sterile pedantry andarbitrary conjecture. "]

[Footnote 9: It was perhaps this encomium upon the farmer at theexpense of the banker which inspired Horace's friend Alfius towithdraw his capital from his banking business and dream a deliciousidyl of a simple carefree country life: but, it will be recalled(Epode II, the famous "Beatus ille qui procul negotiis") that Alfius, like many a modern amateur farmer, recruited from town, soon repentedthat he had ever listened to the alluring call of "back to the land"and after a few weeks of disillusion in the country, returned to townand sought to get his money out again at usury. 

Columella (I, praef. ) is not content with Cato's contrast of thevirtue of the farmer with the iniquity of the banker, but he bringsin the lawyer's profession for animadversion also. This, he says, theancient Romans used to term a canine profession, because it consistedin barking at the rich. ]

[Footnote 10: The Roman numerals at the beginning of the paragraphsindicate the chapters of Cato from which they are translated. IfCato had not pretended to despise every thing which smacked of Greekliterary art he might have edited and arranged his material, in whichevent his book would have been easier to read than it is, and no lessvaluable. Modern scholarship would not now venture to perform such anoffice for such a result, because it involves tampering with a text(as who should say, shooting a fox!) and yet modern scholarshipwonders at the decay of classical studies in an impatient age. At therisk of anathema the present version has attempted to group Cato'smaterial, and in so doing has omitted most of those portions which arenow of merely curious interest. ]

[Footnote 11: This, of course, means buying at a high price, exceptin extraordinary cases. There is another system of agriculture whichadmits of the pride of making two blades of grass grow where none wasbefore, and the profit which comes of buying cheap and selling dear. This is farming for improvement, an art which was well described twohundred years before Cato. Xenophon (_Economicus_ XX, 22) says:

"For those who are able to attend to their affairs, however, andwho will apply themselves to agriculture earnestly, my lather bothpractised himself and taught me a most successful method of makingprofit; for he would never allow me to buy ground already cultivated, but exhorted me to purchase such as from want of care or want of meansin those who had possessed it, was left untilled and unplanted. Heused to say that well cultivated land cost a great sum of money andadmitted of no improvement, and he considered that land which isunsusceptible of improvement did not give the same pleasure to theowner as other land, but he thought that whatever a person had orbought up that was continually growing better afforded him the highestgratification. "]

[Footnote 12: Every rural community in the Eastern part of the UnitedStates has grown familiar with the contrast between the intelligentamateur, who, while endeavoring earnestly to set an example of goodagriculture, fails to make expenses out of his land, and the bornfarmer who is self-supporting in the practice of methods contemnedby the agricultural colleges. Too often the conclusion is drawn thatscientific agriculture will not pay; but Cato puts his finger on thetrue reason. The man who does not depend on his land for his livingtoo often permits his farm to get what Cato calls the "spendinghabit. " Pliny (_H. N. _ XVIII, 7) makes some pertinent observations onthe subject:

"I may possibly appear guilty of some degree of rashness in makingmention of a maxim of the ancients which will very probably be lookedupon as quite incredible, 'that nothing is so disadvantageous as tocultivate land in the highest style of perfection. '"

And he illustrates by the example of a Roman gentleman, who, likeArthur Young in eighteenth century England, wasted a large fortune inan attempt to bring his lands to perfect cultivation. "To cultivateland well is absolutely necessary, " Pliny continues, "but to cultivateit in the very highest style is mere extravagance, unless, indeed, thework is done by the hands of a man's own family, his tenants, or thosewhom he is obliged to keep at any rate. "]

[Footnote 13: In this practice has been the delight of men of affairsof all ages who turn to agriculture for relaxation. Horace cites itwith telling effect in the ode (III, 5) in which he describes thenoble serenity of mind with which Regulus returned to the tortureand certain death which awaited him at Carthage: and Homer makes anenduring picture of it in the person of the King supervising hisfall ploughing, which Hephsestus wrought upon the shield of Achilles(_Iliad_, XVIII, 540). "Furthermore, he set in the shield a soft freshploughed field, rich tilth and wide, the third time ploughed, and manyploughers therein drove their yokes to and fro as they wheeled about. Whensoever they came to the boundary of the field and turned, thenwould a man come to each and give into his hands a goblet of sweetwine: while others would be turning back along the furrows, fain toreach the boundary of the deep tilth, . .. And among them the King wasstanding in silence, with his staff, rejoicing in his heart. "]

[Footnote 14: This advice to sell the worn out oxen and the sick slavesjustly excited Plutarch's generous scorn, and has been made the textof a sweeping denunciation by Mommsen of the practice of husbandry bymen of affairs in Cato's time. "The whole system, " says Mommsen, "waspervaded by the utterly unscrupulous spirit characteristic ofthe power of capital. " And he adds, "If we have risen to thatlittle-to-be-envied elevation of thought which values no feature ofan economy save the capital invested in it, we cannot deny to themanagement of the Roman estates the praise of consistency, energy, punctuality, frugality and solidity. " Without any desire to defendCato, one may suggest, out of an experience in a kind of farmmanagement not very different from that Cato pictures, that it isdoubtful whether even Cato himself was quite as economical andefficient, and so as capitalistic in his farming, as he advises othersto be: certainly a whole race of contemporary country gentlemen wasnot equal to it. It is much easier to write about business-likefarming than to practise it. ]

[Footnote 15: Hesiod (W. & D. 338) had already given this same adviceto the Greek farmer:

"Invite the man that loves thee to a feast, but let alone thine enemy, and especially invite him that dwelleth near thee, for if, mark you, any thing untoward shall have happened at home neighbours are wont tocome ungirt, but kinsfolk gird themselves first. " This agreement ofthe Socialist Hesiod with the Capitalist Cato is remarkable only asit illustrates that both systems when wisely expounded rest on humannature. That upon which they here agree is the foundation of themodern European societies for rural co-operative credit whichPresident Taft recommended to the American people. These societies, says the bulletin of the International Institute of Agriculturepublished at Rome in 1912, rest on three chief safeguards:

(a) That membership is confined to persons residing within a smalldistrict, and, therefore, the members are personally known to oneanother;

(b) That the members, being mutually responsible, it will be to theinterest of all members to keep an eye upon a borrower and to see thathe makes proper use of the money lent to him;

(c) That in like manner, it is to the interest of all members to helpa member when he is in difficulties. ]

[Footnote 16: This was an estate of average size, probably withinVirgil's precept, (_Georgic_ II, 412). "Laudato ingentia rura, exiguumcolito. " Some scholars have deemed this phrase a quotation from Cato, but it is more likely derived from Mago the Carthaginian who isreported to have said: "Imbecilliorem agrum quam agricolam, essedebere, "--the farmer should be bigger than his farm. ]

[Footnote 17: The philosophy of Cato's plan, of laying out a farm isfound in the agricultural history of the Romans down to the time ofthe Punic wars. Mommsen (II, 370) gives the facts, and Ferrero in hisfirst volume makes brilliant use of them. There is sketched the oldpeasant aristocrat living on his few acres, his decay and thecreation of comparatively large estates worked by slaves in charge ofoverseers, which followed the conquest of the Italian states aboutB. C. 300. This was the civilization in which Cato had been reared, but in his time another important change was taking place. The Romanfrontier was again widened by the conquest of the Mediterranean basin:the acquisition of Sicily and Sardinia ended breadstuff farming as thestaple on the Italian peninsular. The competition of the broad andfertile acres of those great Islands had the effect in Italy which thecultivation of the Dakota wheat lands had upon the grain farming ofNew York and Virginia. About 150 B. C. The vine and the olive becamethe staples of Italy and corn was superseded. Although this was notaccomplished until after Cato's death, he foresaw it, and recommendedthat a farm be laid out accordingly, and his scheme of putting one'sreliance upon the vine and the olive was doubtless very advanceddoctrine, when it first found expression. ]

[Footnote 18: Pliny quotes Cato as advising to buy what others havebuilt rather than build oneself, and thus, as he says, enjoy thefruits of another's folly. The _cacoethes aedificandi_ is a familiardisease among country gentlemen. ]

[Footnote 19: Columella (I, 4) makes the acute observation that thecountry house should also be agreeable to the owner's wife if hewishes to get the full measure of enjoyment out of it. Mago, theCarthaginian, advised to, "if you buy a farm, sell your house in town, lest you be tempted to prefer the cultivation of the urban gods tothose of the country. "]

[Footnote 20: According to German scholarship the accepted text ofCato's version of this immemorial epigram is a model of the brevitywhich is the test of wit, "Frons occipitio prior est. " Pliny probablyquoting from memory, expands it to "Frons domini plus prodest quamoccípitíum. " Palladius (I, 6) gives another version: "Praesentiadomini provectus est agri. " It is found in some form in almost everybook on agriculture since Cato, until we reach the literature in whichscience has taken the place of wisdom--in the Byzantine _Geoponica_, the Italian _Crescenzi_, the Dutch _Heresbach_, the French _MaisonRustique_, and the English _Gervase Markkam. Poor Richard's Almanack_gives it twice, as "the foot of a master is the best manure" and"the eye of a master will do more work than both his hands. " It isperennial in its appeal. The present editor saw it recently in theGerman comic paper _Fliegende Blätter_. But the jest is much olderthan Cato. It appears in Aeschylus, _Persae_, 171 and Xenophon employsit in _Oeconomicus_ (XII, 20):

"The reply attributed to the barbarian, " added Ischomachus, "appearsto me to be exceedingly to the purpose, for when the King of Persiahaving met with a fine horse and wishing to have it fattened as soonas possible, asked one of those who were considered knowing abouthorses what would fatten a horse soonest, it is said that he answered'the master's eye. '"]

[Footnote 21: The English word "orchard" scarcely translates_arbustum_, but every one who has been in Italy will recall theendless procession of small fields of maize and rye and alfalfathrough which serried ranks of mulberry or feathery elm trees, linkedwith the charming drop and garland of the vines, seem to dance towardone in the brilliant sunlight, like so many Greek maidens on a frieze. These are _arbusta_. ]

[Footnote 22: Cato was a strong advocate of the cabbage; he calledit the best of the vegetables and urged that it be planted in everygarden for health and happiness. Horace records (Odes. III, 21, 11)that old Cato's virtue was frequently warmed with wine, and Catohimself explains (CLVI) how this could be accomplished without lossof dignity, for, he says, if, after you have dined well, you will eatfive cabbage leaves they will make you feel as if you had had nothingto drink, so that you can drink as much more as you wish--"bibesquequantum voles!"

This was an ancient Egyptian precaution which the Greeks had learned. Cf. Athenaeus, I, 62. ]

[Footnote 23: Henry Home, Lord Kames, a Scots judge of the eighteenthcentury, whom Dr. Johnson considered a better farmer than judge and abetter judge than scholar, but who had many of the characteristics ofour _priscus_ Cato, argues (following an English tradition whichhad previously been voiced by Walter of Henley and Sir AnthonyFitzherbert) in his ingenious _Gentleman Farmer_ against the expenseof ploughing with horses and urges a return to oxen. He points outthat horses involve a large original investment, are worn out in farmwork, and after their prime steadily depreciate in value; while, onthe other hand, the ox can be fattened for market when his usefulnessas a draught animal is over, and then sell for more than his originalcost; that he is less subject to infirmities than the horse; canbe fed per tractive unit more economically and gives more valuablemanure. These are strong arguments where the cost of human labour issmall and economical farm management does not require that the time ofthe ploughman shall be limited if the unit cost of ploughing is to bereasonable. The ox is slow, but in slave times he might reasonablyhave been preferred to the horse. Today Lord Kames, (or even oldHesiod, who urged that a ploughman of forty year and a yoke of eightyear steers be employed because they turned a more deliberate and so abetter furrow) would be considering the economical practicability ofthe gasolene motor as tractive power for a gang of "crooked" ploughs. ]

[Footnote 24: Cato adds a long list of implements and other necessaryequipment. ]

[Footnote 25: The Roman overseer was usually a superior, and often amuch indulged, slave. Cf. Horace's letter (_Epist. _ I, 14) to hisoverseer. ]

[Footnote 26: This was the traditional wisdom which was preached alsoin Virginia in slave times. In his Arator (1817) Col. John Taylor ofCaroline says of agricultural slaves:

"The best source for securing their happiness, their honesty andtheir usefulness is their food. .. . One great value of establishing acomfortable diet for slaves is its convenience as an instrument ofreward and punishment, so powerful as almost to abolish the theftswhich often diminish considerably the owner's ability to provide forthem. "]

[Footnote 27: Reading "compitalibus in compito, " literally "the crossroads altar on festival days. "]

[Footnote 28: It is evident that Cato's housekeeper would have welcomeda visit from Mr. Roosevelt's Rural Uplift Commission. We may add tothis Sir Anthony Fitzherbert's description of the duties of a farmer'swife in sixteenth century England:

"It is a wyues occupation to wynowe all maner of cornes, to makemalte, to wasshe and wrynge, to make heye, shere corne, and in tyme ofnede to helpe her husbande to fyll the mucke-wayne or dounge-carte, dryue the ploughe, to loode hey, corne and suche other. And to goor ride to the market, to sel butter, chese, mylke, egges, chekyns, capons, hennes, pygges, gese, and all maner of cornes. And also to byeall maner of necessarye thynges belongynge to houssholde, and to makea trewe rekenynge and acompte to her husbande what she hath payed. "

Sir Anthony Fitzherbert (1470-1538) was the English judge whoselaw books are, or should be, known to all lawyers. His _Boke ofHusbandry_, published in 1534, is one of the classics of Englishagriculture, and justly, for it is full of shrewd observation anddeliberate wisdom expressed in a virile style, with agreeable leavenof piety and humour. Fitzherbert anticipated a modern poet, Henley, inone of his most happy phrases: "Ryght so euery man is capitayne of hisowne soule". The Husbandry is best available to the modern reader inthe edition by Skeat published for the English Dialect Society in1882. ]

[Footnote 29: Cato is careful not to undertake to say how this may beassured; another evidence of his wisdom. ]

[Footnote 30: In his instructive discourse on ploughing, Columella (II, 4) gives the key to Cato's warning against ploughing land when it isin the condition he calls rotten (_cariosa_):

"Rich land, which holds moisture a long time, should be broken up(_proscindere_) at the season when the weather is beginning to be warmand the weeds are developing, so that none of their seed may mature:but it should be ploughed with such close furrows that one can withdifficulty distinguish where the plough share has been, for in thatway all the weeds are uprooted and destroyed. 

"The spring ploughing should be followed up with frequent stirringof the soil until it is reduced to dust, so that there may be nonecessity, or very little, of harrowing after the land is seeded: forthe ancient Romans said that a field was badly ploughed which had tobe harrowed after the seed had been sown. 

"A farmer should himself make sure that his ploughing has been welldone, not alone by inspection, for the eye is often amused by a smoothsurface which in fact conceals clods, but also by experiment, which isless likely to be deceived, as by driving a stout stick through thefurrows: if it penetrates the soil readily and without obstruction, itwill be evident that all the land there about is in good order: but ifsome part harder than the rest resists the pressure, it will be clearthat the ploughing has been badly done. When the ploughmen see thisdone from time to time they are not guilty of clod hopping. 

"Hence wet land should be broken up after the Ides of April, and, whenit has been ploughed at that season, it should be worked again, afteran interval of twenty days, about the time of the solstice, which isthe eighth or ninth day before the Kalends of July, and again thethird time about the Kalends of September, for it is not the practiceof experienced farmers to till the land in the interval after thesummer solstice, unless the ground shall have been soaked with a heavydown-pour of sudden rain, like those of winter, as does some timeshappen at this season. In that event there is no reason why the fallowshould not be cultivated during the month of July. But when you dotill at this season beware lest the land be worked while it is muddy:or when, having been sprinkled by a shower, it is in the conditionwhich the country people call _varia_ and _cariosa_, that is to say, when, after a long drought, a light rain has moistened the surface ofthe upturned sod but has not soaked to the bottom of the furrow. 

"Those plough lands which are cultivated when they are miry arerendered useless for an entire year--they can be neither seeded norharrowed nor hoed--but those which are worked when they are in thestate which has been described as varia, remain sterile for threeyears on end. We should, therefore, follow a medium course and ploughwhen the land neither lacks moisture nor yet is deep in marsh. "]

[Footnote 31: Columella (II, 13) justly says about manure, "Whereforeif it is, as it would seem to be, the thing of the greatest value tothe farmer, I consider that it should be studied with the greatestcare, especially since the ancient authors, while they have notaltogether neglected it, have nevertheless discussed it with toolittle elaboration. " He goes on (II, 14) to lay down rules about thecompost heap which should be written in letters of gold in every farmhouse. 

"I appreciate that there are certain kinds of farms on which it isimpossible to keep either live stock or birds, yet even in such placesit is a lazy farmer who lacks manure: for he can collect leaves, rubbish from the hedge rows, and droppings from the high ways: withoutgiving offence, and indeed earning gratitude, he can cut ferns fromhis neighbour's land: and all these things he can mingle with thesweepings of the courtyard: he can dig a pit, like that we havecounselled for the protection of stable manure, and there mix togetherashes, sewage, and straw, and indeed every waste thing which is sweptup on the place. But it is wise to bury a piece of oak wood in themidst of this compost, for that will prevent venomous snakes fromlurking in it. This will suffice for a farm without live stock. "

One can see in Flanders today the happy land smiling its appreciationof farm management such as this, but what American farmer has yetlearned this kind of conservation of his natural resources. ]

[Footnote 32: The occupants of the motor cars which now roll so swiftlyand so comfortably along the French national highway from Paris toTours, through the pleasant _pays de Beauce_, can see this admirableand economical method of manuring still in practice. The sheep arefolded and fed at night, under the watchful eye of the shepherdstretched at ease in his wheeled cabin, on the land which was ploughedthe day before. ]

[Footnote 33: These of course are all legumes. The intelligent farmertoday sits under his shade tree and meditates comfortably upon theleast expensive and most profitable labour on his farm, the countlessmillions of beneficent bacteria who, his willing slaves, areceaselessly at work during hot weather forming root tubercles on hislegumes, be it clover or cow peas, and so fixing for their lord thefree atmospheric nitrogen contained in the soil. As Macaulay wouldsay, "every school boy knows" now that leguminous root nodules areendotrophic mycorrhiza, --but the Romans did not! Nevertheless theirempirical practice of soil improvement with legumes was quite as goodas ours. Varro (I, 23) explains the Roman method of green manuringmore fully than Cato. Columella (II, 13) insists further that if thehay is saved the stubble of legumes should be promptly ploughed for hesays the roots will evaporate their own moisture and continue to pumpthe land of its fertility unless they are at once turned over. 

If the Romans followed this wise advice they were better farmers thanmost of us today, for we are usually content to let the stubble dryout before ploughing. ]

[Footnote 34: Was this ensilage? The ancients had their silo pits, butthey used them chiefly as granaries, and as such they are described, by Varro (I, 57, 63), by Columella (I, 6), and by Pliny (XVIII, 30, 73). ]

[Footnote 35: The extravagant American farmer has not yet learnedto feed the leaves of trees, but in older and more economicalcivilizations the practice is still observed. ]

[Footnote 36: Amurca was the dregs of olive oil. Cato recommends itsuse for many purposes in the economy of the farm, for a moth proof(XCVIII), as a relish for cattle (CIII), as a fertilizer (CXXX), andas an anointment for the threshing floor to kill weevil (XCI). ]

[Footnote 37: There is a similar remedy for scratches in horses, whichis traditional in the cavalry service today, and is extraordinarilyefficacious. ]

[Footnote 38: Cf. Pliny _H. N. _ XVII, 267 and Fraser, _The GoldenBough_, XI, 177. The principle is one of magical homeopathy: as thesplit reed, when bound together, may cohere and heal by the medicineof the incantation, so may the broken bone. ]

[Footnote 39: These examples will serve to illustrate how far Cato'sveterinary science was behind his agriculture, and what a curiousconfusion of native good sense and traditional superstition there wasin his method of caring for his live stock. On questions of preventingmalady he had the wisdom of experience, but malady once arrived he wasa simple pagan. There was a notable advance in the Roman knowledge ofhow to treat sick cattle in the century after Cato. Cf. Varro, II, 5. 

The words of the incantations themselves are mere sound and furysignifying nothing, like the "counting out" rhythms used by childrenat their games. ]

[Footnote 40: Cato gives many recipes of household as well asagricultural economy. Out of respect for the pure food law most ofthem have been here suppressed, but these samples are ventured becauseVarro mentions them and the editor is advised that some enterprisingyoung ladies in Wisconsin have recently had the courage to put them tothe test, and vow that they ate their handiwork! As they live to tellthe tale, it is assumed that the recipes are harmless. ]

[Footnote 41: Cf. The following traditional formula as practised inVirginia:

A VIRGINIA RECIPE FOR CURING HAMS

"Rub each ham separately with ½ teaspoonful of saltpetre (use a smallspoon); then rub each ham with a large tablespoonfulof best blackpepper; then rub each ham with a gill of molasses (black strap isbest). 

 Then for 1, 000 lbs. Of ham take 3-1/4 pecks of coarse salt, 2-1/2 lbs. Of saltpetre, 2 qts. Hickory ashes, 2 qts. Molasses, 2 teacupfuls of red pepper. 

"Mix all together on the salting table. Then rub each ham with thismixture, and, in packing, spread some of it on each layer of ham. Useno more salt than has been mixed. Pack skin down and let stand forfive weeks, then hang in the smoke house for five or six weeks, andsmoke in damp weather, using hickory wood. 

"As a ham, however well cured, is of no use to civilized man until itis cooked, and as this crowning mystery is seldom revealed out ofVirginia, it may not be out of place to record here the process. "

A VIRGINIA RECIPE FOR COOKING HAMS

Soak over night in cold water, having first scrubbed the ham with asmall brush to remove all the pepper, saltpetre, etc. , left from thecuring process. 

Put on to boil next morning in tepid water, skin downwards, lettingit simmer on back of stove, never to boil hard. This takes about fourhours (or until it is done, when the ham is supposed to turn over, skin upwards, of its own accord, as it will if the boiler is largeenough). Set aside over another night in the water it has boiled in. 

The _following_ day, skin and bake in the oven, having covered the hamwell with brown sugar, basting at intervals with cider. When it iswell baked, take it out of the oven and baste another ten to twentyminutes in the pan on top of the stove. The sugar crust should bequite brown and crisp when done. 

To be thoroughly appreciated a ham should be carved on the table, by apretty woman. A thick slice of ham is a crime against good breeding. ]

[Footnote 42: It is interesting that Varro has realized the hope, here expressed, that his wisdom might survive for the benefit of the"uttermost generations of men" chiefly in the case of this treatiseon Husbandry among the many monuments of his industry and learning. Petrarch in his _Epistle to Varro_ in that first delightful book ofLetters to Dead Authors (_de rebus familiaribus_ XXIV, 6) rehearsesthe loss of Varro's books and, adapting the thought here expressed inthe text, regrets for that reason that Varro cannot be included inthat company of men "whom we love even after their death owing tothe good and righteous deeds that live after them, men who mold ourcharacter by their teaching and comfort us by their example, whenthe rest of mankind offends both our eyes and our nostrils; men who, though they have gone hence to the common abode of all (as Plautussays in Casina), nevertheless continue to be of service to theliving. " If Petrarch had been a farmer he might have saved some of hisregret, for Varro is surely, by virtue of the _Rerum Rusticarum_, amember of the fellowship Petrarch describes. ]

[Footnote 43: Varro was essentially an antiquary and it is amusingto observe that he is unable to suppress his learning even in hisprayers. One is reminded of the anecdote of the New England minister, who, in the course of an unctuous prayer, proclaimed, with magisterialauthority, "Paradoxical as it may appear, O Lord, it is neverthelesstrue, etc. "]

[Footnote 44: Following Plato and Xenophon and Cicero, Varro cast hisbooks into the form of dialogues to make them entertaining ("and whatis the use of a book, " thought Alice in Wonderland, "without picturesor conversations. "): for the same reason he was careful about hislocal colour. Thus the scene of this first book, which relates toagriculture proper, is laid at Rome in the temple of Earth on thefestival of the Seed Sowing, and the characters bear names of punningreference to the tilling of the soil. Varro was strong on puns, avowing (Cicero _Acad_. I, 2) that that form of humour made it easierfor people of small intelligence to swallow his learning. ]

[Footnote 45: The story is that when Scipio captured Carthage hedistributed the Punic libraries among the native allies, reservingonly the agricultural works of Mago, which the Roman Senatesubsequently ordered to be translated into Latin, so highly were theyesteemed. Probably more real wealth was brought to Rome in the pagesof these precious volumes than was represented by all the otherplunder of Carthage. "The improving a kingdom in matter of husbandryis better than conquering a new kingdom, " says old Samuel Hartlib, Milton's friend, in his _Legacie_. It is a curious fact that as theRomans derived agricultural wisdom from their ancient enemies, so didthe English. Cf. Thorold Rogers' _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_. "We owe the improvements in English agriculture to Holland. From thiscountry we borrowed, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the cultivation of winter roots, and, at that of the eighteenth, theartificial grasses. The Dutch had practised agriculture with thepatient and minute industry of market gardeners. They had triedsuccessfully to cultivate every thing to the uttermost, which could beused for human food, or could give innocent gratification to a refinedtaste. They taught agriculture and they taught gardening. They werethe first people to surround their homesteads with flower beds, withgroves, with trim parterres, with the finest turf, to improve fruittrees, to seek out and perfect edible roots and herbs at once for manand cattle. We owe to the Dutch that scurvy and leprosy have beenbanished from England, that continuous crops have taken the place ofbarren fallows, that the true rotation of crops has been discoveredand perfected, that the population of these islands has been increasedand that the cattle and sheep in England are ten times what they werein numbers and three times what they were in size and quality. "]

[Footnote 46: The Roman proverb which Agrius had in mind reminds one ofthe witty French woman's comment upon the achievement of St. Denis inwalking several miles to Montmartre, after his head had been cut off, (as all the world can still see him doing in the verrières of NotreDame de Chartres): "en pareil cas, ce n'est que le premier pas quicoûte. "]

[Footnote 47: To this glowing description of agricultural Italy inthe Augustan age may be annexed that of Machiavelli on the state ofTuscany in his youth: "Ridotta tutta in somma pace e tranquillità, coltivata non meno ne' luoghi più montuosi e più sterili che nellepianure e regioni più fertili. .. . " It is our privilege to see theimage of this fruitful cultivation of the mountain tops not only inMachiavelli's prose, but on the walls of the Palazzo Riccardi inGozzoli's _Journey of the Magi_, where, like King Robert of Sicily, the Magi crossed

 "Into the lovely land of Italy Whose loveliness was more resplendent made By the mere passing of that cavalcade. "

It seems almost a pity to contrast with these the comment of a carefuland sympathetic student of the agricultural Italy of the age ofKing Umberto: "To return to the question of the natural richness ofagricultural Italy, " says Dr. W. N. Beauclerk in his _Rural Italy_(1888), "we may compare the words of the German ballad: 'In Italymacaroni ready cooked rains from the sky, and the vines are festoonedwith sausages, ' with the words today rife throughout the Kingdom, 'Rural Italy is poor and miserable, and has no future in store forher. ' The fact is that Italy is rich in capabilities of production, but exhausted in spontaneous fertility. Her vast forests have been cutdown, giving place to sterile and malarious ground: the plains andshores formerly covered with wealthy and populous cities are nowdeserted marshes: Sardinia and other ancient granaries of the RomanEmpire are empty and unproductive: two-thirds of the Kingdom areoccupied by mountains impossible of cultivation, and the remainder isto a large extent ill-farmed and unremunerative. To call Italy the'Garden of Europe' under these circumstances seems cruel irony. "]

[Footnote 48: As we may assume that the yields of wine of whichFundanius boasts were the largest of which Varro had information inthe Italy of his time, it is interesting to compare them with thelargest yields of the most productive wine country of France today. Fifteen cullei, or three hundred amphorae per jugerum, is theequivalent of 2700 gallons per acre: while according to P. Joigneaux, in the _Livre de la Ferme_, the largest yields in modern France arein the Midi (specifically Herault), where in exceptional cases theyamount to as much as 250 hectolitres to the hectare, or say 2672gallons per acre. It may be noted that the yields of the best modernwines, like Burgundy, are less than half of this, and it is probablethat the same was true of the _vinum Setinum_ of Augustus, if not ofthe Horatian Massic. ]

[Footnote 49: The modern Italian opinion of farming in a fertile butunhealthy situation is expressed with a grim humour in the Tuscanproverb: "in Maremma s'arricchisce in un anno, si muore in sei mesi. "]

[Footnote 50: This is Keil's ingenious interpretation of an obscurepassage. We may compare the English designation of a church yard as"God's acre. " What Licinius Crassus actually did was, while haranguingfrom the rostra, to turn his back upon the Comitium, where theSenators gathered, and address himself directly to the peopleassembled in the Forum. The act was significant as indicating that thesovereignty had changed place. ]

[Footnote 51: Tremelius Scrofa was the author of a treatise onagriculture, which Columella cites, but which has not otherwisesurvived. ]

[Footnote 52: "It was a received opinion amongst the antients that alarge, busy, well peopled village, situated in a country thoroughlycultivated, was a more magnificent sight than the palaces of noblemenand princes in the midst of neglected lands. " Harte's _Essays onHusbandry_, p. 11. This is a delightful book, the ripe product of agentleman and a scholar. In the middle of the eighteenth century itadvocated what we are still advocating--that agriculture, as the basisof national wealth, deserves the study and attention of the highestintelligence; specifically it proposed the introduction of new grassesand forage crops (alfalfa above all others) to enable the land tosupport more live stock. It was published in 1764, just after Francehad ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris all of her possessions inAmerica east of the Mississippi River; and not the least interestingpassages of Harte's book are those proposing an agriculturaldevelopment of the newly acquired territory between Lake Illinois(Michigan) and the Mississippi, which he suggests may be readilybrought under cultivation with the aid of the buffaloes of thecountry. He shrewdly says: "Maize may be raised in this part of Canadato what quantity we please, for it grows there naturally in greatabundance. " It happened, however, that a few years later, in 1778, Col. George Rogers Clark of Virginia made a certain expedition throughthe wilderness to the British outpost at Vincennes, which savedEngland the trouble of taking Harte's advice, but that it has not beenneglected may be evident from the fact that less than a century anda half later, or in 1910, the State of Illinois produced 415 millionbushels of maize, besides twice as much oats and half as much wheat asdid old England herself in the same year of grace. 

Harte was the travelling governor of that young Mr. Stanhope, to whommy lord Chesterfield wrote his famous worldly wise letters. He was theauthor also of a _Life of Gustavus Adolphus_, which was a failure. Dr. Johnson, who liked Harte, said: "It was unlucky in coming out on thesame day with Robertson's _History of Scotland_. His _Husbandry_, however, is good. " (_Boswell_, IV, 91). With this judgment of Dr. Johnson there has been, and must be, general concurrence. ]

[Footnote 53: Pliny records (H. N. XVIII, 7) that at Lucullus' farmthere was less ground for ploughing than of floor for sweeping. ]

[Footnote 54: Eggs were the first course, as apples were the last, at aRoman dinner, hence the saying "ab ovo usque ad mala. "]

[Footnote 55: Cf. Gilbert Murray's version of Euripides' _Troades_, 799:

 In Salamis, filled with the foaming Of billows and murmur of bees, Old Telamon stayed from his roaming, Long ago, on a throne of the seas; Looking out on the hills olive laden, Enchanted, where first from the earth. The gray-gleaming fruit of the Maiden Athena had birth. 

The physical reason why the olive flourished in Attica, asTheophrastus points out (C. P. V. II, 2), was because it craves a thinsoil, and that of Attica, with its out-croppings of calcareous rock, suits the olive perfectly, while fit for little else agricultural. ]

[Footnote 56: In the _Geoponica_ (XIII, 15) there has been preserved aremedy for a similar evil, which, in all fairness, should be creditedto Saserna. In any event, it is what the newspapers used to call"important, if true, " viz: "If ever you come into a place where fleasabound, cry Och! Och! ([Greek: och, och]) and they will not touchyou. "]

[Footnote 57: The editor of an Iowa farm journal, who has been makinga study of agricultural Europe, has recently reported an interestingcomparison between the results of extensive farming as practised inIowa and intensive farming as practised in Bavaria. He begins withthe thesis that the object of agriculture is to put the energy of thesun's rays into forms which animals and human beings can use, and, reducing the crop production of each country to thermal units, hefinds "that for every man, woman and child connected with farming inIowa 14, 200 therms of sun's energy were imprisoned, while for everyman, woman and child connected with farming in Bavaria only 2, 600therms were stored up. In other words, the average Iowa farmer is sixtimes as successful in his efforts to capture the power of the sun'srays as the average Bavarian farmer. On the other hand, the averageacre of Iowa land is only about one-seventh as successful as theaverage acre of Bavarian land in supporting those who live on it. Ifwe look on land as the unit, then the Bavarians get better resultsthan we in Iowa, but if we look on human labor as the unit, then theIowa farmers are far ahead of those of Bavaria. "

It may be remarked that if the Iowa farmer, who gets his results bythe use of machinery, was to adopt also the intensive practice of theBavarian farmer, he would secure at once the greatest efficiency peracre and per man, and that is the true purpose of agriculture. ]

[Footnote 58: It is one of the charms of Varro's treatise that healways insists cheerfully on the pleasure to be derived from the land. It is the same spirit which Conington has remarked cropping out inmany places in Virgil's _Georgics_--the joy of the husbandman in hiswork, as in the "iuvat" of

 "iuvat Ismara Baccho Conserere, atque olea magnum vestire Taburnum. "

This is the blessed "surcease of sorrow" of which the crowded life ofthe modern city knows nothing: but, as the practical Roman indicates, it will not support life of its own mere motion. Cf. Dr. Johnson'spicture of Shenstone: "He began from this time to entangle his walksand to wind his waters: which he did with such judgment and such fancyas made his little domain the envy of the great and the admiration ofthe skillful. His house was mean, and he did not improve it: his carewas of his grounds. .. . In time his expences brought clamours abouthim, that overpowered the lambs' bleat and the linnets' song; and hisgroves were haunted by beings very different from fawns and fairies. "]

[Footnote 59: Walter of Henley, in thirteenth century England, drovehome a shrewd comment on the country gentleman who farms withoutkeeping accounts and thinks he is engaged in a profitable industry. "You know surely, " he says, "that an acre sown with wheat takes threeploughings, except lands which are sown yearly, and that one withanother each ploughing is worth six pence, and harrowing a penny, and on the acre it is necessary to sow at least two bushels. Now twobushels at Michaelmas are worth at least twelve pence, and weeding ahalf penny and reaping five pence, and carrying in August a penny: thestraw will pay for the threshing. At three times your sowing you oughtto have six bushels, worth three shillings; and the cost amounts tothree shillings and three half pence, and the ground is yours and notreckoned. "

Of Walter of Henley little is known, but it is conjectured that he wasthe bailiff of the manors near Henley which belonged to the Abbey ofCanterbury. His curious and valuable _Dite de Hosebondrie_, which isas original in its way as Cato's treatise, being entirely free frommere literary tradition, is now available to the modern reader ina translation, from the original barbarous English law French, byElizabeth Lamond, made for the Royal Historical Society in 1890. ]

[Footnote 60: This was just before Pharsalia, and the army was that ofPompey which Varro had joined after surrendering to Caesar in Spain. ]

[Footnote 61: In this enumeration of trees Varro does not include thechestnut which is now one of the features of the Italian mountainlandscape and furnishes support for a considerable part of the Italianpopulation, who subsist on _necci_, those indigestible chestnut flourcakes, just as the Irish peasants do on potatoes. The chestnut waslate in getting a foothold in Italy but it was there in Varro's day. He mentions the nuts as part of the diet of dormice (III, 15). 

By the thirteenth century chestnuts had become an established articleof human food in Italy. Pietro Crescenzi (1230-1307) describes twovarieties, the cultivated and the wild, and quotes the Arabianphysician Avicenna to the effect that chestnuts are "di tardadigestione ma di buono nuttimento. " It is perhaps for this very reasonthat chestnut bread is acceptable to those engaged in heavy labor. Fynes Moryson says in his _Itinerary_ (1617) that maslin bread madeof a mixture of rye and wheat flour was used by labourers in Englandbecause it "abode longer in the stomach and was not so soon digestedwith their labour. "

Crescenzi, who was a lawyer and a judge, says in his preface that hehad left his native Bologna because of the civil strifes, had takenforeign service in several parts of Italy, and so had opportunity tosee the world. He wrote his book on agriculture because, as he says, of all the things he learned on his travels there was nothing "piu abondevole, niuna piu dolce, et niuna piu degna de l'huomo libero, " asentiment which Socrates had expressed sixteen hundred years earlierand which was echoed six hundred years later by another far-sightedItalian, the statesman Cavour. ]

[Footnote 62: The white chalk which Scrofa saw used as manure inTransalpine Gaul, when he was serving in the army under Julius Caesar, was undoubtedly marl, the use of which in that region as in Britainwas subsequently noted by Pliny (H. N. XVII, 4). 

There were no deposits of marl in Italy, and so the Romans knewnothing of its use, from experience, but Pliny's treatment of thesubject shows a sound source of information. In England, where severalkinds of marl are found in quantities, its use was probably neverdiscontinued after the Roman times. Walter of Henley discusses its usein the thirteenth century, and Sir Anthony Fitzherbert continues thediscussion in the sixteenth century. In connection with the history ofthe use of marl in agriculture may be cited the tender tribute whichArthur Young recorded on the tombstone of his wife in BradfieldChurch. The lady's chief virtue appears to have been, in the memoryof her husband, that she was "the great-grand-daughter of JohnAllen, esq. Of Lyng House in the County of Norfolk, the first personaccording to the Comte de Boulainvilliers, who there used marl. "

The Romans did not have the fight against sour land which is theheritage of the modern farmer after years of continuous applicationto his land of phosphoric and sulphuric acid in the form of mineralfertilizers. What sour land the Romans had they corrected with humusmaking barnyard manure, or the rich compost which Cato and Columellarecommend. They had, however, a test for sourness of land which isstill practised even where the convenient litmus paper is available. Virgil (_Georgic_ II, 241) gives the formula: "Fill a basket withsoil, and strain fresh water through it. The taste of water strainedthrough sour soil will twist awry the taster's face. "]

[Footnote 63: This sounds like the boast of the modern proprietor of anold blue grass sod in Northern Virginia or Kentucky. On the generalquestion of pasture vs. Arable land, cf. Hartlib's _Legacie_: "It is amisfortune that pasture lands are not more improved. England aboundsin pasturage more than any other country, and is, therefore, richer. In France, acre for acre, the land is not comparable to ours: and, therefore, Fortescue, chancellor to Henry VI, observes that we getmore in England by standing still (alluding to our meadows) than theFrench do by working (that is, cultivating their vineyards and cornlands). "

We may permit Montesquieu (_Esprit des Lois_ II, 23, 14) to voice theFrench side of this question. "Les pais de pâturage sont pen peuplês. Les terres à bled occupent plus d'hommes et les vignobles infinimentd'avantage. En Angleterre on s'est souvent plaint que l'augmentationdes pâturage diminuoit les habitans. "

In the introduction to his Book Two (_post_, p. 179) Varro states thesound conclusion, that the two kinds of husbandry should be combinedon the same land. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert knew this: "An housbande cannot well thryue by his corne without he haue other cattell, nor by hiscattell without corne. For els he shall be a byer, a borrower or abeggar. "]

[Footnote 64: This is the explanation of why Aesop's fox found thegrapes to be sour which grew on a trellis, for he had expected to findthem of easy access on the ground. Aesop was a Phrygian, and, whileBentley has proved that Aesop never wrote the existing fables which goby that name, yet it is recognized that they are of Oriental originand it is evident that that of the Fox and the Grapes came out ofAsia, where, as Varro says, the grapes were usually allowed to grow onthe ground. ]

[Footnote 65: One is tempted to include here Pliny's observations uponthe tests of good soil if only for the sake of his description of oneof the sweetest sensations of the farmer every where, the aroma of newploughed fertile land:--

"Those unguents which have a taste of earth are better, " says Cicero, "than those which smack of saffron, " it seeming to him more to thepurpose to express himself by the word taste than smell. And such isthe fact no doubt, that soil is the best which has the savour of aperfume. If the question should be put to us, what is this odour ofthe earth that is held in such estimation; our answer is that itis the same that is often to be recognized at the moment of sunsetwithout the necessity even of turning up the ground, at the spotswhere the extremities of the rainbow have been observed to meet theearth: as also, when after long continued drought, the rain has soakedthe ground. Then it is that the earth exhales the divine odour that isso peculiarly its own, and to which, imparted to it by the sun, thereis no perfume however sweet that can possibly be compared. It is thisodour which the earth, when turned up, ought to emit, and which, whenonce found, can never deceive any person: and this will be found thebest criterion for judging of the quality of the soil. Such, too, isthe odour that is usually perceived in land newly cleared when anancient forest has been just cut down; its excellence is a thing thatis universally admitted. ]

[Footnote 66: The _actus_ was the head land or as much land as a yokeof oxen could plough at a single spell without stopping, and measured120 feet in length and four feet in width. Cf. Pliny, H. N. XVIII, 3. Hence the square of the head land became the basis of the Roman landmeasure. With the derivation of the _actus_ may be compared that ofthe English furlong (furrow-long) and the French _arpent_ (literally, head land). ]

[Footnote 67: On the socialistic principle of Strepsiades inAristophanes' _Clouds_ that the use of geometry is to divide the landinto _equal_ parts. ]

[Footnote 68: As it is difficult to appreciate that the Roman Campagnawas formerly populous with villas, when one contemplates its greensolitudes today, so when one faces the dread malaria which therebreeds, one wonders how the Romans of the Republic maintained so longtheir hardy constitutions. It is now agreed that there was no malariain the Land of Saturn so long as the volcanos in the Alban hillswere active, because their gases purified the air and kept down themosquitoes, and geology tells us that Monte Pila was in eruption fortwo or three centuries after the foundation of Rome. By the beginningof the second century B. C. The fever seems to have become endemic. Plautus and Terence both mention it and Cato (CLVII) describes itssymptoms unmistakably. In his book on the effect of malaria inhistory, W. H. Jones expresses the opinion that the malady was broughtinto Italy from Africa by Hannibal's soldiers, but it is more probablethat it was always there. See the discussion in Lanciani's _Wanderingsin the Roman Campagna_. In Varro's time the Roman fever had begun tosap the vitality of the Roman people, and the "animalia minuta" inthis passage suggests that Varro had a curious appreciation of whatwe call the modern science of the subject. Columella (I, 5, 6) indeedspecifically mentions mosquitoes (infestis aculeis armata animalia) asone of the risks incident to living near a swamp. ]

[Footnote 69: In the thirteenth century Ibn-al-Awam, a learned Moor, wrote at Seville his _Kitab al-felahah_, or Book of Agriculture, whichhas preserved for us not only the wisdom of the Moorish practice inagriculture and gardening which made Spain an enchanted paradise, butalso the tradition of the Arabs in such matters, purporting to goback, through the Nabataeans to the Chaldaean books, which recordedthe agricultural methods that obtained "by the waters of Babylon. "Ibn-al-Awam's book has, therefore, a double interest for us, andwe are fortunate in having it available in an admirable Frenchtranslation from the Arabic by J. J. Clement-Mullet (Paris, LibrairieA. Franck, 1864). Not the least profitable chapters in this book arethose devoted to the preparation of manure in composts, to be ripenedin pits as Varro advises in the text. They show a thoroughness, a careand an art in the mixing of the various animal dungs, with straw, woodsearth and cinders, which few modern gardeners could equal. Germanscholarship has questioned the Chaldaean origin of the authoritiesquoted, but there is internal evidence which smacks of an orientaldespotism that might well be Babylonian. In a recipe for a richcompost suitable for small garden plants, we are advised (I, 2, I, p. 95), without a quiver, to mix in blood--that of the camel or the sheepif necessary--_but human blood is to be preferred!_]

[Footnote 70: What Varro describes as the military fence of ditch andbank was doubtless the typical Herefordshire fence of modern Englandwhich Arthur Young, in _The Farmers' Letters_, recommends so highly asat once most effective and most economical. The bank is topped with aplashed hedge of white thorn in which sallow, ash, hazel and beech areplanted for "firing. " The fencing practice of the American farmer hasfollowed the line of least resistance and is founded on the lowestfirst cost: the original "snake" fences of split rails, upon themaking of which a former generation of pioneer American boys qualifiedthemselves for Presidential campaigns, being followed by woven wire"made by a trust" and not the most enduring achievement of BigBusiness. The practical farmer, as well as the lover of rural scenery, has cause for regret that American agricultural practice has not yethad the patience to enclose the land within live hedges and ditches. ]

[Footnote 71: The kind of fence which Varro here describes as "ex terraet lapillis compositis in formis" is also described by Pliny (H. N. XXXV, 169), as formaceos or moulded, and he adds, "aevis durant. " Itwould thus clearly appear to have been of gravel concrete, the use ofwhich the manufacturers of cement are now telling us, is the badge ofthe modern progressive farmer. Cato (XXXVIII) told how to burn lime onthe farm, and these concrete fences were, of course, formed with limeas the matrix. When only a few years ago, Portland cement was firstproduced in America at a cost and in a quantity to stimulate thedevelopment of concrete construction, engineers began with roughbroken stone and sand as the constituents of what they call theaggregate, but some one soon "discovered" that the use of smoothnatural gravel made more compact concrete and "gravel concrete" becamethe last word in engineering practice. But it was older even thanVarro. A Chicago business man visiting Mycenae picked up and broughthome a bit of rubbish from Schliemann's excavations of the ancientmasonry: lying on his office desk it attracted the attention of anengineering friend who exclaimed, "That is one of the best samples ofthe new gravel concrete I have seen. Did it come out of the Illinoistunnel?" "No, " replied the returned traveller, "it came out of thetomb of Agamemnon!"]

[Footnote 72: Varro here seems to forget the unities. He speaks in hisown person, when Scrofa has the floor. ]

[Footnote 73: It will be recalled that Aristotle described slaves asliving tools. In Roman law a slave was not a _persona_ but a _res_. Cf. Gaius II, 15. ]

[Footnote 74: One of the most interesting of these freemen labourers ofwhom we know is that Ofellus whom Horace (Satire II, 2) tells uswas working with cheerful philosophy as a hired hand upon hisown ancestral property from which he had been turned out in theconfiscations following the battle of Philippi. This might have beenthe fate of Virgil also had he not chanced to have powerful friends. ]

[Footnote 75: "Mais lorsque, malgré le dégoût de la chaîne domestique, nous voyons naître entre les males et les femelles ces sentimentsque la nature a partout fondés sur un libre choix: lorsque l'amour acommencé a unir ces couples captifs, alors leur esclavage, devenu poureux aussi doux que la douce liberté, leur fait oublier peu à peuleur droits de franchise naturelle et les prérogatives de leur étatsauvage; et ces lieux des premiers plaisirs, des premières amours, ces lieux si chers à tout être sensible, deviennent leur demeure deprédilection et leur habitation de choix: l'éducation de la famillerend encore cette affection plus profonde et la communique en mêmetemps aux petits, qui s'étant trouvés citoyens par naissance d'unséjour adopté par leur parents, ne cherchent point à en changer: carne pouvant avoir que pen ou point d'idée d'un état different ni d'unautre séjour ils s'attachent au lieu ou ils sont nés comme à leurpatrie; et l'on sait que la terre natale est chère a ceux même quil'habitent en esclaves. "

One might assume that this eloquent and comfortable essay oncontentment in slavery had been written to illustrate Varro's textat this point, but, as a matter of fact, it is Buffon's observation(VIII, 460) on the domestication of wild ducks!]

[Footnote 76: Saserna's rule would be the equivalent of one hand toevery five acres cultivated. With slave labour, certainly with negroslave labour, the experience of American cotton planters in thenineteenth century very nearly confirmed this requirement, but one ofthe economic advantages of the abolition of slavery is illustrated bythis very point. In Latimer's _First Sermon before King Edward VI_, animadverting on the advance in farm rents in his day, he says thathis father, a typical substantial English yeoman of the time of thediscovery of America, was able to employ profitably six labourers incultivating 120 acres, or, say, one hand for each twenty acres, whichwas precisely what Arthur Young recommended as necessary for highfarming at the end of the eighteenth century. At the beginning of thetwentieth century the American farmer seldom employs more than onehand for every eighty acres cultivated, but this is partly due to theuse of improved machinery and partly to the fact that his land is notthoroughly cultivated. ]

[Footnote 77: This example of Roman cost accounting is matched byWalter of Henley in thirteenth century England. 

"Some men will tell you that a plough cannot work eight score or ninescore acres yearly, but I will show you that it can. You know wellthat a furlong ought to be forty perches long and four wide, and theKing's perch is sixteen feet and a half: then an acre is sixty-sixfeet in width. Now in ploughing go thirty-six times round to makethe ridge narrower, and when the acre is ploughed then you have madeseventy-two furlongs, which are six leagues, for be it known thattwelve furlongs are a league. And the horse or ox must be very poorthat cannot from the morning go easily in pace three leagues in lengthfrom his starting place and return by three o'clock. And I will showyou by another reason that it can do as much. You know that there arein the year fifty-two weeks. Now take away eight weeks for holy daysand other hindrances, then are there forty-four working weeks left. And in all that time the plough shall only have to plough for fallowor for spring or winter sowing three roods and a half daily, and forsecond fallowing an acre. Now see if a plough were properly kept andfollowed, if it could not do as much daily. "]

[Footnote 78: Stolo is quibbling. Cato's unit of 240 jugera was basedon the duodecimal system of weights and measures which the Romans hadoriginally derived from Babylon but afterwards modified by the useof a decimal system. The enlightened and progressive nations of themodern world who have followed the Romans in adopting a decimal systemmay perhaps approve Stolo's remarks, but it behooves those of us whostill cling to the duodecimal system to defend Cato, if only to keepup our own courage. ]

[Footnote 79: Here, in a few words, is the whole doctrine ofintelligent agriculture. Cf. Donaldson's _Agricultural Biography, tit_. Jethro Tull. "The name of Tull will ever descend to posterity asone of the greatest luminaries, if not the very greatest benefactor, that British agriculture has the pride to acknowledge. His examplefurnishes the vast advantages of educated men directing theirattention to the cultivation of the soil, as they bring enlightenedminds to bear upon its practice and look at the object in a nakedpoint of view, being divested of the dogmas and trammels of the craftwith which the practitioners of routine are inexpugnably provided andentrenched. "]

[Footnote 80: Pliny quotes Cato: "What ever can be done by the helpof the ass costs the least money, " which is the philosophy of modernpower machinery on the farm, as elsewhere. It is largely a question ofthe cost of fuel, as Varro says. ]

[Footnote 81: Green manuring is one of the oldest, as it is one ofthe best, of agricultural practices. Long before Varro, Theophrastus(II. P. 9, I) had recorded what the agricultural colleges teachtoday--that beans are valuable for this purpose because they rotreadily, and, he adds, in Macedonia and Thessaly it has always beenthe custom to turn them under when they bloom. ]

[Footnote 82: Although Varro advises the first ploughing in the spring, the ancients were not unmindful of the advantages of winter ploughingof stiff and heavy clay. Theophrastus, who died in B. C. 287, advisesit "that the earth may feel the cold. " Indeed, he was fully alive tothe reasons urged by the modern professors of agronomy for intensivecultivation. "For the soil, " he says (C. P. III, 25), "often invertedbecomes free, light and clear of weeds, so that it can most easilyafford nourishment. "

King Solomon gives the same advice, "The sluggard will not ploughby reason of the winter, therefore shall he begin harvest and havenothing. " _Proverbs_, XX, 4. ]

[Footnote 83: The Romans understood the advantages of thoroughcultivation of the soil. As appears from the text, they habituallybroke up a sod in the spring, ploughed it again at midsummer, and oncemore in September before seeding. Pliny prescribes that the firstploughing should be nine inches deep, and says that the Etruscans sometimes ploughed their stiff clay as many as nine times. The acceptedRoman reason for this was the eradication of weeds, but it alsoaccomplished in some measure the purpose of "dry farming"--theconservation of the moisture content of the soil, as that hadbeen practised for countless generations in the sandy Valley ofMesopotamia. Varro makes no exception to this rule, but Virgil washere, as in other instances, induced to depart from Varro's wisdom, with the result that he imposed upon Roman agriculture severalthoroughly bad practices. Thus, while he applies Varro ploughing rulesto rich land and bids the farmer "exercetque frequens tellurem atqueimperat arvis, " he says (Geo. I, 62) that it will suffice to givesandy land a single shallow ploughing in September immediately beforeseeding, for fear, forsooth, that the summer suns will evaporatewhatever moisture there is in it! Again, Virgil recommends, what Varrodoes not, cross-ploughing and burning the stubble and Virgil's advicewas generally followed. 

In William Benson's edition (1725) of the _Georgics_ "with notescritical and rustick, " it is stated that "the husbandry of Englandin general is Virgilian, which is shown by paring and burning thesurface: by raftering and cross-ploughing, and that in those parts ofEngland where the Romans principally inhabited all along the Southerncoast Latin words remain to this hour among shepherds and ploughmen intheir rustick affairs: and what will seem more strange at first sightto affirm though in fact really true, there is more of Virgil'shusbandry put in practice in England at this instant than in Italyitself. " That this was the fact in the thirteenth century is clearfrom the quotations we have made from Walter of Henley's _Dite deHosebondrie_. Cf. Also Sir Anthony Fitzherbert and the account of themanorial system of farming in England in Prothero's _English FarmingPast and Present_. 

It remained for Jethro Tull of the _Horseshoeing Husbandry_ to unloosein England the long spell of the magic of Virgil's poetry uponpractical agriculture. ]

[Footnote 84: The Julian calendar, which took effect on January 1, B. C. 45, had been in use only eight years when Varro was writing. ]

[Footnote 85: Schneider and others have attempted to emend theenumeration of the days in this succession of seasons, but Keiljustly observes: "As we do not know what principle Varro followed inestablishing these divisions of the year, it is safer to set themdown as they are written in the codex than to be tempted by uncertainemendation. " I have accordingly followed Keil here. ]

[Footnote 86: The practice of ridging land seeded to grain wasnecessary before the invention of the modern drill. Dickson, in his_Husbandry of the Ancients_, XXIV, argues that, while wasteful ofland, it had the advantage of preventing the grain from lodging. Walter of Henley, who followed the Roman methods by tradition withoutknowing it, advises with them that to be successful in this kind ofseeding the furrow at the last ploughing of the fallow should be sonarrow as to be indistinguishable. "At sowing do not plough largefurrows, " he says, "but little and well laid together that the seedmay fall evenly: if you plough a large furrow to be quick you will doharm. How? I will tell you. When, the ground is sown then the harrowwill come and pull the corn into the hollow which is between the tworidges and the large ridge shall be uncovered, then no corn shall growthere. And will you see this? When the corn is above ground go to theend of the ridge and you will see that I tell you truly. And if theland must be sown below the ridge see that it is ploughed with smallfurrows and the earth raised as much as you are able. And see that theridge which is between the two furrows is narrow. And let the earth, which lies like a crest in the furrow under the left foot after theplough, be over-turned, and then shall the furrow be narrow enough. "]

[Footnote 87: Farrago was a mixture of refuse _far_, or spelt, withvetch, sown thick and cut green to be fed to cattle in the processnow called soiling. The English word "forage" comes from this Latinoriginal. ]

[Footnote 88: Spanish American engineers today insert in theirspecifications for lumber the stipulation that it be cut on the waneof the moon. The rural confidence in the influence of the moon uponthe life of a farm still persists vigorously: thus as Pliny (H. N. XVIII, 75) counselled that one wean a colt only when the moon is onthe wane, so it will be found that the moon is consulted before a coltis weaned on most American farms today: for that may be safely done, says the rural oracle, only when the moon's sign, as given in thealmanack, corresponds with a part of the almanack's "moon's man" or"anatomic" at or below the knees, i. E. , when the moon is in one or theother of the signs Pisces, Capricornus or Aquarius: but never at atime of day when the moon is in its "Southing. "]

[Footnote 89: Modern agricultural chemistry has contradicted thisjudgment of Cassius, for the manure of sea birds, especially thatbrought from the South American islands in the Pacific, knowncommercially as Peruvian guano, is found on analysis to be high in theelements which are most beneficial to plant life. ]

[Footnote 90: Seed selection, which is now preached so earnestly bythe Agricultural Department of the United States as one of the thingsnecessary to increase the yield of wheat and corn, has ever been goodpractice. Following Varro Virgil (_Georgic_ I, 197) insists upon it:"I have seen those seeds on whose selection much time and labourhad been spent, nevertheless degenerate if men did not every yearrigorously separate by hand all the largest specimens. "]

[Footnote 91: Cicero (de Div. II, 24) records a _mot_ of Cato's thathe wondered that an haruspex did not laugh when he saw another--"quimirari se aiebat, quod non rideret aruspex, aruspicem quum vidisset. "]

[Footnote 92: This process of propagation which Varro describes as"new" is still practised by curious orchardists under the name"inarching. " The free end of a growing twig is introduced into alimb of its own tree, back of a specimen fruit, thus pushing itsdevelopment by means of the supplemental feeding so provided. Cf. Cyc. Am. Hort. II, 664. ]

[Footnote 93: _Alfalfa_ is the Moorish name which the Spaniards broughtto America with the forage plant _Medicago Sativa_, Linn. , which allover Southern Europe is known by the French name _lucerne_. It isproper to honour the Moors by continuing in use their name for thisinteresting plant, because undoubtedly they preserved it for the useof the modern world, just as undoubtedly they bequeathed to us thatfine sentiment known as personal honour. 

Alfalfa was one of the standbys of ancient agriculture. According toPliny, it was introduced into Italy from Greece, whence it had beenbrought from Asia during the Persian wars, and so derived its Greekand Roman name _Medica_. As Cato does not mention it with the otherlegumes he used, it is probable that the Romans had not yet adoptedit in Cato's day, but by the time of Varro and Virgil it was wellestablished in Italy. In Columella's day it was already a feature ofthe agriculture of Andalousia, and there the Moors, who loved plants, kept it alive, as it were a Vestal fire, while it died out of Italyduring the Dark Ages: from Spain it spread again all over SouthernEurope, and with America it was a fair exchange for tobacco. Alfalfahas always been the subject of high praise wherever it has been known. The Greek Amphilochus devoted a whole book to it, as have the EnglishWalter Harte in the middle of the eighteenth century and the AmericanCoburn at the beginning of the twentieth century, but none of them ismore instructive on the subject of its culture than is Columella in afew paragraphs. Because of the difficulty of getting a stand of it inmany soils, it is important to realize the pains which the Romans tookwith the seed bed, for it is on this point that most American farmersfail. Says Columella (II, 10):

"But of all the legumes, alfalfa is the best, because, when once it issown, it lasts ten years: because it can be mowed four times, and evensix times, a year: because it improves the soil: because all leancattle grow fat by feeding upon it: because it is a remedy for sickbeasts: because a jugerum (two-thirds of an acre) of it will feedthree horses plentifully for a year. We will teach you the manner ofcultivating it, as follows: The land which you wish to set in alfalfathe following spring should be broken up about the Kalends of October, so that it may mellow through the entire winter. About the Kalends ofFebruary harrow it thoroughly, remove all the stones and break up theclods. Later, about the month of March, harrow it for the third time. When you have so got the land in good order, lay it off after themanner of a garden, in beds ten feet wide and fifty feet long, so thatit may be possible to let in water by the paths, and access on everyside may be had by the weeders. Then cover the beds with well rottedmanure. At last, about the end of April, sow plentifully so that asingle measure (cyanthus) of seed will cover a space ten feet longand five wide. When you have done this brush in the seed with woodenrakes: this is most important for otherwise the sprouts will bewithered by the sun. After the sowing no iron tool should touch thebeds; but, as I have said, they should be cultivated with woodenrakes, and in the same manner they should be weeded so that no foreigngrass can choke out the young alfalfa. The first cutting should belate, when the seed begins to fall: afterwards, when it is wellrooted, you can cut it as young as you wish to feed to the stock. Feedit at first sparingly, until the stock becomes accustomed to it, forit causes bloat and excess of blood. After cutting, irrigate the bedsfrequently, and after a few days, when the roots begin to sprout, weedout all other kinds of grass. Cultivated in this way alfalfa can bemowed six times a year, and it will last for ten years. "]

[Footnote 94: See the explanation of what the Romans meant by _terravaria_ in the note on Cato V. _ante_, p. 40. ]

[Footnote 95: It is interesting to note from the statements in the textthat in Varro's time the Roman farmer in Italy both sowed and reapedsubstantially the same amount of wheat as does the American farmertoday. Varro says that the Romans sowed five modii of wheat to thejugerum and reaped on the maximum fifteen for one. As the modius wasnearly the equivalent of our peck, the Roman allowance for sowingcorresponds to the present American practice of sowing seven pecksof wheat to the acre: and on this basis a yield of 26 bushels to theacre, which is not uncommon in the United States, is the equivalent ofthe Roman harvest of fifteen for one. 

It is fair to the average Italian farmer of the present day who isheld up by the economists to scorn because he does not producemore than eleven bushels of wheat to the acre, to record that inColumella's time, when agriculture had declined as compared withVarro's experience, the average yield of grain in many parts of Italydid not exceed four for one (_Columella_, III, 3), or say seven and ahalf bushels to the acre. 

Varro's statement that at Byzacium in Africa wheat yielded 100 forone, which Pliny (_II. N. _ XVIII, 23) increases to 150 for one, meansfrom 175 to 260 bushels per acre, seems incredible to us, but isconfirmed by the testimony of agricultural practice in Palestine. Isaac claimed to reap an hundred fold, and the parable of the Soweralludes to yields of 30, 60 and 100 fold. 

Harte _Essays on Husbandry_, 91, says that the average yield inEngland in the middle of the eighteenth century was seven for one, though he records the case of an award by the Dublin Society in 1763to an Irish gentleman who raised 50 bushels of wheat from a singlepeck of seed! Harte was a parson, but apparently he did not bring thesame unction into his agriculture as did the Rev. Robert Herrick tothe husbandry of his Devonshire glebe, a century earlier. In Herrick's_Thanksgiving to God for his House_ he sings:

 "Lord, 'tis thy plenty dropping hand That soils my land And giv'st me for my bushel sown Twice ten for one. Thou makst my teeming hen to lay Her egg each day: Besides my healthful ewes to bear Me twins each year. "]

[Footnote 96: As the Gallic header here described by Varro is thedirect ancestor of our modern marvellous self-binding harvester, it isof interest to rehearse the other ancient references to it. 

Pliny (_H. N_. XVIII, 72) says:

"In the vast domains of the provinces of Gaul a large hollow framearmed with teeth and supported on two wheels is driven through thestanding corn, the beasts being yoked behind it, the result being thatthe ears are torn off and fall within the frame. " Palladius (VII, 2)goes more into detail:

"The people of the more level regions of Gaul have devised a method ofharvesting quickly and with a minimum of human labour, for thereby asingle ox is made to bear the burden of the entire harvest. A cart isconstructed on two low wheels and is furnished with a square body, ofwhich the side boards are adjusted to slope upward and outward to makegreater capacity. The front of the body is left open and there acrossthe width of the cart are set a series of lance shaped teeth spaced tothe distance between the grain stalks and curved upward. Behind thecart two short shafts are fashioned, like those of a litter, where theox is yoked and harnessed with his head towards the cart: for thispurpose it is well to use a well broken and sensible ox, which willnot push ahead of his driver. When this machine is driven through thestanding grain all the heads are stripped by the teeth and are thrownback and collected in the body of the cart, the straw being leftstanding. The machine is so contrived that the driver can adjust itsheight to that of the grain. Thus with little going and coming and ina few short hours the entire harvest is made. This method is availablein level or prairie countries and to those who do not need to save thestraw. "

That ingenious Dutchman Conrad Heresbach refers, in his _Husbandry_, to Palladius' description of the Gallic header with small respect, which indicates that in the sixteenth century it was no longer in use. I quote from Barnaby Googe's translation of Heresbach (the book whichserved Izaak Walton as the model for his _Compleat Angler_): "Thistricke might be used in levell and champion countries, but with us itwould make but ill-favoured worke. "

Dondlinger, in his excellent _Book of Wheat_ (1908), which should bein the hands of every grain farmer, gives a picture reproducing theGallic header and says:

"After being used during hundreds of years the Gallic headerdisappeared, and it seems to have been completely forgotten forseveral centuries. Only through literature did it escape the fate ofpermanent oblivion and become a heritage for the modern world. Thepublished description of the machine by Pliny and Palladius furnishedthe impulse in which modern harvesting inventions originated. Itsdistinctive features are retained in several modern inventions of thisclass, machines which have a practical use and value under conditionssimilar to those which existed on the plains of Gaul. Toward the closeof the eighteenth century, the social, economic and agriculturalconditions in England, on account of increasing competition and thehigher value of labour, were ripe for the movement of invention thatwas heralded by the printed account of the Gallic header. The firstheader was constructed by William Pitt in 1786. It was an attemptedimprovement on the ancient machine in that the stripping teeth wereplaced in a cylinder which was revolved by power transmitted from thewheels. This 'rippling cylinder' carried the heads of the wheat intothe box of the machine, and gradually evolved into the present dayreel. "

It may be added that the William Pitt mentioned was not the statesman, but a contemporary agricultural writer of the same name. ]

[Footnote 97: According to Sir Anthony Fitzherbert it was the custom inEngland to shear wheat and rye and to leave the straw standing afterthe third method described by Varro, the purpose being to preserve thestraw to be cut later for thatching, as threshing it would necessarilydestroy its value for thatching. It was the custom in England, however, to mow barley and oats. ]

[Footnote 98: Pliny advises that the grain which collects on thecircumference of a threshing floor of this description be saved forseed because it is evidently the heaviest. ]

[Footnote 99: In the Apennines today the threshing floor, or _aja_, isanointed with cow dung smeared smooth with water, doubtless for thesame reason that the Romans so used amurca. ]

[Footnote 100: Between harvests the winnowing basket is quite generallyused in Italy today for a cradle, as it was from the beginning oftime, for there is an ancient gem representing the infant Bacchusasleep in a winnowing basket. ]

[Footnote 101: What the French call, from the same practice, _vin derognure_. ]

[Footnote 102: Varro does not mention the season of the olive harvest, but Virgil tells us (G. II, 519) that in their day as now it waswinter. Cato (XX-XXII) described the construction and operation of the_trapetus_ in detail. 'It can still be seen in operation in Italy, turned by a patient donkey and flowing with the new oil of an intenseblue-green colour. It is always flanked by an array of vast storagejars (Cato's _dolii_ now called _orci_), which make one realize thestory of _Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves_. ]

[Footnote 103: The Roman waste of amurca, through ignorance of itsvalue, was like the American waste of the cotton seed, which for manyyears was thrown out from the gin to rot upon the ground, even itsfertilizing use being neglected. Now cotton seed has a market valueequivalent to nearly 20 per cent of that of the staple. It is used forcattle feed and also is made into lard and "pure olive oil, " beingexported in bulk and imported again in bottles with Italian labels. ]

[Footnote 104: Cf. Fowler, _Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero_. "Let us consider that in a large city today the person and propertyof all, rich or poor, are adequately protected by a sound system ofpolice and by courts of first instance which are sitting every day. Assault and murder, theft and burglary are exceptional. It might begoing too far to say that at Rome they were the rule: but it is thefact that in what we may call the slums of Rome there was no machineryfor checking them. .. . It is the great merit of Augustus that he madeRome not only a city of marble but one in which the persons andproperty of all citizens were fairly secure. "

There are several contemporary references to the crowded and dangerouscondition of the streets of Rome at the end of the Republic. Cicero(_Plancius_, 7) tells how he was pushed against the arch of Fabiuswhile struggling through the press of the Via Sacra, and exoneratesfrom blame the man who was the immediate cause of his inconvenience, holding that the one next beyond was more responsible: in whichjudgment Cicero was of the opinion of Mr. Justice Blackstone in thefamous leading case of Scott _v_. Shepherd (1 _Smith's L. C. _, 480), where the question was who was liable for the damage eventually doneby the burning squib which was passed about the market house bysuccessive hands. The majority of the court held, however, againstBlackstone and Cicero, and established the doctrine of proximatecause. ]

[Footnote 105: The Roman week (_nundinum_, or more properly _internundinum_) was of eight days, the last being the market day on whichthe citizens rested from agricultural labour and came into town tosell and buy and talk politics. Cf. Pliny, XVIII, 3. This custom whichVarro regrets had fallen into desuetude so far as Rome was concernedwas in his day still practised in the provinces. Thus the five tenantson Horace's Sabine farm were wont to go every _nundinum_ to the markettown of Varia (the modern Vicovaro) to transact public business(_Epist_. I, 14, 2). ]

[Footnote 106: Varro here refers to the great economic change which wascoming over Italian husbandry in the last days of the Republic, thedisappearance of the small farms, the "septem jugera" which nurturedthe early Roman heroes like Cincinnatus and Dentatus, and even thelarger, but still comparatively small, farms which Cato describes, andthe development of the _latifundia_ given over to grazing. ]

[Footnote 107: The tradition is, says Pliny, that King Augeas was thefirst in Greece to use manure, and that Hercules introduced thepractice into Italy. To the wise farmer the myth of the Augean stablesis the genesis of good agriculture. ]

[Footnote 108: This was the "crowded hour" in Varro's life, and, as M. Boissier has pointed out, he loved to dwell upon its episodes. Itwill be recalled that Pompey divided the Mediterranean into thirteendistricts for the war with the Pirates and put a responsiblelieutenant in command of each, thus enabling him by concurrent actionin all the districts to clear the seas in three months. Appian givesthe list of officers and the limits of their commands, saying: "Thecoasts of Sicily and the Ionian sea as far as Acarnania were entrustedto Plotius and Varro. " It is difficult to understand Varro's ownreference to Delos, but Appian makes clear how it happened that Varrowas stationed on the coast of Epirus and so fell in with the companyof "half Greek shepherds" who are the _dramatis personae_ of thesecond book. As the scene of the first book was laid in a temple ofTellus, so this relating to live stock is cast in a temple of Pales, the goddess of shepherds, on the occasion of the festival of theParilia, and the names of the characters have a punning reference tolive stock. ]

[Footnote 109: The codices here contain an interpolation of the words"HIC INTERMISIMUS, " to indicate that a part of the text is missing, with which judgment of some early student of the archetype Victorius, Scaliger and Ursinus, as well as their successors among thecommentators on Varro, have all agreed. It is a pleasure to record theagreement on this point, because it is believed to be unique: butmany precedents for plunging the reader _in medias res_, as does thesurviving text, might be found in the modern short story of theartist in style. As M. Boissier points out Varro might have cited thebeginning of the Odyssey as a precedent for this. ]

[Footnote 110: This is a paraphase of a favorite locution of Homer'sheroes, whose characteristic modesty does not, however, permit themto apply it to themselves, as Varro does. Thus in _Iliad_, VII, 114, Agamemnon advises Menelaos not to venture against Hector, whom "evenAchilles dreadeth to meet in battle, wherein is the warrior's glory, and Achilles is better far than thou. "]

[Footnote 111: Virgil (Aen. VII, 314) made a fine line out of thistradition, endowing the sturdy race of Fauns and Nymphs who inhabitedthe land of Saturn before the Golden Age, with the qualities of thetrees on whose fruit they subsisted, "gensque virum truncis et durorobore nata. "]

[Footnote 112: In the registers of the censors every thing from whichthe public revenues were derived was set down under the head of_pascua_, or "pasture lands, " because for a long time the pasturelands were the only source of such revenue. Cf. Pliny, _H. N. _ XVIII, 3. ]

[Footnote 113: Olisippo is the modern Lisbon. This tradition about themares of the region is repeated by Virgil (Geo. III, 272) by Columella(VI, 27) and by Pliny (VIII, 67). Professor Ridgeway in _The Originand Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse_ describes it as "anaetiological myth to explain the swiftness of horses" for the fleetesthorses came out of the West; thus Pegasus was born at the springs ofthe ocean, and there is the passage in Homer (_Iliad_, XVI, 149) aboutthe horses "that flew as swift as the winds, the horses that theharpy Podarge (Swift Foot) bare to the West Wind as she grazed on themeadows by the stream of the Ocean. " Hence we may conclude that therewas a race of swift horses in Portugal in the earliest times, whichProfessor Ridgeway would doubtless like very much to prove, in supportof his interesting thesis, were derived from Libya. ]

[Footnote 114: _Hypenemia_, or barren eggs, are described intelligentlyby Aristotle (H. A. V. 1, 4, VI. 2, 5), and, with Varro's confidence inthe country traditions, by Pliny, H. N. X, 80. 

If he had known it, Varro might have here cited the fact that theunfertilized queen bee is parthenogenetic, though producing only malebees; i. E. , drones: but it remained for a German clergyman, Dzierzon, to discover this in the eighteenth century. ]

[Footnote 115: Cf. Plautus _Menaechmi_, II, 2, 279. One of the twoMenaechmi is, on his arrival at Epidamnus, mistaken for his brother, of whose existence he does not know, and much to his amazement isintroduced into the brother's life and possessions. At first heexpostulates, accusing the slave of the brother, who has mistaken hisidentity, of being crazy and offers to exorcise him by a sacrificeof weanling pigs, wherefore he asks the question quoted in the text. Varro was evidently fond of this passage, as he quotes it again, _post_, p. 221. The _Menaechmi_ is one of the immortal comedies andhas survived in many forms on the modern stage all over Europe. Fromit Shakespeare derived the plot of the _Comedy of Errors_. ]

[Footnote 116: It is interesting to compare these sane therapeutics withCato's practice less than two hundred years previous (_ante_, p. 47), which was characteristic of the superstitious peasant who in Italystill seeks the priest to bless his ailing live stock. ]

[Footnote 117: This Atticus was Cicero's intimate friend to whom headdressed so many of his charming letters. He changed his name asstated in the text, the new name being that of an uncle who adoptedhim, as we learn from his life by Nepos. As is well known to allstudents of Cicero, Atticus had dwelt in Athens many years and derivedhis income from estates in Epirus, which is the point of Scrofa'sjest. ]

[Footnote 118: This requirement of short legs is the more remarkablebecause of the long journeys which Varro says the Roman sheep wererequired to make between their summer and winter pastures. A similarnecessity and bad roads created in England, before the eighteenthcentury, a demand for long legged sheep. Prothero (_English FarmingPast and Present_) quotes a description of the "true old Warwickshireram" in 1789: "His frame large and remarkably loose. His bonethroughout heavy. His legs long and thick, terminating in large splawfeet. "

One of the things which Bakewell accomplished was to shorten the legsas well as to increase the mutton on his New Leicesters. Of Bakewell, Mr. Prothero justly says, "By providing meat for the million hecontributed as much to the wealth of the country as Arkwright orWatt. "]

[Footnote 119: Shepherds still look for the black or spotted tongue inthe mouth of the ram, for the reason given by Varro, but the warningis no longer put in the shepherds' manual. ]

[Footnote 120: Varro would still feel at home in Apulia, for there thesheep industry is carried on much as it was in his time, and thencethe _calles publicae_, to which he refers, still lead to the summerpastures in the Apennines. Cf. Beauclerk _Rural Italy_, chap. V. "Theextensive pasturages of the 'Tavoliere di Puglia' (Apulia) are ofgreat importance and have a history of their own. This vast domaincovers 750, 000 acres: its origin belongs to the time of the RomanConquests and the protracted wars of the Republic, which were foughtout in the plains, whence they became deserted and uncultivated, fitonly for public pastures in winter time . .. The periodical emigrationsof the flocks continue as in the past times: they descend from themountains into the plains by a network of wide grassy roads whichtraverse the region in every direction and are called _tratturi_. These lanes are over 100 yards in width and cover a total lengthof 940 miles. .. . Not less than 50, 000 animals are pastured on theTavoliere, requiring over 1, 500 square miles of land for theirsubsistence. .. . Five thousand persons are employed as shepherds. "]

[Footnote 121: Varro quite uniformly uses words which indicate that hewas accustomed to see sheep driven (_abigere, propellere, adpellere_)but we can see the flocks _led_ in Italy today, as they were inPalestine soon after Varro's death, according to the testimony of thatbeautiful figure of the Good Shepherd (_St. John_, X, 4): "And when heputteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them, and the sheep followhim, for they know his voice. " R. Child, in his "Large Letter" inHartlib's _Legacie_, gives the explanation of the difference in thecustom:

"Our sheep do not follow their shepherds as they do in all othercountries: for the shepherd goeth before and the sheep follow like apack of dogs. This disobedience of our sheep doth not happen to us, as the Papist Priests tell their simple flocks, because we have lefttheir great shepherd the Pope; but because we let our sheep rangenight and day in our fields without a shepherd: which other countriesdare not for fear of wolves and other ravenous beasts, but arecompelled to guard them all day with great dogs and to bring them homeat night, or to watch them in their folds. "]

[Footnote 122: Cf. Dante, _Purg_. XXVII, 79. 

 "Le capre Tacite all' ombra mentre che'l sol ferve Guardate dal pastor che'n su la verga Poggiato s'e, e lor poggiato serve. "]

[Footnote 123: It will be recalled that when Odysseus, disguised as abeggar, was making his way to his house in company with the faithfulswineherd Eumaeus, they met the goatherd Melanthius "leading his goatsto feast the wooers, the best goats that were in all the herds. "(_Odyssey_, XVII, 216), and that subsequently he suffered a terriblepunishment for this unfaithfulness to his master's interests. ]

[Footnote 124: Pliny (VIII, 76) calls these excrescences _lanciniae_, orfolds, and attributes them exclusively to the she goat, as Varro seemsto do also, but Columella (VII, 6) attributes them to the buck. ]

[Footnote 125: Aristotle (H. A. I, 9. 1) refers to this opinion anddenounces it as erroneous. ]

[Footnote 126: The Roman _denarius_, which has been here and latertranslated _denier_, may be considered for the purpose of comparingvalues as, roughly, the equivalent of the modern franc, or lira, say20 cents United States money. ]

[Footnote 127: Macrobius (_Saturn_. I, 6) tells another story of theorigin of this cognomen, which, if not so heroic as that in the text, is entertaining. It is related that a neighbour's sow strayed onTremelius' land and was caught and killed as a vagrant. When theowner came to claim it and asserted the right to search the premisesTremelius hid the carcass in the bed in which his wife was lying andthen took a solemn oath that there was no sow in his house except thatin the bed. ]

[Footnote 128: It would seem, as Gibbon says of the Empress Theodora, that this passage could be left "veiled in the obscurity of a learnedlanguage"; but it may be noted that the _locus classicus_ for theplay on the word is the incident of the Megarian "mystery pigs" inAristophanes' _Acharnians_, 728 ff. Cf. Also Athenaeus, IX, 17, 18. ]

[Footnote 129: Cf. Pliny (_H. N. _ VIII, 77): "There is no animal thataffords a greater variety to the palate of the epicure: all the othershave their own peculiar flavour, but the flesh of the hog has nearlyfifty different flavours. "]

[Footnote 130: In his stimulating book, _Comment la route crée le typeSocial_, Edmond Desmolins submits an ingenious hypothesis to explainthe pre-eminence of the Gauls in the growing and making of pork, and how that pre-eminence was itself the explanation of their earlysuccess in cultivating the cereals. He describes their migratingancestors, the Celts, pushing their way up the Danube as hordes ofnomad shepherds with their vast flocks and herds of horses and cattle, on the milk of which they had hitherto subsisted. So long as theyjourneyed through prairie steppes, the last of which was Hungary, theymaintained their shepherd character, but when they once passed thesite of the present city of Vienna and entered the plateau of Bavaria, they found new physical conditions which caused them to reduce and toseparate their herds of large cattle--an unbroken forest affordinglittle pasture of grass. Here they found the wild boar subsisting uponthe mast of the forest, and him they domesticated out of an economicnecessity, to take the place of their larger cattle as a basis of foodsupply. Until then they had not been meat eaters, and so had known nonecessity for cereals, for milk is a balanced ration in itself. Butthis change of diet required them also to take to agriculture and soto abandon their nomad life. 

'By reason of the habits of the animal, swine husbandry has a tendencyin itself to confine those engaged in it to a more or less sedentarylife, but we are about to see how the Celts were compelled toaccomplish this important evolution by an even more powerful force. Meat cannot be eaten habitually except in conjunction with acereal . .. And of all the meats pork is the one which demands thisassociation most insistently, because it is the least easily digestedand the most heating of all the meats. .. . So that is how the adoptionof swine husbandry and a diet of pork compelled our nomad Celts totake the next step and settle down to agriculture. ']

[Footnote 131: This Gallic _tomacina_ was doubtless the ancestor of the_mortadella_ now produced in the Emilia and known to English speakingconsumers as "Bologna" sausage. ]

[Footnote 132: The Gaul of which Cato was here writing is the modernLombardy, one of the most densely populated and richest agriculturaldistricts in the world. Here are found today those truly marvellous"marchite" or irrigated meadows which owe the initiative for theirexistence to the Cistercian monks of the Chiaravalle Abbey, who begantheir fruitful agricultural labours in the country near Milan in thetwelfth century. There is a recorded instance of one of these meadowswhich yielded in a single season 140 tons of grass per hectare, equalto 75 tons of hay, or 30 tons per acre! The meadows are mowed sixtimes a year, and the grass is fed green to Swiss cows, which are keptin great numbers for the manufacture of "frommaggio di grana, " orParmesan cheese. This system of green soiling maintains the fertilityof the meadows, while the by-product of the dairies is the feeding ofhogs, which are kept in such quantity that they are today exported asthey were in the times of Cato and Varro. There is no region of theearth, unless it be Flanders, of which the aspect so rejoices theheart of a farmer as the Milanese. Well may the Lombard proverb say, "Chi ha prato, ha tutto. "]

[Footnote 133: Virgil (_Aen_. VII, 26) subsequently made good use ofthis tradition of the founding of Lavinium, the sacred city of theRomans where the Penates dwelt and whither solemn processions werewont to proceed from Rome until Christianity became the Statereligion. The site has been identified as that of the modern villageof Practica, where a few miserable shepherds collect during the wintermonths, fleeing to the hills at the approach of summer and the dread_malaria_. ]

[Footnote 134: Cf. Polybius, XII, 4: 'For in Italy the swineherds managethe feeding of their pigs in the same way. They do not follow closebehind the beasts, as in Greece, but keep some distance in front ofthem, sounding their horn every now and then: and the animals followbehind and run together at the sound. Indeed, the complete familiaritywhich the animals show with the particular horn to which they belongseems at first astonishing and almost incredible. For, owing to thepopulousness and wealth of the country, the droves of swine in Italyare exceedingly large, especially along the sea coast of the Tuscansand Gauls: for one sow will bring up a thousand pigs, or some timeseven more. They, therefore, drive them out from their night styes tofeed according to their litters and ages. When if several droves aretaken to the same place they cannot preserve these distinctions oflitters: but they, of course, get mixed up with each other both asthey are being driven out and as they feed, and as they are beingbrought home. Accordingly, the device of the horn blowing has beeninvented to separate them when they have got mixed up together, without labour or trouble. For as they feed one swineherd goes inone direction sounding his horn, and another in another and thus theanimals sort themselves of their own accord and follow their own hornwith such eagerness that it is impossible by any means to stop orhinder them. But in Greece when the swine get mixed up in the oakforests in their search for the mast, the swineherd who has mostassistants and the best help at his disposal, when collecting his ownanimals drives off his neighbours' also. Some times, too, a thief liesin wait and drives them off without the swineherd knowing how he haslost them, because the beasts straggle a long way from their driversin their eagerness to find acorns, when they are just beginning tofall. '

Bishop Latimer in one of his sermons quotes the phrase used in hisyouth, at the time of the discovery of America, in calling hogs: 'Cometo thy minglemangle, come pur, come pur. ' It would be impossible totranscribe the traditional call used in Virginia. One some timesthinks that it was the original of the celebrated 'rebel yell' ofGeneral Lee's army. ]

[Footnote 135: The use of the Greek salutation was esteemed by the moreaustere Romans of the age of Scipio an evidence of preciosity, to belaughed at: and so Lucienus' jesting apology for the use of it heredoubtless was in reference to Lucilius' epigram which Cicero haspreserved, _de Finibus_, I, 3. 

 "Graece ergo praetor Athenis Id quod maluisti te, quum ad me accedi, saluto [Greek: Chaire] inquam, Tite: lictores turma omni cohorsque [Greek: Chaire] Tite! Hinc hostis mi Albucius, hinc inimicus. "

It was the word which the Romans taught their parrots. Cf. Persius, _Prolog_. 8. ]

[Footnote 136: The working ox was respected by the ancient Romans as afellow labourer. Valerius Maximus (VIII, 8 _ad fin_. ) cites a case ofa Roman citizen who was put to death, because, to satisfy the cravingof one of his children for beef to eat, he slew an ox from the plough. Ovid puts this sentiment in the mouth of Pythagoras, when he agreesthat pigs and goats are fit subjects for sacrifice, but protestsagainst such use of sheep and oxen. (_Metamor_. XV, 139. )

 "Quid meruere boves, animal sine fraude dolisque Innocuum, simplex, natum tolerare labores? Immemor est demum, nee frugum manere dignus Qui potuit curvi demto modo pondere arati Ruricolam mactare suum: qui trita labore Ilia quibus toties durum renovaverat arvum Tot dederse messes, percussit colla securi. "]

[Footnote 137: The learned commentators have been able to discovernothing about either this Plautius or this Hirrius, but it appearsthat Archelaus wrote a book under the title Bugonia, of which nothingsurvives. It may be conjectured, however, on the analogy of Samson'sriddle to the Philistines, "Out of the eater came forth meat, andout of the strong came forth sweetness, " (_Judges_, XIV, 14), thatPlautius meant to imply that some good might be the consequence of theevil Hirrius had done: and that Vaccius cited the allusion to suggestto Varro that, while he might know nothing much about cattle, his attempt to deal with the subject might provoke some usefuldiscussion. ]

[Footnote 138: Darwin, _Animals and Plants_, II, 20, cites this passageand says that "at the present day the natives of Java some times drivetheir cattle into the forests to cross with the wild Banteng. " Thecrossing of wild blood on domestic animals is not, however, alwayssuccessful. A recent visitor to the German agricultural experimentstation at Halle describes "a curious hairy beast with great horns, a wild look in his eye, a white streak down his back and a bumpyforehead, which had in it blood from cattle which had lived on theplains of Thibet, which had grazed on the lowland pastures of Holland, which had roamed the forests of northeast India and of the MalayPeninsular, and had wandered through the forests of Germany. WeAmericans had sympathy for this beast. He was some thing likeourselves, with the blood of many different races flowing through hisveins. "]

[Footnote 139: Pliny (VIII, 66) cites the fact that the Scythians alwayspreferred mares to stallions for war, and gives an ingenious reasonfor the preference. Aristotle (_H. A. _ VI, 22) says that the Scythiansrode their pregnant mares until the very last, saying that theexercise rendered parturition more easy. Every breeder of heavy drafthorses has seen a mare taken from the plough and have her foal in thefield, with no detriment to either: and the story of the mare KeheiletAjuz, who founded the best of the Arab families, is well known, butbears repetition. I quote from Spencer Borden, _The Arab Horse_, p. 44: "It is related that a certain Sheik was flying from an enemy, mounted on his favourite mare. Arab warriors trust themselves only tomares, they will not ride a stallion in war. The said mare was at thetime far along toward parturition: indeed she became a mother when theflying horseman stopped for rest at noonday, the new comer being afilly. Being hard pressed the Sheik was compelled to remount his mareand again seek safety in flight, abandoning the newborn filly to herfate. Finally reaching safety among his own people, great was thesurprise of all when, shortly after the arrival of the Sheik on hisfaithful mare, the little filly less than a day old came into campalso, having followed her mother across miles of desert. She wasimmediately given into the care of an old woman of the tribe (Ajuz= an old woman), hence her name Keheilet Ajuz, 'the mare of the oldwoman, ' and grew to be the most famous of all the animals in thehistory of the breed. "]

[Footnote 140: Varro does not describe the livery of the horses of hisday, as he does of cattle, but Virgil (_Georg_. III, 81) supplies thedeficiency, asserting that the best horses were bay (_spadices_) androan (_glauci_) while the least esteemed were white (_albi_) and dun(_gilvi_), which is very interesting testimony in support of the mostrecent theory of the origin of the thoroughbred horse. ProfessorRidgeway who, opposing Darwin's conclusion, contends for a multipleorigin of the historic and recent races of horses, has collected amass of information about the marking of famous horses of all ages inhis _Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse_. He maintainsthat a bay livery, with a white star and stockings, the developmentof protective coloration from an originally striped coat, such as hasgone on more recently in the case of the quaggas, is absolute evidenceof the North African origin of a horse, and he shows that all theswiftest horses mentioned in history are of that race, while theheavier and less mettlesome horses of Northern origin have been, whenpure bred, dun coloured or white. 

Of the Italian breeds mentioned by Varro, Professor Ridgewayconjectures that the Etruscan (or Rosean) was probably an improvedNorthern horse, while the Apulian, from the South of Italy, represented an admixture of Libyan blood. ]

[Footnote 141: Aristotle (_H. A. _ VI, 22) preceded Varro with this goodadvice, saying that a mare "produces better foals at the end of fouror five years. It is quite necessary that she should wait one yearand should pass through a fallow, as it were--[Greek: poiein osperneion]. "]

[Footnote 142: Mules were employed in antiquity from the earliest times. In Homer they were used for drawing wagons: thus Nausicaa drove a muleteam to haul out the family wash, and Priam made his visit to Achillesin a mule litter. Homer professes to prefer mules to oxen forploughing. There were mule races at the Greek games. Aristotle(_Rhetoric_, III, 2) tells an amusing story of Simonides, who, whenthe victor in the mule race offered him only a poor fee, refused tocompose an ode, pretending to be shocked at the idea of writing about"semi-asses, " but, on receipt of a proper fee, he wrote the odebeginning: "Hail, daughters of storm-footed mares, " although they wereequally daughters of the asses. ]

[Footnote 143: The breed of Maremma sheep dogs, still preferred inItaly, is white. He is doubtless the descendant of the large woolly"Spitz" or Pomeranian wolf dog which is figured on Etruscan coins. ]

[Footnote 144: In his essay, _Notre ami le chien_, Maeterlinck maintainseloquently that the dog alone among the domestic animals has given hisconfidence and friendship to man. "We are alone, absolutely alone, onthis chance planet: and amid all the forms of life that surround usnot one excepting the dog has made alliance with us. A few creaturesfear us, most are unaware of us, and not one loves us. In the world ofplants, we have dumb and motionless slaves: but they serve us in spiteof themselves. .. . The rose and the corn, had they wings, would fly atour approach, like birds. Among the animals, we number a few servantswho have submitted only through indifference, cowardice or stupidity:the uncertain and craven horse, who responds only to pain and isattached to nothing . .. The cow and the ox happy so long as they areeating and docile because for centuries they have not had a thought oftheir own. .. . I do not speak of the cat, to whom we are nothing morethan a too large and uneatable prey: the ferocious cat whose side longcontempt tolerates us only as encumbering parasites in our own homes. She at least curses us in her mysterious heart: but all the otherslive beside us as they might live beside a rock or a tree. "

The effective use of this thesis in the scene of the revolt of thedomestic animals in the Blue Bird will be remembered. ]

[Footnote 145: This method of securing the faithful affection of a dogis solemnly recommended, without acknowledgment to Saserna, in theseventeenth century editions of the _Maison Rustique_ (I, 27). ]

[Footnote 146: Keil happily points out that in his book on the Latinlanguage (VII, 31), Varro quotes the "ancient proverb" to which hehere refers, viz. : "canis caninam non est" dog doesn't eat dog. ]

[Footnote 147: Aristotle (_H. A. _ VI, 20) says that puppies are blindfrom twelve to seventeen days, depending upon the season of the yearat which they are born. Pliny (_H N. _ VIII, 62) says from seven totwenty days, depending upon the supply of the mother's milk. ]

[Footnote 148: It was among these hardy shepherd slaves that Spartacusrecruited his army in 72-71 B. C. , as did Caelius and Milo in 48 B. C. , while their descendants were the brigands who infested Southern Italyeven in the nineteenth century. ]

[Footnote 149: Gaius, I, 119, II, 24, 41, describes in detail theprocesses here referred to by which a slave was acquired under theRoman law. ]

[Footnote 150: Dennis, in his _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, drawsa picture of modern Italy which may serve to illustrate Varro's sketchof the mountain life of the shepherds of his day:

"Occasionally in my wanderings on this site (Veii) I have entered, either from curiosity or for shelter, one of the _capanne_ scatteredover the downs. These are tall conical thatched huts which theshepherds make their winter abode. For in Italy, the lowlands beinggenerally unhealthy in summer, the flocks are driven to the mountainsabout May, and as soon as the great heats are past are brought back tothe rich pastures of the plains. It is a curious sight, the interiorof a _capanna_, and affords an agreeable diversity to the antiquityhunter. A little boldness is requisite to pass through the pack ofdogs, white as new dropt lambs, but large and fierce as wolves, which, were the shepherd not at hand, would tear in pieces whoever mightventure to approach the hut: but with one of the _pecoraj_ for aTeucer, nothing is to be feared. The _capanne_ are of various sizes. One I entered not far from Veii was thirty or forty feet in diameterand fully as high, propped in the centre by two rough masts, betweenwhich a hole was left in the roof for the escape of smoke. Within thedoor lay a large pile of lambs, there might be a hundred, killed thatmorning and already flayed, and a number of shepherds were busiedin operating on the carcases of others: all of which were to bedispatched forthwith to the Roman market. Though a fierce May sunblazed without, a huge fire roared in the middle of the hut: but thiswas for the sake of the _ricotta_, which was being made in anotherpart of the _capanna_. Here stood a huge cauldron, full of boilingewes' milk. In a warm state this curd is a delicious jelly and hasoften tempted me to enter a _capanna_ in quest of it, to the amazementof the _pecoraj_, to whom it is _vilior alga_. Lord of the cauldron, stood a man dispensing ladlefuls of the rich simmering mess to hisfellows, as they brought their bowls for their morning allowance:and he varied his occupation by pouring the same into certain smallbaskets, the serous part running off through the wicker and theresidue caking as it cooled. On the same board stood the cheeses, previously made from the cream. In this hut lived twenty-five men, their nether limbs clad in goat skins, with the hair outwards, realizing the satyrs of ancient fable: but they had no nymphs totease, nor shepherdesses to woo, and never

 'sat all day Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love To amorous Phillida. '

They were a band of celibates without the vows. In such huts theydwell all the year round, flaying lambs or shearing sheep, livingon bread, _ricotta_ and water, very rarely tasting meat or wine andsleeping on shelves ranged round the hut, like berths in a ship'scabin. Thus are the dreams of Arcadia dispelled by realities. "]

[Footnote 151: In modern Italy the shepherds do not take their womenwith them to the _saltus_, but, as Dennis says, lead there the life of"celibates, without the vows. "]

[Footnote 152: In the Venitian provinces of Italy today the women arestill seen at work in the harvest and rice fields with their babes intheir bosoms: but the most amazing modern spectacle of this kindis that of women coaling ships in the East, carrying their unhappyyoungsters up and down the coal ladders throughout the work. ]

[Footnote 153: The author of _Maison Rustique_ did not agree with Varroin this opinion. I quote from Surflet's translation of 1606 (I, 7):

"And for writing and reading it skilleth not whether he be able todoe it or no, or that he should have any other charge to looke untobesides that of yours, or else that he should use another to set downein writing such expences as he hath laid out: for paper will admit anything. "]

[Footnote 154: This temple and fig tree stood in Rome at the foot of thePalatine hill, in the neighbourhood of the Lupercal. It was under thisfig tree that Romulus and Remus were supposed to have been suckled bythe wolf. ]

[Footnote 155: 'That is the beste grease that is to a shepe, to greasehym in the mouthe with good meate, ' says Sir Anthony Fitzherbert. ]

[Footnote 156: Pliny (VII, 59) says that most nations learn the use ofbarbers next after that of letters, but that the Romans were late inthis respect. Varro himself wore a beard, as appears on the coin hestruck during the war with the Pirates. It is reproduced in Smiths_Dict. Gr. And Rom. Biog_. , III, p. 1227. ]

[Footnote 157: Cowper's verse in _The Task_ seems to be all that ishappy in the way of translation of Varro's text, "divina natura deditagros, ars humana aedificavit urbes": but Cowley's "God the firstgarden made, and the first city Cain" was probably Cowper's source. Cowley was a reader of Varro, as his pleasant and sane essay _OfAgriculture_ shows. ]

[Footnote 158: Following the precedent of the first and second books inthe matter of local colour, the scene of this third book, relating tovillas and the "small deer, " which were there reared, is laid inthe _villa publica_ at Rome, and the characters of the dialogue areselected for the suggestion which their names may make of the denizensof the aviary, the barn yard and the bee-stand. ]

[Footnote 159: This Appius Claudius Pulcher served in Asia under hisbrother-in-law Lucullus, was Augur in B. C. 59, Consul in 54 and Censorin 50. He wrote a book on augural law and the habits of birds at whichCicero poked some rather mean fun. He fixes the date of the dialogue. ]

[Footnote 160: In Varro's time, as today, the river Velinus drained thefresh pastures of the Umbrian prairie of Rosea, "the nurse of Italy, "which lay below the town of Reate (the modern Rieti), and wasoriginally the bed of a lake. Its waters are so strongly impregnatedwith carbonate of lime that by their deposit of travertine they tendto block their own channel. The drainage of Rosea has, therefore, always been a matter of concern to the live stock industry of Reate, and in B. C. 272 M. Curius Dentatus opened the first of severalsuccessful artificial canals (the last dating from the sixteenthcentury, A. D. ), which still serve to lead the Velinus into the Nar atthe renowned Cascate delle Marmore. For two hundred years the peopleof Interamna (the modern Terni) had complained that their situationbelow the falls was endangered by Curius' canal, and finally in B. C. 54 the Roman Senate appointed the commission to which Appius Claudiusrefers in the text, to hear the controversy. Cicero was retained ascounsel for the people of Reate, and during the hearing stopped, asAppius Claudius did, with our friend Axius at his Reatine villa, andwrote about the visit to the same Atticus whom we met in Varro'ssecond book, as follows (_ad Atticum_, IV, 15): "After this was overthe people of Reate summoned me to their Tempe to plead theircause against the people of Interamna, before the Consul and tencommissioners, the question being concerning the Veline lake, which, drained by M. Curius by means of a channel cut through the mountain, now flows into the Nar: by this means the famous Rosea has beenreclaimed from the swamp, though still fairly moist. I stopped withAxius, who took me also to visit the Seven Waters. " What was oncedeemed a danger is a double source of profit to the modern folk ofInteramna. Tourists today crowd to see the same waterfall which Cicerovisited, taking a tram from the busy little industrial town of Terni:and the waters which flow from Velinus now serve to generate powerwith which armour plates are manufactured for the Italian navy on thesite of the ancient Interamna. ]

[Footnote 161: Sicilian honey was famous for its flavour because ofthe bee pasture of thyme which there abounded, especially at Hybla. Theophrastus (H. P. III, 15, 5) explains that the honey of Corsica hadan acrid taste, because the bees pastured there largely on box trees. ]

[Footnote 162: These denizens of the Roman villa are all enumerated byMartial in his delightful verses (III, 38) upon Faustinus' villa atBaiae. The picture of the barn yard is very true to life in all ages, especially the touch of the hungry pigs sniffing after the pail of thefarmer's wife:

 "Vagatur omnis turba sordidae cortis Argutus anser, gemmeique pavones Nomenque debet quae rubentibus pennis, Et picta perdix, Numidicaeque guttatae Et impiorum phasiana Colchorum. Rhodias superbi feminas prement galli Sonantque turres plausibus columbarum, Gemit hinc palumbus, inde cereus turtur Avidi sequuntur villicae sinum porci: Matremque plenam mollis agnus exspectat. "]

[Footnote 163: The _sestertius_ was one quarter of a _denarius_, or, say, the equivalent of five cents. It was also called _nummus_, aswe say "nickel. " The ordinary unit used by the Romans in reckoningconsiderable sums of money was 1, 000 sesterces, which may accordinglybe translated as the equivalent of (say) $50. Axius' jackass thus cost$2, 000, while Seius' income from his villa was $2, 500 per annum, thatof Varro's aunt from her aviary was $3, 000, and that of Axius fromhis farm $1, 500. Cicero records that Axius was a money lender, whichexplains the fun here made of his avarice. ]

[Footnote 164: Columella, writing about one hundred years after Varro, refers to this passage and says that luxury had so developed sinceVarro's time that it no longer required an extraordinary occasion, like a triumph, to bring the price of thrushes to three _denarii_ apiece, but that that had become a current quotation. ]

[Footnote 165: A minerval was the fee (of Minerva) paid to a schoolteacher. ]

[Footnote 166: The inventor of the auspices _ex tripudiis_ or thefeeding of chickens was evidently an ingenious poultry fancier whosucceeded in securing the care of his favourites at the publiccharge. ]

[Footnote 167: This was L. Marcius Philippus, the orator mentionedby Horace (_Epist_. I, 7, 46), who was Consul in B. C. 91, and wascelebrated for his luxurious habits, which his wealth enabled him togratify. His son married the widow of C. Octavius and so became thestep-father of the Emperor Augustus. ]

[Footnote 168: This was _turdus pilaris_, the variety of thrush which iscalled field fare. ]

[Footnote 169: The traveller by railway from Rome to Naples passes nearVarro's estate of Casinum, and if he stops at the mediaeval town ofSan Germano to visit the neighbouring Badia di Monte Cassino, wherethe "angelic doctor" Thomas Aquinas was educated, he will find Varro'smemory kept green: for he will be entertained at the _Albergo Varrone_("very fair but bargaining advisable, " sagely counsels Mr. Baedeker)and on his way up the long winding road to the Abbey there will bepointed out to him the river Rapido, on the banks of which Varro'saviary stood, and nearby what is reputed to be the site of theold polymath's villa which Antony polluted with the orgies Cicerodescribed in the second Philippic. Antony's destruction of his librarywas a great blow to Varro, but one likes to think that his ghost cantake satisfaction in the maintenance, so near the haunts of his flesh, of such a noble collection of books as is the continuing pride of theAbbey on the mountain above. ]

[Footnote 170: Varro's Museum, or study where he wooed the Muses, on hisestate at Casinum was not unlike that of Cicero at his native Arpinum, which he described (de Leg. II, 3) agreeably as on an island in thecold and clear Fibrenus just above its confluence with the moreimportant river Liris, where, like a plebeian marrying into apatrician family, it lost its name but contributed its freshness. Theyounger Pliny built a study in the garden of his Laurentine villa nearOstia, which he describes (II, 17) with enthusiasm: "horti diaeta est, amores mei, re vera amores": and here he found refuge from the tumultof his household during the festivities of the Saturnalia, whichcorresponded with our Christmas. In the ante bellum days everyVirginia gentleman had such an "office" in his house yard where hepretended to transact his farm business, but where actually hewas wont to escape from the obligations of family and continuoushospitality. ]

[Footnote 171: The commentators on this interesting but obscuredescription of Varro's aviary have at this point usually endeavouredto explain the arrangements of the chamber under the lantern ofthe _tholus_ with respect to its use as a dining room which Varrofrequented himself, and hence have been amused into all kinds ofdifficulties of interpretation. The references to the _convivae_ arewhat lead them astray, and it remained for Keil to suggest that thiswas a playful allusion to the birds themselves, a conclusion which isstrengthened by Varro's previous statement of the failure of Lucullus'attempt to maintain a dining room in his aviary. ]

[Footnote 172: Cf. Vitruvius, I, 6: "Andronicus Cyrrhestes built atAthens an octagonal marble tower, on the sides of which were carvedimages of the eight winds, each on the side opposite that from whichit blew. On the pyramidal roof of this tower he placed a bronze Tritonholding a rod in his right hand, and so contrived that the Triton, revolving with the wind, always stood opposed to that which prevailed, and thus pointed with his rod to the image on the tower of the windthat was blowing at the moment. " The ruins of this Tower of the Windsmay still be seen in Athens. There is a picture of it in Harper'sDictionary of Classical Antiquities in the article _Andronicus_. ]

[Footnote 173: One ventures to translate _athletoe comitiorum_ by Mr. Gladstone's famous phrase. ]

[Footnote 174: Reading "tesserulas coicientem in loculum. "]

[Footnote 175: A French translator might better convey the intentionof the pun, contained in the _ducere serram_ of the text, by thelocution, _une prise de bec_. ]

[Footnote 176: It probably will not comfort the ultimate consumer whoholds in such odium the celebrated "Schedule K" of the Payne-Aldrichtariff, to realize that the American wool grower puts no highervalue on his sheep than did his Roman ancestor, as revealed by thisquotation from the stock yards of Varro's time. It is interesting, however, to the breeder to know that a good price for wool has alwaysstimulated the production of the best stock. Strabo says that the woolof Turdetania in Spain was so celebrated in the generation after Varrothat a ram of the breed (the ancestors of the modern Merino) fetcheda talent, say $1, 200; a price which may be compared with that of theprize ram recently sold in England for export to the Argentine for asmuch as a thousand pounds sterling, and considered a good commercialinvestment at that. Doubtless the market for Rosean mules comfortedAxius in his investment of the equivalent of £400 in a breeding jack. ]

[Footnote 177: In feudal times the right to maintain a dove cote wasthe exclusive privilege of the lord of the manor. According to theirimmemorial custom, which Varro notices, the pigeons preyed on theneighbourhood crops and were detested by the community in consequence. During the French revolution they were one of the counts in theindictment of the land-owning aristocracy, and in the event thepigeons as well as their owners had the sins of their forefathersjustly visited upon them. The American farmer who has a pigeon-keepingneighbour and is restrained by the pettiness of the annoyance frommaking a point on their trespasses, feels something of the blind andimpotent wrath of the French peasant against the whole pigeon family. ]

[Footnote 178: It appears that the Romans actually hired men to chew thefood intended for cramming birds, so as to relieve the unhappy victimseven of such exercise as they might get from assimilating their diet. Columella (VII, 10) in discussing the diet of thrushes deprecatesthis practice, sagely saying that the wages of the chewers are outof proportion to the benefit obtained, and that any way the chewersswallow a good part of what they are given to macerate. 

The typical tramp of the comic papers who is forever looking foroccupation without work might well envy these Roman professionalchewers. Not even Dr. Wiley's "poison squad" employed to test foodproducts could compare with them. ]

[Footnote 179: These prices of $10 and $50 and even $80 a pair forpigeons, large as they seem, were surpassed under the Empire. Columella says (VIII, 8): "That excellent author, M. Varro, tells usthat in his more austere time it was not unusual for a pair of pigeonsto sell for a thousand sesterces, a price at which the present dayshould blush, if we may believe the report that men have been found topay for a pair as much as four thousand _nummi_. " ($200. )]

[Footnote 180: The market for chickens and eggs in the United Stateswould doubtless astonish the people of Delos as much as the statisticsdo us (ipsa suas mirantur Gargara messes!). It is solemnly recordedthat the American hen produces a billion and a quarter dozen eggs perannum, of a value greater than that of either the wheat or cottoncrops, and yet there are many of us who cannot get our hens to laymore than a hundred eggs a year!]

[Footnote 181: Reading _ad infirma crura_. This practice is explainedmore at length by Columella (VIII, 2, 3) who specifies the spurs, _calcaribus inustis_. 

Buffon, who describes a 'practice of trimming the combs of capons, adds (V, 302) an interesting account of an experiment which he says hehad made "une espece de greffe animale": after trimming the comb ofa growing cockerel his budding spurs were cut out and grafted on theroots of the comb, where they took root and flourished, growing to alength of two and a half inches, in some cases curving forward likethe horns of a ram, and in others turning back like those of a goat. ]

[Footnote 182: The dusting yard which Varro here describes was in theopen, but Columella (VIII, 3) advises what modern poultry farmerspride themselves upon having recently discovered, --a coveredscratching pen strewn with litter to afford exercise for the hens inrough weather. It will be observed that, so far as ventilation isconcerned, Varro recommends a hen house open to the weather: this isanother standard of modern practice which has had a hard struggleagainst prejudice. Columella adds two more interesting bits of advice, that for the comfort of the hens the roosts should be cut square, andfor cleanliness their water trough should be enclosed leavingonly openings large enough to receive a hen's head. With so muchenlightenment and sanitation one would expect one or the other ofthese Romans to tell us of some "teeming hen" like Herrick's who laid"her egg each day. "

We are proud to be able to cite the eminent Roseburg Industrious Biddywho, in the year of grace 1912, achieved the championship of Americawith a record of 266 eggs in ten months and nineteen days, and wassold for $800: but Varro is content to suggest that a hen will laymore eggs in a season than she can hatch, and the conservativeColumella (VIII, 5) that the number of eggs depends upon diet. ]

[Footnote 183: The guinea fowl got their Greek name, _meleagrides_, because the story was that the sisters of Meleager were turned intoguinea hens. Pliny (_H. N. _ X, 38) says that they fight every year onMeleager's tomb. It is a fact that they are a pugnacious fowl. Buffonsays that guinea fowl disappeared from Europe in the Dark Ages andwere not known again until the route to the Indies via the Cape ofGood Hope was opened when they were imported anew from the west coastof Africa. ]

[Footnote 184: Reading, "propter fastidium hominum. " Cf. Pliny (X, 38), whose explanation is "propter ingratum virus. "]

[Footnote 185: There is a Virginia practice of feeding a fat turkeyheavily on bread soaked in wine or liquor just before he is killed, the result being that as the turkey gets into that condition whichused to put our ancestors under the table, he relaxes all his tendonsand so is sweeter and more tender when he comes above the table. Thereis a humanitarian side to the practice which should recommend it evento the W. C. T. U. As well as to the epicure. ]

[Footnote 186: Many thousands of geese used to be driven every year toRome from the land of the Morini in Northern Gaul, but the Germans arethe modern consumers. A British consular report says that in additionto the domestic supply a special "goose train" of from fifteen toforty cars is received daily in Berlin from Russia. It would seem thatthe goose that lays the golden egg has emigrated to Muscovy. Buffonsays that the introduction of the Virginia turkey into Europe drovethe goose off the tables of all civilized peoples. ]

[Footnote 187: Columella (VIII, 14) repeats this myth, but Aristotle(_H. A. _ V, 2, 9) says that geese bathe _after_ breeding. Buffon givesa Gallic touch, "ces oiseaux preludent aux actes de l'amour en allantd'abord s'egayer dans l'eau. "]

[Footnote 188: Reading _seris_. It is the _Cichorium endivia_ ofLinnaeus. Cf. Pliny (_H. N. _ XX, 32. )]

[Footnote 189: Varro does not mention it, but the Romans knew and prized_pâté de foie gras_ under the name _ficatum_, which indicates thatthey produced it by cramming their geese with a diet of figs. Cf. Horace's verse "pinguibus et ficis pastum iecur anseris albi. "

In Toulouse, whence now comes the best of this dainty of the epicure, the geese are crammed daily with a dough of corn meal mixed with theoil of poppies, fed through a tin funnel, which is introduced into theesophagus of the unhappy bird. At the end of a month the stertorousbreathing of the victim proclaims the time of sacrifice to Apicius. The liver is expected to weigh a kilogram, (say two pounds), whileat least two kilograms of fat are saved in addition, to garnish thefamily _plat_ of vegetables during the remainder of the year. ]

[Footnote 190: Reading _foeles_, which Keller, in his account of thefauna of ancient Italy in the Cambridge _Companion to Latin Studies_, identifies with _Martes vulgaris_. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert calls themfullymartes. It does not appear that the Romans had in Varro's timebrought from Egypt our household cat, _F. Maniculata_. They usedweasels and tame snakes for catching mice. ]

[Footnote 191: Darwin (_Animals and Plants_, I, 8) cites this passageand argues that Varro's advice to cover the duck yard with netting tokeep the ducks from flying out is evidence that in Varro's time duckswere not entirely domesticated, and hence that the modern domesticduck is the same species as the wild duck. It may be noted, however, that Varro gives the same advice about netting the chicken yard, having said that chickens had been domesticated from the beginning oftime. ]

[Footnote 192: The ancient Etruscan city of Tarquinii is now knownas Corneto. The wild sheep which Lippinus there kept in his gamepreserves were probably the _mouflon_ which are still hunted inSardinia and Corsica, though they may have been the Phrygian wildsheep (_Aegoceros argali_) which Varro mentions in Book II. Pliny(_H. N. _ VIII, 211) says that this Lippinus was the first of the Romansto keep wild animals enclosed; that he established his preservesshortly before the Civil Wars, and that he soon had imitators. ]

[Footnote 193: Reading * * * * [Transcriber's note: the preceding four*s are actually four instances of the "infinity" symbol (like a digit8 rotated horizontally)]_passum_. The Roman mile, _mille passuum_, was142 yards less than the English mile. ]

[Footnote 194: Of the three kinds of hares mentioned by Varro the"common Italian kind" was _L. Timidus_, a roast shoulder of whichHorace vaunts as a delicacy: the Alpine hare was _L. Variabilis_, which grows white on the approach of winter: and the _cuniculus_ wasthe common rabbit known to our English ancestors as the coney. Straborecords (Casaub, 144) that the inhabitants of the Gymnesian (Balearic)Islands in Spain sent a deputation to Augustus to request a militaryforce to exterminate the pest of rabbits, for such was their multitudethat the people were being crowded out of their homes by them, inwhich their plight was that of modern Australia. They were usuallyhunted in Spain with muzzled ferrets imported from Africa. ]

[Footnote 195: The edible snail, _helix pomatia_, L. , is still anarticle of commerce in France and Italy. They prey upon vines andgive evidence of their appreciation of the best by abounding in thevineyards of the _Cote d'or_, the ancient Burgundy. There at the endof summer they are gathered for the double purpose of protecting thevines and delighting the epicure: are then stored in a safe placeuntil cold weather, when they considerately seal up their own shellswith a calcareous secretion and so are shipped to market. 

Here is the recipe for 'escargots à la bourguignonne, ' which despitethe prejudice engendered by _Leviticus_ (XI, 30. ) may be recommendedto the American palate jaded by beefsteak and potatoes and the highcost of living: "Mettre les escargots a bouillir pendant 5 a 10minutes dans de l'eau salée, les retirer de leur coquille, les lavera l'eau froide pour les debarrasser du limon, les cuire dans uncourt-bouillon fortement assaisonné. Apres cuisson les replacer dansle coquille bien nettoyee, en les garnissant au fond et par dessusd'une farce de beurre frais manipule avec un fin hachis de persil, cerfeuil, ail, echalote, sel et poivre. Avant de servir, fairechauffer au four. "]

[Footnote 196: Reading LXXX _quadrantes_. A comparison may be made ofthis capacity with that of the ordinary snail known to the Romans, for their smallest unit of liquid measure was called a _cochlear_, orsnail shell, and contained. 02 of a modern pint, or, as we may say, a spoonful: indeed the French word _cuiller_ is derived from_cochlear_. ]

[Footnote 197: It is perhaps well to remind the American reader that theEuropean dormouse (_Myoxus glis_. Fr. _loir_. Ger. _siebenschlafer_)is rather a squirrel than a mouse, and that he is still esteemed adainty edible, as he was by the Romans: indeed when fat, just beforehe retires to hibernate, he might be preferred to 'possum and otherstrange dishes on which some hospitable Americans regale themselvesand the patient palates of touring Presidents. In his treatise _De reculinaria_ Apicius gives a recipe for a ragout of dormice which soundsappetizing. ]

[Footnote 198: Darwin (_Animals and Plants_, XVIII) says: "I have neverheard of the dormouse breeding in captivity. "]

[Footnote 199: Varro makes no mention of tea and bread and butter aspart of the diet of a dormouse; so we are better able to understandhis abstinence at the mad tea party in _Alice in Wonderland_. AsMartial (III, 58) calls him _somniculosus_, it is probable that histable manners on that occasion were nothing new and that his Englishand German names were always justified. ]

[Footnote 200: This is one of Varro's puns which requires a surgicaloperation to get it into one's head. Appius is selected to talk aboutbees because his name has some echo of the sound of _apis_, the wordfor bee. ]

[Footnote 201: The study of bees was as interesting to the ancients asit is to us. There have survived from among many others the treatisesof Aristotle, Varro, Virgil, Columella and Pliny, but they are allmade up, as Maeterlinck has remarked, of "erreurs charmantes, " and forthat reason the antique lore of bees is read perhaps to best advantagein the mellifluous verses of the fourth _Georgic_, which follow Varroclosely. ]

[Footnote 202: He might have said also that the hexagonal form ofconstruction employed by bees produces the largest possible resultwith the least labour and material. Maeterlinck rehearses (_La Vie desAbeilles_, 138) the result of the study of this problem in the highestmathematics:

"Réaumur avait proposé au célèbre mathematicien Koenig le problemsuivant: 'Entre toutes les cellules hexagonales a fond pyramidalcompose de trois rhombes semblables et égaux, determiner celle quipeut être construite avec le moins de matière?' Koenig trouva qu'unetelle cellule avait son fond fait de trois rhombes dont chaque grandangle était de 109 degrés, 26 minutes et chaque petit de 70 degrés, 34minutes. Or, un autre savant, Maraldi, ayant mesuré aussi exactementque possible les angles des rhombes construits par les abeilles fixales grands à 109 degrés, 28 minutes, et les petits a 70 degrés, 32minutes. Il n'y avait done, entre les deux solutions qu'une differencede 2 minutes. II est probable que l'erreur, s'il y en a une, doit êtreimputee a Maraldi plutot qu'aux abeilles, car aucun instrument nepermet de mesurer avec une precision infaìllible les angles descellules qui ne sont pas assez nettlement definis. "

Maclaurin, a Scotch physicist, checked Koenig's computations andreported to the Royal Society in London in 1743 that he found asolution in exact accord with Maraldi's measurements, therebycompletely justifying the mathematics of the bee architect. ]

[Footnote 203: The Romans were as curious and as constant in the use ofperfumes as we are of tobacco. It is perhaps well to remember thatthey might find our smoke as offensive as we would their unguents. ]

[Footnote 204: Indeed one of the marvels of nature is the servicewhich certain bees perform for certain plants in transferring theirfertilizing pollen which has no other means of transportation. Darwinis most interesting on this subject. ]

[Footnote 205: The ancients, even Aristotle, did not know that the queenbee is the common mother of the hive. They called her the king, and itremained for Swammerdam in the seventeenth century to determine withthe microscope this important fact. From that discovery has developedour modern knowledge of the bee; that the drones are the males and aresuffered by the (normally) sterile workers to live only until one ofthem has performed his office of fertilizing once for all the newqueen in that nuptial flight, so dramatically fatal to the successfulswain, which Maeterlinck has described with wonderful rhetoric, whereupon the workers massacre the surviving males without mercy. Thisis the "driving out" which Varro mentions. ]

[Footnote 206: This picture of the queen bee is hardly in accord withmodern observations. It seems that while the queen is treated withthe utmost respect, she is rather a royal prisoner than a ruler, and, after her nuptial flight, is confined to her function of laying eggsincessantly unless she may be unwillingly dragged forth to lead aswarm. Maeterlinck thus pictures (_La Vie des Abeilles_, 174) herexistence with a Gallic pencil:

"Elle n'aura aucune des habitudes, aucunes des passions que nouscroyons inherentes à l'abeille. Elle n'eprouvera ni le desir dusoleil, ni le besoin de l'espace et mourra sans avoir visite unefleur. Elle passera son existence dans l'ombre et l'agitation de lafoule à la recherche infatigable de berceaux à peupler. En revanche, elle connaitra seule l'inquietude de l'amour. "]

[Footnote 207: It would have interested Axius to know that the annualconsumption of honey in the United States today is from 100 to 125million pounds and that the crop has a money value of at least tenmillion dollars. To match Seius, we might put forward a bee farmer inCalifornia who produces annually 150, 000 pounds of honey from 2, 000hives. ]

[Footnote 208: Maeterlinck has made a charming picture of this habit ofpropinquity of the bee-stand to the human habitation. He describes(_La Vie des Abeilles_, 14) the old man who taught him to love beeswhen he was a boy in Flanders, an old man whose entire happiness"consistait aux beautés d'un jardin et parmi ces beautés la mieuxaimee et la plus visitées etait un roucher, composé de douze clochesde paille qu'il avait peint, les unes de rose vif, les autres de jauneclair, la plupart d'un bleu tendre, car il avail observé, bien avantles experiences de Sir John Lubbock, que le bleu est la couleurpreferée des abeilles. Il avait installé ce roucher centre le murblanchi de la maison, dans l'angle que formait une des ces savoureuseset fraiches cuisines hollondaises aux dressoirs de faience ouétincalaient les etains et les cuivres qui, par la porte ouverte, se reflétaient dans un canal paisible. Et l'eau chargés d'imagesfamilières, sous un rideau de peupliers, guidait les regards jusqu'aurépos d'un horizon de moulins et de prés. "]

[Footnote 209: Reading _Apiastro_. This is the _Melissa officinalis_ ofLinnaeus. Cf. Pliny, XX, 45 and XXI, 86. ]

[Footnote 210: Bee keepers attribute to Reaumur the invention of themodern glass observation hive, which has made possible so much of ourknowledge of the bee, but it may be noted that Pliny (_H. N. _ XXI, 47)mentions hives of "lapis specularis, " some sort of talc, contrived forthe purpose of observing bees at work. The great advance in bee hivesis, however, the sectional construction attributed to Langstroth anddeveloped in America by Root. ]

[Footnote 211: Columella, (IX, 14) referring to the myth of thegeneration of bees in the carcase of an ox (out of which Virgil madethe fable of the pastor Aristaeus in the Fourth Georgic), explainsthe practice mentioned in the text with the statement "hic enim quasiquadam cognatione generis maxime est apibus aptus. " The plasteringof wicker hives with ox dung persisted and is recommended in theseventeenth century editions of the _Maison Rustique_. ]

[Footnote 212: Reading _seditiosum_. ]

[Footnote 213: This is a mistake upon which Aristotle could havecorrected Varro. ]

[Footnote 214: After studying the commentators on this obscure passage, I have elected to follow the emendation of Ursinus, which, althoughKeil sneers at its license, has the advantage of making sense. ]

[Footnote 215: _Sinapis arvensis_, Linn. ]

[Footnote 216: _Sium sisarum_, Linn. ]

[Footnote 217: The philosophy of the bee is not as selfish as that humanprinciple which Varro attributes to them. The hive does not send forthits "youth" to found a colony, but, on the contrary, abandons its homeand its accumulated store of wealth to its youth and itself venturesforth under the leadership of the old queen to face the uncertaintiesof the future, leaving only a small band of old bees to guard thehive and rear the young until the new queen shall have supplied a newpopulation. ]

[Footnote 218: Reading _imbecilliores_. ]

[Footnote 219: Pliny (_H. N_. IX, 81) relates that this loan was made tosupply the banquet on the occasion of one of the triumphs of Caesarthe dictator, but Pliny puts the loan at six thousand fishes. ]

[Footnote 220: It is impossible to translate this pun into English, _dulcis_ being the equivalent of both "fresh" and "agreeable, " and_amara_ of "salt" and "disagreeable. " A French translator would haveat his command _doux_ and _amer_. ]

[Footnote 221: Cf. Pliny (_H. N_. II, 96): "In Lydia the islands calledCalaminae are not only driven about by the wind, but may even bepushed at pleasure from place to place, by which means many peoplesaved themselves in the Mithridatic war. There are some small islandsin the Nymphaeus called the Dancers, because, when choruses are sung, they move in tune with the measure of the music. "]

[Footnote 222: Reading _in ius vocare_, with the _double entendre_ ofservice in a sauce and bringing to justice. ]

INDEX

_Actus (actus guadratus)_, unit of area in land measurementAegean Sea, derivation of nameAesop's fable of the foxAgriculture, distinguished from grazing, pottery-making, etc. Definition of scope of purposes of, are profit and pleasure four divisions for the study of effect of conformation of the land on, effect of character of soilAlbutius, L. Alfalfa, advice concerningAlfius, Roman farmer bankerAlpine haresAmurca, farm uses of used for anointing threshing floors waste of, by Romans method of preserving condensingApiaries, location of _See_ Bees. Apicius, recipe for ragout of dormice by, Appian, quotedAppius Claudius PulcherApples, storingApulian breed of horsesAquinas, Thomas_Arbusta_, the Italian_Arista_, etymology of wordAristotle, on blindness of puppies cited on goats' breathing through their ears on exercising of pregnant mares on breeding of mares story related by_Arpent_, derivation ofAsparagus planting, Asses, use of, as compared with other draught animals manure of certain choice breeds of buying, breeding, care of, etc. Milk ofAtticus, T. Pomponius

Augeas, King, tradition concerningAugustine, St. , on Varro indebtedness of, to works of VarroAviaries, profits from two classes of those kept for profit those kept for pleasureAviary, Varro's, at Casinum

B

Bakewell, breeding of sheep byBarbers, the first, in ItalyBarn yards, arrangement ofBarrows, hogs calledBavaria, agriculture in Iowa contrasted with that inBeans, use of, for green manuring storingBeauclerk, W. N. , on agriculture in modern Italy quotedBees, eggs of unfertilized queen the keeping of theories concerning generation of treatises on, by ancient writers habits and houses of money to be made from location of stands for food for; structure and care of hives kinds of selection of moving swarming of removal of honey general care ofBenson, William, edition of _Georgics_ by, quotedBirds, manure ofBlackbirds, houses for keepingBlackstone, opinion by, citedBleat, etymology of wordBlood, use of, in compostsBoars, advice concerning altering; wildBoissier, Gaston quoted and cited_Boke of Husbandry_, Fitzherbert'sBologna sausagesBones, remedy for injuries toBorden, Spencer, _The Arab Horse_ by, quotedBoundaries, protection of farmBuffon, quotations from citedBugs, recipe for exterminatingBuildings on farm

C

Cabbage, Cato's advocacy of the planting seedingCakes, recipes forCalendar of agricultural operationsCapons, chickens called method of caponizing cocks_Caprae_, goats, derivation of word_Capreolus_, a spiral tendrilCascate delle MarmoreCasinum, Varro's estate ofCassius, quotedCassius DionysiusCat, the modern household, unknown to VarroCato, Marcus Porcius the _De re rustica_ of literary style of, compared with VarroCats, contrasted with dogs in relations with manCattle, leaves as fodder for feeding of care of number and selection of, for a farm honour paid to, in naming Zodiacal signs and the constellations advice on breeding and feeding number of, to be kept advice on neat cattle_Centuria_, definedChaff, derivation of wordCheese, varieties and qualities ofCheese cakeChestnuts as food in ItalyChild, R. , quotedCicero, quoted concerning Varro verse fromCleaning grainClement-Mullet, J. J. , translation byClimate, choice of, in buying a farm connection between conformation of land andClover, advice on seedingCoburn, book on alfalfa byColours of horses, significance ofColumella cited on ploughing rules about the compost heap on soil improvement with legumes on dangers from mosquitoes on alfalfa quoted_Comedy of Errors_, origin ofCompost heap, rules concerning theConcrete, fences ofConformation of land, effect of, on agricultureConstellations, names of cattle given toCootsCorn, structure of plant storing _See_ GrainCorn land as distinguished from plough landCorsican honeyCotton seed, utilization ofCountry life, antiquity ofCowper and Cowley, lines byCrescenzi, Pietro, citedCultivating timeCuring hamsCuttage of plantsCyrrhestes, Tower of the Winds built by

D

Dante, quotation fromDarwin, Charles, _Animals and Plants_ by quoted on dormiceDates, eating preserved_Denarius_, value of theDennis, _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_ by, quoted_De re rustica_, Cato'sDesmolins, Edmond, citedDickson, Andrew, quoted citedDiophanes of BithyniaDisease in cattle, and remediesDislocations of bones, remedy forDogs, watch herdDonaldson's _Agricultural Biography_, quotedDondlinger, _Book of Wheat_ by, quotedDormice, enclosures for, feeding, etc. Draining period forDraught animals on farm number and choice ofDry farmingDucks, housing, care of, etc. Dunghill fowlDusting yard for poultry

E

Eggs, the first course in Roman dinners barren number for setting preservingElm trees, planting of for marking boundariesEndive, as food for geeseEnsilage, question of use of, by ancientsEquipment of a farm

F

Fallow, as managed by the RomansFarm, buying a laying out of the stocking the as a source of both profit and pleasure effect of conformation of the land effect of character of the soilFarm hands, allowances for selection, treatment, number of, etc. , _Farrago_, mixed fodder as food for geeseFeast days, observance ofFeed racks, construction ofFencesFerrero, citedField crops, planting ofFigs, season for propagating eating preservedFining the soilFishes, feeding and care ofFish ponds fresh-water and salt-water number of, on one estateFitzherbert, Sir Anthony quoted; cited on combining two kinds of husbandry on greasing of sheepFlock masters, duties ofForage, derivation from _farrago_Forage cropsForemen of farm hands, qualifications ofFowl. _See_ PoultryFowler, _Social Life at Rome_ by, quotedFrance, yields of wine inFreemen as agricultural labourersFruits, preserving time for using storedFurlong, derivation of

G

Game preservesGauls, pre-eminence of, in growing and making of pork high qualities as shepherdsGeese, selection of, breeding, care, etc. Geldings, horses called_Geoponica_, the; cited_Georgics_, Virgil's, passages based on information from VarroGestation, periods ofGleaning of grain fields_Gluma_, etymology of wordGoats, as foes of agriculture characteristics, breeding and handling milk of; use of hair and skins of; shearing ofGooge, Barnaby, translation of Heresbach byGraftage of plantsGrain, advice on seeding storing of cleaning, when taken out of storage time for marketingGranaries, varieties of_Granum_, etymology of wordGrapes, harvesting of advice on storingGrapevines, trellises and props forGrazing, to be distinguished from agricultureGreek writers on agricultureGreen manuringGuanoGuinea fowl

H

_Haeredium_, definedHair, removal of superfluousHams, recipes for curing and cookingHares, varieties of _See_ RabbitsHarte, Walter, _Essays on Husbandry_ by on alfalfa quotedHartlib, Samuel quoted on pasture _vs. _ arable landHarvester, ancient forerunners of the modernHarvest timeHay, harvesting the storing ofHaymakingHealth, location of farm steading with regard toHealthfulness of farms, importance ofHedges, myrtleHeliotrope, habits of theHensHerd dogsHeresbach, Conrad, citedHerrick, Robert, quotedHesiod quoted and citedHinniesHives for bees, location and structure inventors of modern devicesHogsHomer, quoted on use of mulesHoney, Sicilian and Corsican profits from removal of, from hiveHoneycomb, structure of theHorace, cited quotedHorses, oxen _vs. _ manure of breeding, feeding, care of, etc. House for residence on farmHousekeeper, duties of the

I

Ibn-al-Awam, book of agriculture byImplements, farmingInarching, propagation byIncantations as curesInteramna, town ofIowa, farming in Bavaria andItaly, agriculture in modern

J

Johnson, Samuel, on Harte's _Husbandry_ quoted on ShenstoneJoigneaux, P. , on yields of wine in FranceJones, W. H. , on malaria in the Roman Campagna_Jugerum_, defined_Jugum_, definedJungle fowl

K

Kames, Lord, quotedKeil, quoted citedKeller, cited_Kitab al-felahah_ of Ibn-al-Awam

L

Labourers, agriculturalLanciani, citedLand, effect of conformation of, on agricultureLeaves as fodder for cattleLegumes, soil improvement with storing_Leporaria_Library, public, at RomeLiterature of farm management, ancientLive stock, feeding care of origin and importance of husbandry of _See_ CattleLombardy, agriculture in ancient and modern

M

Machiavelli, quotedMaeterlinck, quoted on dogs on the antique lore of bees on the mathematics of the honeycomb on the queen bee's life on the nearness of the bee-stand to the dwelling-houseMago the Carthagenian, treatise on farm management by quoted Varro's account of_Maison Rustique_, cited and quotedMalaria in Roman CampagnaManure, preparation of best kinds ofManure pits, arrangement ofManuring, importance of greenMaremma sheep dogsMares, use of, for war horses milk ofMarket day among the RomansMarl, use of, as manureMarrying the vineMartial, quotation fromMeadows, protection of irrigated, of LombardyMeasurement of land, units of area used inMile, the RomanMilitary fencesMilk and milking, advice onMinerval, aMitchell, Donald G. Mommsen, quotedMontesquieu, quotedMoon, influence of, on agricultureMoryson, Fynes, quotedMosquitoes, perception by Varro of damages fromMules, remarks on foaling by uses, care of, etc. Murray, Gilbert, translation of Euripides byMust cakeMyers, F. W. H. , cited

N

Neat cattle, buying, breeding, feeding, etc. Neighbourhood, considerations of, in locating farmNeighbours, treatment of one's_Nummus_, a "nickel, "_Nundinum_, the Roman weekNurseries, protection ofNuts, eating preserved

O

Oaks, effect of, on olive trees_Oboerati_, class of bondservants called_Ocinum_, basilOil, manufacture of, from olivesOil-making implementsOlive farm, number of hands for working anOlives, allowances of, for farm hands reasons for growth in Attica effect of oaks in neighbourhood of advice on planting propagating from truncheons harvesting of methods of preserving eating preservedOlive saladOnager, wild assOrchards laying out and planting of olive_Ornithones_ _See_ AviariesOrtolans, houses for keepingOverseer duties of the location of room ofOvid, quotedOxen selling of worn-out comparison of horses and care of hoofs of treatment of sick number of, suitable for a farm qualities of, to be considered breaking of respect in which held by ancient Romans

P

Palladius quoted on the Gallic harvester_Palma_, palmPartridgesPastures care of _vs_. Arable landPâté de foie gras, known and prized by RomansPeacocks, discussion ofPerfumes among the RomansPersius, citedPetrarch on Varro on the loss of Varro's booksPhilippus, L. MarciusPigeon housesPigeons manure of kinds and care ofPigs, weanling, called "sacred"Planting field crops olives vines time ofPlants four methods of propagating transplanting cuttage graftage inarching time for using different methods of propagation mechanical action ofPlautus _Menaechmi_ of quotedPlautiusPleasure as a main purpose of agriculturePliny quoted use of marl as manure noted by on the Gallic harvester citedPliny the Younger, study in garden ofPloughing, importance of thorough of rotten landPlough land, as distinguished from corn landPolecatsPollio, Asinius, library at Rome founded byPolybius, quotedPome fruits, storingPomegranates, preservingPoultry, kinds, feeding, and care ofPoultry housesProtection of nurseries and meadowsProthero, quotedPunning, Varro's use ofPythagoras

Q

Quail, houses for keeping migrations ofQueen bees, recency of knowledge aboutQuinces, storingQuintilian, on Varro

R

Rabbits, warrens for breeding and feeding of derivation of Latin name forRacking wineReate, asses fromRecipes_Rerum Rusticarum_ of Varro Virgil's indebtedness toRest room for farm handsRidgeway, quoted on markings of horsesRidging land, custom ofRogers, Thorold, quotedRoman feverRome, insecurity of life in ancientRosea, drainage of, by artificial canalsRosean breed of horsesRotten land, precautions regarding

S

Sacred pigsSalad, oliveSalt, allowance of, for farm hands_Saltus_, definedSalutations, Greek, as used by RomansSaserna, as a writer on agriculture quoted on number of farm hands necessary on securing allegiance of dogsSausagesScab among sheep and cattleScratches in horses, remedy forScratching pen for hens_Scripulum_, definedScrofa, Tremelius origin of nameSea birds, manure ofSeasons, agriculturalSeed, selection ofSeed bed, preparing theSellar, citedSeneca, on Virgil's farming_Sestertius_, value of theSheep, value of, for their manure buying of feeding, breeding, and care of shearing ofSheep dogsShepherds, distinguished from farmers number and kind of, requisite purchase of slaves for life ofSicilian honeySilosSize of farmSlaves, selling of old and sick importance of food to contentment of selection of, for farm hands number of, for operating a farm buying, to act as shepherdsSnails, recipe for preparing cooked method of keeping in enclosures varieties of fattening ofSnakebite, remedy forSoil, improvement of effect of character of, on agriculture different kinds of fining theSolar measure of yearSolomon, quotation on ploughing fromSour land, treatment ofSowing, period forSpring ploughingSquabsStables for live stockSteading, building a husbandry of the development of the industries of theStamen, etymology ofStocking a farmStoring cropsStrabo, inventor of aviaries citedStraw, derivation of wordSwine, selecting, feeding, breeding, etc. 

T

Tarquinii, ancient Etruscan cityTaylor, John, _Arator_ by, quotedTealsTeeth, telling age of animals by the_Terra_, different senses of wordThales of MiletusThebes, derivation of nameTheophrastus, works by cited quoted on honey of CorsicaThessalian horsesThinning vinesThreshingThreshing floor, theThrushes, profits from houses for keepingTillage, advice onTime, standards of the Roman weekTools, farmingToulouse, production of pâté de foie gras inTransplantingTransportation, importance of ease ofTrellises in vineyardsTrumpet, training hogs to obey sound of assembling wild boars and roebucks by theTull, JethroTurkeys, fattening effect of introduction into Europe, on geeseTurtle doves, housing and care of

V

Varro, Marcus Terentius the _Rerum Rusticarum_ of works of, besides _Rerum Rusticarum_, activities of, in war against pirates estate and museum ofVegetable gardens_Versus_, the, definedVetch, derivation of nameVeterinary science of ancient RomansVilla, discussion of the RomanVines, for marking farm boundaries advice on planting thinningVineyards, the maintenance of implements forVintage, work of theVirgil indebtedness of, to Varro formula for testing sour land by advice on ploughing cited on colours of horsesVitruvius, quoted on Cyrrhestes' Tower of the Winds

W

Walnut trees, effect of, on surrounding landWalter of Henley quoted on use of marl as manureWarrens, definedWatch dogs, 116Water for cattleWater supply for a steadingWeaning, of young cattle of lambsWeanling pigsWeek, the RomanWheat, seeding yields of structure of plant harvesting ofWild assesWild boars, keeping of, in game preservesWind, impregnating of mares by theWind breaks for olive orchardsWine, cabbage as an offset to effects of allowances of, for farm hands yields of, in ancient Italy racking, 173 used in cramming fowlsWinnowingWinnowing basket, use of, for a cradleWinter ploughingWood pigeons, cramming and fatteningWool, shearing sheep for

X

Xenophon, as a writer on agriculture quoted

Y

Year, solar measure of theYoung, Arthur inscription on tombstone of wife fences recommended by on necessary number of farm labourers

Z

Zeno of CitiumZodiacal signs, honour paid to cattle in