diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/12140-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/12140-8.txt | 10906 |
1 files changed, 10906 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/12140-8.txt b/old/12140-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0d10b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12140-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10906 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Roman Farm Management, by Marcus Porcius Cato + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Roman Farm Management + The Treatises Of Cato And Varro + +Author: Marcus Porcius Cato + +Release Date: April 25, 2004 [EBook #12140] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN FARM MANAGEMENT *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: The extensive and lengthy footnotes have been +renumbered 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 at +a book stall on the Quai Voltaire in Paris, and they carried him away +in imagination, during a pleasant half hour, not to the vineyards and +olive yards of Roman Italy, but to the blue hills of a far distant +Virginia where the corn was beginning to tassel and the fat cattle +were loafing in the pastures. Subsequently, when it appeared that +there was then no readily available English version of the Roman +agronomists, this translation was made, in the spirit of old Piero +Vettori, the kindly Florentine scholar, whose portrait was painted by +Titian and whose monument may still be seen in the Church of Santo +Spirito: in the preface of his edition of Varro he says that he +undertook the work, not for the purpose of displaying his learning, +but to aid others in the study of an excellent author. Victorius was +justified by his scholarship and the present editor has no such +claim to attention: he, therefore, makes the confession frankly (to +anticipate perhaps such criticism as Bentley's "a very pretty poem, +Mr. Pope, but don't call it Homer") and offers the little book to +those who love the country, and to read about the country amidst the +crowded life of towns, with the hope that they may find in it some +measure 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 to +correct some errors and to make several additions to the notes. + +In withholding his name from the title page the editor sought not so +much to conceal his identity as to avoid the appearance of a parade in +what 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 AGRONOMISTS +NOTE ON THE OBLIGATION OF VIRGIL TO VARRO + + * * * * * + +CATO'S _DE AGRICULTURA_ + +SYNOPSIS + + +Introduction: Of the Dignity of the Farmer +Of Buying a Farm +Of the Duties of the Owner +Of Laying out the Farm +Of Stocking the Farm +Of the Duties of the Overseer +Of the Duties of the Housekeeper +Of the Hands +Of Draining +Of Preparing the Seed Bed +Of Manure +Of Soil Improvement +Of Forage Crops +Of Planting +Of Pastures +Of Feeding Live Stock +Of the Care of Live Stock +Of Cakes and Salad +Of 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 not +III. b. What it is +IV. The purposes of Agriculture are profit and pleasure +V. The four-fold division of the study of Agriculture + +_I° Concerning the farm itself_: +VI. How conformation of the land affects Agriculture +VII. How character of soil affects Agriculture +VIII. (A digression on the maintenance of vineyards) +IX. Of the different kinds of soils +X. Of the units of area used in measuring land + +Of the considerations on building a steading: +XI. a. Size + b. Water supply +XII. c. Location, with regard to health +XIII. d. Arrangement + +Of the protection of farm boundaries: +XIV. a. Fences +XV. b. Monuments +XVI. Of the considerations of neighbourhood + +_2° Concerning the equipment of a farm_: +XVII. } +& }Of agricultural labourers +XVIII.} +XIX. } +& }Of draught animals +XX. } +XXI. Of watch dogs +XXII. Of farming implements + +_3° Concerning the operation of a farm_: +XXIII. Of planting field crops +XXIV. Of planting olives +XXV. } +& } Of planting vines +XXVI.} + +_4° Concerning the agricultural seasons_: +XXVII. } +& }Of the solar measure of the year, illustrated by +XXVIII.} + + +A CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS +throughout the year, in eight seasons, viz: + +XXIX. 1° February 7-March 24 +XXX. 2° March 24-May 7 +XXXI. 3° May 7-June 24 +XXXII. 4° June 24-July 21 +XXXIII. 5° July 21-September 26 +XXXIV. 6° September 26-October 28 +XXXV. 7° October 28-December 24 +XXXVI. 8° December 24-February 7 +XXXVII. Of the influence of the moon on Agriculture to which is added + + +ANOTHER CALENDAR OF SIX AGRICULTURAL SEASONS +with 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, inarching +XLI. Of when to use these different methods +XLII. Of seeding alfalfa +XLIII. Of seeding clover and cabbage +XLIV. Of seeding grain + +_3° Cultivating time_: +XLV. Of the conditions of plant growth +XLVI. Of the mechanical action of plants +XLVII. Of the protection of nurseries and meadows +XLVIII. Of the structure of a wheat plant + +XLIX. _4° Harvest time_: + Of the hay harvest + +L. Of the wheat harvest +LI. The threshing floor +LII. Threshing and winnowing +LIII. Gleaning +LIV. Of the vintage +LV. Of the olive harvest + +_5° Housing time_: +LVI. Of storing hay +LVII. Of storing grain +LVIII. Of storing legumes +LIX. Of storing pome fruits +LX. Of storing olives +LXI. Of storing amurca + +LXII. _6° Consuming time_: +LXIII. Of cleaning grain +LXIV. Of condensing amurca +LXV. Of racking wine +LXVL. Of preserved olives +LXVIL. Of nuts, dates and figs +LXVIII. Of stored fruits +LXIX. 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 husbandry +II. Of sheep +III. Of goats +IV. Of swine +V. Of neat cattle +VI. Of asses +VII. Of horses +VIII. Of mules +IX. Of herd dogs +N. Of shepherds +XI. Of milk and cheese and wool + + +BOOK III + +THE HUSBANDRY OF THE STEADING + + +I. Introduction: the antiquity of country life +II. Of the definition of a Roman villa +III. Of the Roman development of the industries of the steading +IV. Of aviaries +V. a. for profit + b. for pleasure (including here the description of Varro's own aviary) +VI. Of pea-cocks +VII. Of pigeons +VIII. Of turtle doves +IX. Of poultry +X. Of geese +XI. Of ducks +XII. Of rabbits +XIII. Of game preserves +XIV. Of snails +XV. Of dormice +XVI. Of bees +XVII. 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 to +the modern farmer however practical and scientific he may be. He will +not find in them any thing about bacteria and the "nodular hypothesis" +in respect of legumes, nor any thing about plant metabolism, nor even +any thing about the effects of creatinine on growth and absorption; +but, important and fascinating as are the illuminations of modern +science upon practical agriculture, the intelligent farmer with +imagination (every successful farmer has imagination, whether or not +he is intelligent) will find some thing quite as important to his +welfare in the body of Roman husbandry which has come down to us, +namely: a background for his daily routine, an appreciation that two +thousand years ago men were studying the same problems and solving +them by intelligent reasoning. Columella well says that in reading +the ancient writers we may find in them more to approve than to +disapprove, however much our new science may lead us to differ from +them in practice. The characteristics of the Roman methods of farm +management, viewed in the light of the present state of the art in +America, were thoroughness and patience. The Romans had learned many +things which we are now learning again, such as green manuring with +legumes, soiling, seed selection, the testing of soil for sourness, +intensive cultivation of a fallow as well as of a crop, conservative +rotation, the importance of live stock in a system of general farming, +the preservation of the chemical content of manure and the composting +of the rubbish of a farm, but they brought to their farming operations +some thing more which we have not altogether learned--the character +which made them a people of enduring achievement. Varro quotes one of +their proverbs "Romanus sedendo vincit," which illustrates my present +point. The Romans achieved their results by thoroughness and patience. +It was thus that they defeated Hannibal and it was thus that they +built their farm houses and fences, cultivated their fields, their +vineyards and their oliveyards, and bred and fed their live stock. +They seem to have realized that there are no short cuts in the +processes of nature, and that the law of compensations is invariable. +The foundation of their agriculture was the fallow[1] and one finds +them constantly using it as a simile--in the advice not to breed a +mare every year, as in that not to exact too much tribute from a bee +hive. Ovid even warns a lover to allow fallow seasons to intervene in +his courtship. + +While one can find instruction in their practice even today, one +can benefit even more from their agricultural philosophy, for the +characteristic of the American farmer is that he is in too much of a +hurry. + +The ancient literature of farm management was voluminous. Varro cites +fifty Greek authors on the subject whose works he knew, beginning with +Hesiod and Xenophon. Mago of Carthage wrote a treatise in the Punic +tongue which was so highly esteemed that the Roman Senate ordered it +translated into Latin, but, like most of the Greeks,[2] it is now lost +to 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 the +first on the subject in Latin; indeed, it was one of the very first +books written in that vernacular at all. Of the other Latin writers +whose bucolic works have survived, Varro and Virgil wrote at the +beginning of the Augustan Age and were followed by the Spanish +Columella 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 supplied +the hornbook used by the agricultural monks throughout the Dark Ages. + +MARCUS PORCIUS CATO (B.C. 234-149), known in history as the elder +Cato, was the type of Roman produced by the most vigorous days of +the Republic. Born at Tusculum on the narrow acres which his peasant +forefathers had tilled in the intervals of military service, he +commenced advocate at the country assizes, followed his fortunes to +Rome and there became a leader of the metropolitan bar. He saw gallant +military service in Spain and in Greece, commanded an army, held all +the curule offices of state and ended a contentious life in the Senate +denouncing Carthage and the degeneracy of the times. + +He was an upstanding man, but as coarse as he was vigorous in mind and +in body. Roman literature is full of anecdotes about him and his wise +and witty sayings. + +Unlike many men who have devoted a toilsome youth to agricultural +labour, when he attained fame and fortune he maintained his interest +in his farm, and wrote his _De re rustica_ in green old age. It tells +what sort of farm manager he himself was, or wanted to be thought to +be, and, though a mere collection of random notes, sets forth more +shrewd common sense and agricultural experience than it is possible to +pack into the same number of English words. It remains today of much +more than antiquarian interest. + +MARCUS TERENTIUS VARRO (B.C. 116-28) whom Quintilian called "the most +learned of the Romans," and Petrarch "il terzo gran lume Romano," +ranking him with Cicero and Virgil, probably studied agriculture +before 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 of +simplicity and rural industry with which the poets have made that +name synonymous. All his life he amused the leisure snatched from his +studies with intelligent supervision of the farming of his several +estates: and he wrote his treatise _Rerum Rusticarum_ in his eightieth +year.[3] + +He had his share of active life, but it was as a scholar that he +distinguished himself.[4] Belonging to the aristocratic party, he +became a friend and supporter of Pompey, and, after holding a naval +command under him in the war against the Pirates in B.C. 67, was +his legatus in Spain at the beginning of the civil wars and there +surrendered to Caesar. He was again on the losing side at the battle +of Pharsalia, but was pardoned by Caesar, who selected him to be +librarian 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 of +Caesar, the ruthless Antony despoiled his villa at Casinum (where +Varro had built the aviary described in book Three), and like Cicero +he was included in the proscriptions which followed the compact of the +triumvirs, but in the end unlike Cicero he escaped and spent his last +years peacefully at his villas at Cumae and Tusculum. + +His literary activity was astonishing: he wrote at least six hundred +books covering a wide range of antiquarian research. St. Augustine, +who dearly loved to turn a balanced phrase, says that Varro had read +so much that it is difficult to understand when he found time to +write, while on the other hand he wrote so much that one can scarcely +read all his books. Cicero, who claimed him as an intimate friend, +describes (_Acad_. Ill) what Varro had written before B.C. 46, but he +went on producing to the end of his long life, eighteen years later: +"For," says Cicero, "while we are sojourners, so to speak, in our own +city and wandering about like strangers, your books have conducted us, +as it were, home again, so as to enable us at last to recognize who +and whence we are. You have discussed the antiquities of our country +and the variety of dates and chronology relating to it. You have +explained the laws which regulate sacrifices and priests: you have +unfolded the customs of the city both in war and peace: you have +described the various quarters and districts: you have omitted +mentioning none of the names, or kinds, or functions, or causes of +divine or human things: you have thrown a flood of light on our poets +and altogether on Latin literature and the Latin language: you have +yourself composed a poem of varied beauties and elegant in almost +every part: and you have in many places touched upon philosophy in +a manner sufficient to excite our curiosity, though inadequate to +instruct us." + +Of Varro's works, beside the _Rerum Rusticarum_, there have survived +only fragments, including a considerable portion of the treatise +on the Latin language: the story is that most of his books were +deliberately destroyed at the procurement of the Church (something +not impossible, as witness the Emperor Theodosius in _Corpus Juris +Civilis_. Cod. Lib. I, tit. I, cap. 3, § I) to conceal St. Augustine's +plagiarism from them; yet the _De Civitate Dei_, which is largely +devoted to refuting Varro's pagan theology, is a perennial monument to +his fame. St. Augustine says (VI, 2): "Although his elocution has less +charm, he is so full of learning and philosophy that ... he instructs +the student of facts as much as Cicero delights the student of style." + +Varro's treatise on farm management is the best practical book on +the subject which has come down to us from antiquity. It has not the +spontaneous originality of Cato, nor the detail and suave elegance of +Columella. Walter Harte in his _Essays on Husbandry_ (1764) says +that Cato writes like an English squire and Varro like a French +academician. This is just comment on Cato but it is at once too much +and too little to say of Varro: a French academician might be proud +of his antiquarian learning, but would balk at his awkward and homely +Latin, as indeed one French academician, M. Boissier, has since done. +The real merit of Varro's book is that it is the well digested system +of an experienced and successful farmer who has seen and practised all +that he records. + +The authority from which Virgil drew the practical farming lore, for +which he has been extolled in all ages, was Varro: indeed, as a farm +manual the _Georgics_ go astray only when they depart from Varro. It +is worth while to elaborate this point, which Professor Sellar, in his +argument for the originality of Virgil, only suggests.[6] + +After Philippi the times were ripe for books on agriculture. The Roman +world had been divided between Octavian and Antony and there was peace +in Italy: men were turning "back to the land." + +An agricultural regeneration of Italy was impending, chiefly in +viticulture, as Ferrero has pointed out. With far sighted appreciation +of the economic advantages of this, Octavian determined to promote the +movement, which became one of the completed glories of the Augustan +Age, when Horace sang + + Tua, Caesar, aetas + Fruges et agris rettulit uberes. + +Varro's book appeared in B.C. 37 and during that year Maecenas +commissioned Virgil to put into verse the spirit of the times; just +as, under similar circumstances, Cromwell pensioned Samuel Hartlib. +Such is the co-incidence of the dates that it is not impossible that +the _Rerum Rusticarum_ suggested the subject of the _Georgics_, either +to Virgil or to Maecenas. + +There is no evidence in the _Bucolics_ that Virgil ever had any +practical knowledge of agriculture before he undertook to write the +_Georgics_. His father was, it is true, a farmer, but apparently in a +small way and unsuccessful, for he had to eke out a frugal livelihood +by keeping bees and serving as the hireling deputy of a _viator_ or +constable. This type of farmer persists and may be recognized in any +rural community: but the agricultural colleges do not enlist such +men into their faculties. So it is possible that Virgil owed little +agricultural knowledge to his father's precepts or example. Virgil +perhaps had tended his father's flock, as he pictures himself doing +under the guise of Tityrus; certainly he spent many hours of youth +"patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi" steeping his Celtic soul with the +beauty and the melancholy poetry of the Lombard landscape: and so he +came 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 is +more important, ever laid off a ploughgate. As a poet of nature no one +was ever better equipped (the highest testimony is that of Tennyson), +but when it came to writing poetry around the art of farm management +it was necessary for him to turn to books for his facts. He +acknowledges (_Geo_. I, 176) his obligation only to _veterum +praecepta_ without naming them, but as M. Gaston Boissier says he was +evidently referring to Varro "le plus moderne de tous les anciens."[7] +Virgil evidently regarded Varro's treatise as a solid foundation for +his poem and he used it freely, just as he drew on Hesiod for literary +inspiration, on Lucretius for imaginative philosophy, and on Mago and +Cato and the two Sasernas for local colour. + +Virgil probably had also the advantage of personal contact with Varro +during the seven years he was composing and polishing the _Georgics_. +He spent them largely at Naples (_Geo_. IV, 563) and Varro was then +established in retirement at Cumae: thus they were neighbours, and, +although they belonged to different political parties, the young poet +must have known and visited the old polymath; there was every +reason for him to have taken advantage of the opportunity. Whatever +justification there may be for this conjecture, the fact remains that +Varro is in the background every where throughout the _Georgics_, as +the "deadly parallel" in the appended note will indicate. This is +perhaps the most interesting thing about Varro's treatise: instructive +and entertaining as it is to the farmer, in the large sense of the +effect of literature on mankind, Virgil gave it wings--the useful cart +horse became Pegasus. + +As a consequence of the chorus of praise of the _Georgics_, there have +been those, in all ages, who have sneered at Virgil's farming. The +first such _advocatus diaboli_ was Seneca, who, writing to Lucilius +(_Ep_. 86) from the farm house of Scipio Africanus, fell foul of the +advice (_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 and +millet sowed on the same day: from which he generalized that Virgil +disregarded the truth to turn a graceful verse, and sought rather to +delight his reader than to instruct the husbandman. This kind of +cheap criticism does not increase our respect for Nero's philosophic +minister.[8] Whatever may have been Virgil's mistakes, every farmer +of sentiment should thank God that one of the greatest poems in any +language contains as much as it does of a sound tradition of the +practical side of his art, and here is where Varro is entitled to the +appreciation 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 the +scope of the poem as dealing with three subjects, agriculture, the +care 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 Varro +included, with bees, all the other kinds of stock which were usually +kept at a Roman steading. Varro asserts that his was the first +scientific classification of the subject ever made. Virgil (G. I, +5-13) begins too with the invocation of the Sun and the Moon and +certain rural deities, as did Varro (R.R. I, I, 4). The passages +should be compared for, as M. Gaston Boissier has pointed out, the +difference in the point of view of the two men is here illustrated +by the fact that Varro appeals to purely Roman deities, while Virgil +invokes the literary gods of Greece. Following the _Georgics_ through, +one who has studied Varro will note other passages for which a +suggestion may be found in Varro, usually in facts, but some times +in thought and even in words, viz: Before beginning his agricultural +operations 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 other +for trees," (G. I, 54: R.R. I, 6, 5). He should practise fallow +and rotation (G. I, 71: R.R. I, 44, 2), and compensate the land by +planting legumes (G. I, 74: R.R. I, 23); he should irrigate his +meadows in summer (G. I, 104: R.R. I, 31, 5), and drain off surface +water in winter (G. I, 113: R.R. I, 36). Man has progressed from +a primitive state, when he subsisted on nuts and berries, to the +domestication 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 grow +slowly from seed (G. II, 57; R.R. I, 41, 4); olives are propagated +from 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 of +the quincunx in planting (G. II, 286: R.R. I, 7). Fence the vineyard +to keep out live stock (G. II, 371: R.R. I, 14); the goat a proper +sacrifice to Bacchus (G. II, 380: R.R. I, 2, 19). Be the first to put +your 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 breeding +season (G. III, 212: R.R. II, 5, 12). Recruit your herd with fresh +blood (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 by +the 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 the +field (G. III, 75: R.R. II, 7, 6); the training of a colt, "rattling +bridles" 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 goat +stable 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.) Goats +affect rough pasture (G. III, 314: R.R. II, 3, 6). A shepherd's daily +routine (G. III, 322; R.R. II, 2, 10-11). The life of shepherds in the +saltus (G. III, 340: R.R. II, 10, 6). Beware of a ram with a spotted +tongue (G. III, 387: R.R. II, 2, 4). Anoint sheep as a precaution +against 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 at +the 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 the +black one (G. IV, 90: R.R. III, 16, 18); the "old Corycian" and the +brothers Veiani (G. IV, 125: R.R. III, 16, 10): the bees' care of +their king (G. IV, 212: R.R. III, 16, 8). Take off the honey twice in +the season (G. IV, 221: R.R. III, 16, 34); the generation of bees from +the carcase of an ox (G. IV, 281: R.R. II, 5, 5) and cf. the wisdom on +this 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 profitable +if they were not subject to so great risks: and so, likewise, of +banking, if it was always honestly conducted. For our ancestors +considered, and so ordained in their laws, that, while the thief +should be cast in double damages, the usurer should make four-fold +restitution. From this we may judge how much less desirable a citizen +they esteemed the banker than the thief. When they sought to commend +an honest man, they termed him good husbandman, good farmer. This they +rated the superlative of praise.[9] Personally, I think highly of a +man actively and diligently engaged in commerce, who seeks thereby to +make his fortune, yet, as I have said, his career is full of risks and +pitfalls. But it is from the tillers of the soil that spring the best +citizens, the stanchest soldiers; and theirs are the enduring rewards +which are most grateful and least envied. Such as devote themselves to +that pursuit are least of all men given to evil counsels. + +And now, to get to my subject, these observations will serve as +preface 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 buy +rashly; do not spare your visits and be not content with a single tour +of inspection. The more you go, the more will the place please you, +if it be worth your attention. Give heed to the appearance of the +neighbourhood,--a flourishing country should show its prosperity. +"When you go in, look about, so that, when needs be, you can find your +way out." + +Take care that you choose a good climate, not subject to destructive +storms, and a soil that is naturally strong. If possible, your farm +should be at the foot of a mountain, looking to the South, in a +healthy situation, where labour and cattle can be had, well watered, +near a good sized town, and either on the sea or a navigable river, or +else on a good and much frequented road. Choose a place which has +not often changed ownership, one which is sold unwillingly, that has +buildings in good repair. + +Beware that you do not rashly contemn the experience of others. It +is better to buy from a man who has farmed successfully and built +well.[11] + +When you inspect the farm, look to see how many wine presses and +storage vats there are; where there are none of these you can judge +what the harvest is. On the other hand, it is not the number of +farming implements, but what is done with them, that counts. Where you +find few tools, it is not an expensive farm to operate. Know that with +a farm, as with a man, however productive it may be, if it has the +spending 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 your +household, you should make the rounds of the farm the same day, if +possible; if not, then certainly the next day. When you have observed +how the field work has progressed,[13] what things have been done, and +what remains undone, you should summon your overseer the next day, and +should call for a report of what work has been done in good season and +why it has not been possible to complete the rest, and what wine and +corn and other crops have been gathered. When you are advised on these +points you should make your own calculation of the time necessary +for the work, if there does not appear to you to have been enough +accomplished. The overseer will report that he himself has worked +diligently, but that some slaves have been sick and others truant, +the weather has been bad, and that it has been necessary to work the +public roads. When he has given these and many other excuses, you +should recall to his attention the program of work which you had +laid out for him on your last visit and compare it with the results +attained. If the weather has been bad, count how many stormy days +there have been, and rehearse what work could have been done despite +the rain, such as washing and pitching the wine vats, cleaning out +the barns, sorting the grain, hauling out and composting the manure, +cleaning seed, mending the old gear, and making new, mending the +smocks and hoods furnished for the hands. On feast days the old +ditches should be mended, the public roads worked, briers cut down, +the garden dug, the meadow cleaned, the hedges trimmed and the +clippings collected and burned, the fish pond cleaned out. On such +days, furthermore, the slaves' rations should be cut down as compared +with what is allowed when they are working in the fields in fine +weather. + +When this routine has been discussed quietly and with good humour and +is thoroughly understood by the overseer, you should give orders for +the completion of the work which has been neglected. + +The accounts of money, supplies and provisions should then be +considered. The overseer should report what wine and oil has been +sold, 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. All +other unsettled matters should be agreed upon. If any thing is needed +for the coming year, it should be bought; every thing which is not +needed should be sold. Whatever there is for lease should be leased. +Orders should be given (and take care that they are in writing) for +all work which next it is desired to have done on the farm or let to +contract. You should go over the cattle and determine what is to be +sold. You should sell the oil, if you can get your price, the surplus +wine 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 else +is superfluous you should sell that. The appetite of the good farmer +is to sell, not to buy.[14] + +(IV) Be a good neighbour. Do not roughly give offence to your own +people. If the neighbourhood regards you kindly, you will find a +readier market for what you have to sell, you will more easily get +your work done, either on the place or by contract. If you build, your +neighbours will aid you with their services, their cattle and their +materials. 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 be +planted as follows: 1° a vineyard, if it promises a good yield, 2° an +irrigated 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 mast +grove[17]. + +(III) In his youth, the farmer ought, diligently to plant his land, +but he should ponder before he builds. Planting does not require +reflection, but demands action. It is time enough to build when you +have reached your thirty-sixth year, if you have farmed your land well +meanwhile. When you do build, let your buildings be proportioned to +your estate, and your estate to your buildings[18]. It is fitting that +the farm buildings should be well constructed, that you should have +ample oil cellars and wine vats, and a good supply of casks, so that +you can wait for high prices, something which will redound to your +honour, your profit and your self-respect. + +(IV) Build your dwelling house in accordance with your means. If you +build well in a good situation and on a good property, and furnish the +house suitably for country life, you will come there more often and +more willingly[19]. The farm will then be better, fewer mistakes will +be made, and you will get larger crops. The face of the master is good +for the land.[20] + +(VI) Plant elm trees along the roads and fence rows, so that you may +have the leaves to feed the sheep and cattle, and the timber will be +available if you need it. If any where there are banks of streams or +wet places, there plant reeds; and surround them with willows that the +osiers may serve to tie the vines. + +(VII) It is most convenient to set out the land nearest the house as +an orchard, whence fire wood and faggots may be sold and the supply of +the master obtained. In this enclosure should be planted every thing +fitting to the land and vines should be married to the trees.[21] + +(VIII) Near the house lay out also a garden with garland flowers and +vegetables[22] of all kinds, and set it about with myrtle hedges, both +white 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) ought +to be stocked as follows: an overseer, a house keeper, five labourers, +three ox drivers, one swineherd, one ass driver, one shepherd; in all +thirteen hands: three pair of oxen,[23] three asses with pack saddles, +to haul out the manure, one other ass to turn the mill, and one +hundred sheep.[24] + + +_Of the duties of the overseer._[25] + +(V) These are the duties of the overseer: He should maintain +discipline. He should observe the feast days. He should respect the +rights of others and steadfastly uphold his own. He should settle all +quarrels among the hands; if any one is at fault he should administer +the punishment. He should take care that no one on the place is in +want, or lacks food or drink; in this respect he can afford to +be generous, for he will thus more easily prevent picking and +stealing.[26] + +Unless the overseer is of evil mind, he will himself do no wrong, but +if he permits wrong-doing by others, the master should not suffer +such indulgence to pass with impunity. He should show appreciation of +courtesy, to encourage others to practise it. He should not be given +to gadding or conviviality, but should be always sober. He should +keep the hands busy, and should see that they do what the master has +ordered. He should not think that he knows more than his master. The +friends of the master should be his friends, and he should give heed +to those whom the master has recommended to him. He should confine his +religious practices to church on Sunday, or to his own house.[27] + +He should lend money to no man unbidden by the master, but what the +master has lent he should collect. He should never lend any seed +reserved for sowing, feed, corn, wine, or oil, but he should have +relations with two or three other farms with which he can exchange +things needed in emergency. He should state his accounts with his +master frequently. He should not keep any hired men or day hands +longer than is necessary. He should not sell any thing without the +knowledge of the master, nor should he conceal any thing from the +master. He should not have any hangers-on, nor should he consult any +soothsayer, fortune teller, necromancer, or astrologer. He should not +spare seed in sowing, for that is bad economy. He should strive to be +expert in all kinds of farm work, and, without exhausting himself, +often lend a hand. By so doing, he will better understand the point of +view of his hands, and they will work more contentedly; moreover, he +will have less inclination to gad, his health will be better, and he +will 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, and +that each of the hands is in his own bed, that the stock have been +fed. He should see that the best of care is taken of the oxen, and +should pay the highest compliments to the teamsters who keep their +cattle in the best condition. He should see to it that the ploughs +and plough shares are kept in good repair. Plan all the work in ample +time, for so it is with farm work, if one thing is done late, every +thing 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, expenses +still go on. + + +_Of the duties of the housekeeper_ + +(CXLIII) The overseer should be responsible for the duties of the +housekeeper. If the master has given her to you for a wife, you should +be satisfied with her, and she should respect you. Require that she +be not given to wasteful habits; that she does not gossip with the +neighbours and other women. She should not receive visitors either in +the kitchen or in her own quarters. She should not go out to parties, +nor should she gad about.[28] She should not practise religious +observances, nor should she ask others to do so for her without the +permission of the master or the mistress. Remember that the master +practises religion for the entire household. She should be neat in +appearance and should keep the house swept and garnished. Every night +before she goes to bed she should see that the hearth is swept and +clean. On the Kalends, the Ides, the Nones, and on all feast days, she +should hang a garland over the hearth. On those days also she should +pray fervently to the household gods. She should take care that she +has food cooked for you and for the hands. She should have plenty of +chickens and an abundance of eggs.[29] She should diligently put up all +kinds of preserves every year. + + +_Of the hands_ + +(LVI) The following are the customary allowances for food: For the +hands, four pecks of meal for the winter, and four and one-half for +the summer. For the overseer, the housekeeper, the wagoner, the +shepherd, three pecks each. For the slaves, four pounds of bread +for the winter, but when they begin to cultivate the vines this is +increased to five pounds until the figs are ripe, then return to four +pounds. + +(LVII) The sum of the wine allowed for each hand per annum is eight +quadrantals, 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 for +the hands. Later set aside such of the ripe olives as will make the +least oil. Be careful to make them go as far as possible. When the +olives are all eaten, give them fish pickles and vinegar. One peck of +salt per annum is enough for each hand. + +(LIX) Allow each hand a smock and a cloak every other year. As often +as you give out a smock or cloak to any one take up the old one, so +that caps can be made out of it. A pair of heavy wooden shoes should +be allowed every other year. + + +_Of draining_ + +(XLIII) If the land is wet, it should be drained with trough shaped +ditches dug three feet wide at the surface and one foot at the bottom +and four feet deep. Blind these ditches with rock. If you have no rock +then fill them with green willow poles braced crosswise. If you have +no poles, fill then with faggots. Then dig lateral trenches three feet +deep and four feet wide in such way that the water will flow from the +trenches 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 greatest +risk from water. When it begins to rain all the hands should go out +with picks and shovels and clear out the drains so that the water may +flow 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. When +you plough corn land, plough well and in good weather, lest you turn +a cloddy furrow. The other things of good agriculture are to sow seed +plentifully, to thin the young sprouts, and to hill up the roots with +earth. + +(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 for +three years. + + +_Of manure_ + +(V) Plan to have a big compost heap and take the best of care of the +manure. 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, bean +stalks, husks and the leaves of ilex and of oak.[31] + +(XXX) Fold your sheep on the land which you are about to seed, and +there feed them leaves.[32] + + +_Of soil improvement_ + +(XXXVII) The things which are harmful to corn land are to plough the +ground when it is rotten, and to plant chick peas which are harvested +with the straw and are salt. Barley, fenugreek and pulse all exhaust +corn land, as well as all other things which are harvested with the +straw. 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 corn +land ought to be. Where the land lies low, plant rape, millet, and +panic grass. + + +_Of forage crops_ + +(VIII) If you have a water meadow you will not want forage, but if not +then sow an upland meadow, so that hay may not be lacking. + +(LIII) Save your hay when the times comes, and beware lest you mow too +late. Mow before the seed is ripe. House the best hay by itself, so +that 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, field +beans 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 last +of all in the warmest places. + + +_Of pastures_ + +(L) Manure the pastures in early spring in the dark of the moon, when +the west wind begins to blow. When you close your pastures (to the +stock) 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 have +withered.[34] + +(XXX) Take the best of care of your dry fodder, which you house for +the winter, and remember always how long the winter may last. + +(IV) Be sure you have well constructed stables furnished with +substantial stalls and equipped with latticed feed racks. The +intervals between the bars of the racks should be one foot. If you +build them in this way, the cattle will not waste their food. + +(LIV) This is the way that provender should be prepared and fed: When +the seeding is finished, gather mast and soak it in water. Feed a +measure of it every day to each steer; or if they have not been worked +it will be sufficient to let them pasture the mast beds. Another good +feed is a measure of grape husks which you shall have preserved in +jars. By day turn the cattle out and at night feed twenty-five pounds +of hay to each steer. If hay is short, feed the leaves of the ilex and +ivy.[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 for +work), feed a measure of mast or of grape husks, or a measure of +ground lupines, and fifteen pounds of hay. When the clover is ripe, +feed that first. Gather it by hand so that it will bloom a second +time, for what you harvest with the sickle blooms no more. Feed clover +until it is dry, then feed vetch and then panic grass, and after the +panic grass feed elm leaves. If you have poplar, mix that with the elm +so that the elm may last the longer. If you have no elm feed oak and +fig 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 are +not 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 their +feet kept clean. If litter is short, haul in oak leaves, they will +serve as bedding for sheep and cattle. Beware of scab among the sheep +and cattle. This comes from hunger and exposure to rain. + +(LXXII) To prevent the oxen from wearing down their hoofs, anoint +the bottom of the hoof with liquid pepper before driving them on the +highroad. + +(LXXIII) Take care that during the summer the cattle drink only sweet +and fresh water. Their health depends on it. + +(XCVI) To prevent scab among sheep, make a mixture of equal parts of +well strained amurca,[36] of water in which lupine has been steeped, +and of lees of good wine. After shearing, anoint all the flock with +this mixture, and let them sweat profusely for two or three days. Then +dip them in the sea. If you have no sea water, make salt water and dip +then in that. If you will do this they will suffer no scab, they will +have 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's +egg and make him swallow it whole. The next day make him drink from a +wooden bowl a measure of wine in which has been scraped the head of an +onion. Both the ox and his attendant should do these things fasting +and standing upright. + +(CII) If a serpent shall bite an ox, or any other quadruped, take a +cup of that extract of fennel, which the physicians call smyrnean, and +mix it with a measure of old wine. Inject this through his nostrils +and at the same time poultice the wound with hogs' dung.[37] You can +treat a man the same way. + +(CLX) If a bone is dislocated it can be made sound by this +incantation. Take a green reed four or five feet long, split it down +the middle and let two men hold the pieces against your hips. Begin +then 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 slowly +together in front of you. Meanwhile, wave a knife above the reeds, and +when they come together and one touches the other, seize them in your +hand and cut them right and left. These pieces of reed bound upon a +dislocated 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 two +pounds of cheese in a mortar, and, when this is done, pour in a pound +of corn meal (or, if you want to be more dainty, a half pound of +flour) and mix it thoroughly with the cheese. Add one egg and beat it +well. Pat into a cake, place it on leaves and bake slowly on a hot +hearth stone under a dish. + +(CXIX) This is the recipe for olive salad (_epityrum_): Select some +white, black and mottled olives and stone them. Mix and cut them up. +Add a dressing of oil, vinegar, coriander, cumin, fennel, rue and +mint. Mix well in an earthen ware dish, and serve with oil. + +(CXXI) This is the recipe for must cake (_mustaceus_): Sprinkle a peck +of wheat flour with must. Add anise, cumin, two pounds of lard, a +pound of cheese and shredded laurel twigs. When you have kneaded the +dough, 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 have +bought your hams trim off the hocks. Take a half peck (_semodius_) of +ground Roman salt for each ham. Cover the bottom of the jar or tub +with salt and put in a ham, skin down. Cover the whole with salt and +put another ham on top, and cover this in the same manner. Be careful +that meat does not touch meat. So proceed, and when you have packed +all the hams, cover the top with salt so that no meat can be seen, and +smooth it out even. When the hams have been in salt five days, take +them all out with the salt and repack them, putting those which were +on top at the bottom. Cover them in the same way with salt and press +them down. + +After the twelfth day remove the hams finally, brush off the salt and +hang them for two days in the wind. On the third day wipe them off +clean with a sponge and rub them with (olive) oil. Then hang them in +smoke 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 will +touch 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 I +write 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 is +that of an old man, and my eightieth year admonishes me to pack my +fardel and prepare for the long journey. + +You have bought a farm and wish to increase its fertility by good +cultivation, and you ask me what I would do with it were it mine. Not +only while I am still alive will I try to advise you in this, but I +will make my counsel available to you after I am dead. For as it befel +the Sibyl to have been of service to mankind not alone while she +lived, but even to the uttermost generations of men after her demise +(for we are wont after so many years still to have solemn recourse to +her books for guidance in interpretation of strange portents), so +may not I, while I still live, bequeath my counsel to my nearest and +dearest.[42] I will then write three books for you, to which you may +have recourse for guidance in all things which must be done in the +management of a farm. + +And since, as men say, the gods aid those who propitiate them, I will +begin my book by invoking divine approval, not like Homer and Ennius, +from the Muses, nor indeed from the twelve great gods of the city +whose golden images stand in the forum, six male and as many female, +but from a solemn council of those twelve divinities who are the +tutelaries of husbandmen. + + * * * * * + +First: I call upon Father Jupiter and Mother Earth, who fecundate all +the processes of agriculture in the air and in the soil, and hence are +called the great parents. + +_Second_: I invoke the Sun and the Moon by whom the seasons for sowing +and reaping are measured. + +_Third_: I invoke Ceres and Bacchus because the fruits they mature +are most necessary to life, and by their aid the land yields food and +drink. + +_Fourth_: I invoke Robigus and Flora by whose influence the blight is +kept from crop and tree, and in due season they bear fruit (for which +reason is the annual festival of the _robigalia_ celebrated in honour +of 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 wine +festivals. + +_And last_: I adjure Lympha, goddess of the fountains, and Bonus +Eventus, god of good fortune, since without water all vegetation is +starved and stunted and without due order and good luck all tillage is +in vain. + + * * * * * + +And so having paid my duty to the gods, I proceed to rehearse some +conversations[44] concerning agriculture in which I have recently taken +part. From them you will derive all the practical instruction you +require, but in case any thing is lacking and you wish further +authority, I refer you to the treatises of the Greeks and of our own +countrymen. + +The Greek writers who have treated incidentally of agriculture are +more than fifty in number. Those whom you may consult with profit +are Hieron of Sicily and Attalus Philometor, among the philosophers; +Democritus the physicist; Xenophon the disciple of Socrates; Aristotle +and Theophrastus, the peripatetics; Archytas the pythagorean; likewise +the 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, Evagon +of Thasos, Euphronius of Athens, and his name sake of Amphipolis, +Hegesias of Maronea, the two Menanders, one of Priene, the other of +Heraclaea, Nicesius of Maronea, Pythion of Rhodes. Among the rest +whose countries I do not know, are Andiotion, Aeschrion, Aristomenes, +Athenagoras, Crates, Dadis, Dionysius, Euphiton, Euphorion, Eubulus, +Lysimachus, Mnaseas, Menestratus, Plentiphanes, Persis, and +Theophilus. + +All those whom I have named wrote in prose, but there are those also +who have written in verse, as Hesiod of Ascra and Menecrates of +Ephesus. + +The agricultural writer of the greatest reputation is, however, Mago +the Carthaginian[45] who wrote in the Punic tongue and collected in +twenty-eight books all the wisdom which before him had been scattered +in many works. Cassius Dionysius of Utica translated Mago into Greek +in twenty books (and dedicated his work to the praetor Sextilius), and +notwithstanding that he reduced Mago by eight books he cited freely +from the Greek authors whom I have named. Diophanes made a useful +digest of Cassius in six books, which he dedicated to Deiotarus, King +of Bithynia. I have ventured to compress the subject into the still +smaller compass of three books, the first on the husbandry of +agriculture, the second on the husbandry of live stock and the third +on the husbandry of the steading. + +From the first book I have excluded all those things which I do not +deem to relate immediately to agriculture: thus having first limited +my 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 temple +of Tellus at the invitation of the Sacristan (I was taught by my +ancestors to call him _Aeditumus_ but the modern purist tells me +I must say _Aedituus_). There I found assembled C. Fundanius, my +father-in-law, C. Agrius, a Roman Knight and a disciple of the +Socratic school, and P. Agrasius, of the Revenue service: they were +gazing on a map of Italy painted on the wall. "What are you doing +here?" said I. "Has the festival of the seed-sowing drawn you hither +to spend your holiday after the manner of our ancestors, by praying +for good crops?" "We are here," said Agrius, "for the same reason that +you are, I imagine--because the Sacristan has invited us to dinner. If +this be true, as your nod admits, wait with us until he returns, for +he was summoned by his chief, the aedile, and has not yet returned +though he left word for us to wait for him." + +"Until he comes then," said I, "let us make a practical application of +the ancient proverb that 'The Roman conquers by sitting down.'" + +"You're right," cried Agrius, and, remembering that the first step of +a journey is the most difficult,[46] he lead the way to the benches +forthwith and we followed. When we were seated Agrasius spoke up. +"You who have travelled over many lands," said he, "have you seen any +country better cultivated than Italy?" + +"I, for one, don't believe," replied Agrius, "that there is any +country which is so intensely cultivated. By a very natural division +Eratosthenes has divided the earth into two parts, that facing South +and that facing North: and as without doubt the North is healthier +than the South, so it is more fertile, for a healthy country is always +the most fertile. It must be admitted then that the North is fitter +for cultivation than Asia, and particularly is this true of Italy; +first, because Italy is in Europe, and, second, because this part of +Europe has a more temperate climate than the interior. For almost +everlasting winter grips the lands to the North of us. Nor is this to +be wondered at since there are regions within the Arctic Circle and at +the pole where the sun is not seen for six months at a time. Yea, it +is even said that it is not possible to sail a ship in those parts +because the very sea is frozen over." + +"Would you think it possible," said Fundanius, "for any thing to grow +in such a region, and, if it did grow, how could it be cultivated? The +tragedian 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 revolve +punctually, I am not able to live in summer unless I divide the day +with my appointed midday nap. How is it possible to plant or to +cultivate or to harvest any thing there where the days and nights are +six months long. On the other hand, what useful thing is there which +does not only grow but flourish in Italy? What spelt shall I compare +with that of Campania? What wheat with that of Apulia? What wine with +that of Falernum? What oil with that of Venafrum? Is not Italy so +covered with fruit trees that it seems one vast orchard? Is Phrygia, +which Homer calls [Greek: ampeloessa], more teeming with vines, or +is Argos, which the same poet calls [Greek: polupuros] more rich in +corn?[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 written +in his book of _Origines_ 'That region lying this side of Ariminium +and beyond Picenum, which was allotted to colonists, is called Roman +Gaul. There in several places a single jugerum of land produces ten +cullei of wine.' Is it not the same in the region of Faventia where +the vines are called _tre centaria_ because a jugerum yields three +hundred amphorae of wine," and, looking at me, he added, "indeed L. +Martius, your chief engineer, said that the vines on his Faventine +farm yielded that much.[48] The Italian farmer looks chiefly for +two things in considering a farm, whether it will yield a harvest +proportioned to the capital and labour he must invest, and whether the +location is healthy. Whoever neglects either of these considerations +and despite them proposes to carry on a farm, is a fool and should be +taken in charge by a committee of his relatives.[49] For no sane man is +willing to spend on an agricultural operation time and money which he +knows he cannot recoup, nor even if he sees a likely profit, if it +must be at the risk of losing all by an evil climate. + +"But there are here present those who can discourse on this subject +with more authority than I, for I see C. Licinius Stolo and Cn. +Tremelius Scrofa approaching. It was the ancestor of the first of +these who brought in the law for the regulation of land-holding; for +the law which forbade a Roman citizen to own more than 500 jugera of +land was proposed by that Licinius who acquired the cognomen of Stolo +on account of his diligence in cultivating his land: he is said to +have dug around his trees so thoroughly that there could not be found +on his farm a single one of those suckers which spring up from the +ground at the roots of trees and are called _stolones_. Of the same +family was that other C. Licinius who, when he was tribune of the +people, 365 years after the expulsion of the Kings, first transferred +the Sovereign function of law making from the Comitium to the Forum, +thus as it were constituting that area the 'farm' of the entire +people.[50] The other whom I see come hither is Cn. Tremelius Scrofa, +your colleague on the Committee of Twenty for the division of the +Campanian lands, a man distinguished by all the virtues and considered +to be the Roman most expert in agriculture.[51] + +"And justly so," I exclaimed, "for his farms are a more pleasing +spectacle to many on account of their clean cultivation than the +stately palaces of others;[52] when one goes to visit his country +place, one sees granaries and not picture galleries, as at the 'farm' +of Lucullus.[53] Indeed," I added, "the apple market at the head of the +Sacred Way is the very image of Scrofa's fruit house." + +As the new comers joined us, Stolo inquired: "Have we arrived after +dinner is over, for we do not see L. Fundilius who invited us." + +"Be of good cheer," replied Agrius, "for not only has that egg which +indicates the last lap of the chariot race in the games at the circus +not yet been removed, but we have not even seen that other egg which +is the first course of dinner.[54] And so until the Sacristan returns +and joins us do you discourse to us of the uses or the pleasures of +agriculture, or of both. For now the sceptre of agriculture is in your +hands, which formerly, they say, belonged to Stolo." + +"First of all," began Scrofa, "we must have a definition. Are we to be +limited in discussing agriculture to the planting of the land or are +we to touch also on those other occupations which are carried on in +the country, such as feeding sheep and cattle. For I have observed +that those who write on agriculture, whether in Greek or Punic or +Latin, wander widely from their subject." + +"I do not think that those authors should be imitated in that," said +Stolo, "for I deem them to have done better who have confined the +subject to the straitest limits, excluding all considerations which +are not strictly pertinent to the subject. Wherefore the subject of +grazing, which many writers treat as a part of agriculture, seems to +me to belong rather to a treatise on live stock. That the occupations +are different is apparent from the difference in the names of those we +put in charge of them, for we call one the farmer (_villicus_) and the +other the herdsman (_magister pecoris_). The farmer is charged with +the cultivation of the land and is so called from the _villa_ or farm +house to which he hauls in the crops from the fields and from which he +hauls them away when they are sold. Wherefore also the peasants say +_vea_ for _via_, deriving their word for the road over which they haul +from the name of the vehicle in which they do the hauling, _vectura_, +and by the same derivation _vella_ for _villa_, the farm house to and +from 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 agriculture +is another, but they are related. Just as the right pipe of the +_tibia_ is different from the left pipe, yet are they complements +because while the one leads, it is to carry the air, and the other +follows, it is for the accompaniment." + +"And, to push your analogy further, it may be added," said I, "that +the pastoral life, like the _tibia dextra_, has led and given the cue +to the agricultural life, as we have on the authority of that learned +man Dicaearchus who, in his _Life of Greece_ from the earliest times, +shows us how in the beginning men pursued a purely pastoral life and +knew not how to plough nor to plant trees nor to prune them; only +later taking up the pursuits of agriculture; whence it may be +said that agriculture is in harmony with the pastoral life but is +subordinate 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 shepherd +of his livelihood but you would even break the law of the land in +which it is written that a farmer may not graze a young orchard with +that pestiferous animal which astrology has placed in the heavens near +the Bull." + +"See here, Agrius," said Fundanius, "let there be no mistake about +this. The law you cite applies only to certain designated kinds of +cattle, as indeed there are kinds of cattle which are the foes and the +bane of agriculture such as those you have mentioned--the goats--for +by their nibbling they ruin young plantations, and not the least vines +and olives. But, because the goat is the greatest offender in this +respect, we have a rule for him which works both ways, namely: that +victims of his family are grateful offerings on the altar of one god +but should never come near the fane of another; since by reason of the +same hate one god is not willing even to see a goat and the other is +pleased to see him killed. So it is that goats found among the vines +are sacrificed to Father Bacchus as it were that they should pay the +penalty of their evil doing with their lives; while on the contrary +nothing of the goat kind is ever sacrificed to Minerva, because they +are said to make the olive sterile even by licking it, for their very +spittle is poison to the fruit. For this reason goats are never +driven into the Acropolis of Athens, except once a year for a certain +necessary sacrifice, lest the olive tree, which is said to have its +origin there,[55] might be touched by a goat." + +"No kind of cattle," said I, "are of any use to agriculture except +those which aid in the cultivation of the land, as they do when they +are yoked to the plough." + +"If this was so," said Agrasius, "how could we afford to take cattle +off the land, since it is from our flocks and herds that we derive the +manure which is of the greatest benefit to our purely agricultural +operations." + +"On your argument of convenience," said Agrius, "we might claim that +slave dealing was a branch of agriculture, if they were agricultural +slaves which we dealt in. The error lies in the assumption that +because cattle are good for the land, they make crops grow on the +land. It does not follow, for by that reasoning other things would +become part of agriculture which have nothing to do with it: as for +example spinsters and weavers and other craftsmen which you might keep +on your farm." + +"Let us then agree," said Scrofa, "to exclude live stock from our +consideration of the art of agriculture. Does any one want to exclude +any thing else?" + +"Are we to follow the book of the two Sasernas," I inquired, "and +discuss whether the manufacture of pottery is more related to +agriculture than mining for silver or other metals? Doubtless the +material comes out of the ground in both cases, but no one claims +that quarrying for stone or washing sand has any thing to do with +agriculture, so why bring in the potter? It is not a question of what +comes 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 lying +along a frequented road and a site on it convenient to travellers, +it would be the farmer's business to build a cross-roads tavern. But +surely, however profitable this might prove, it would not make the +speculation any part of agriculture. It is not, I repeat, whether the +business 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 from +planting the land one gains a profit." + +"You are jealous of this great writer," interrupted Stolo. "Because of +his unfortunate potteries you rebuke him captiously and give him no +credit for all the admirable things which he says about matters which +certainly 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 knew +the book demanded of Scrofa a quotation from it. + +"Here is his recipe for getting rid of bugs," said Scrofa. "'Steep a +wild cucumber in water and where-ever you sprinkle it the bugs will +disappear,' and again, 'Grease your bed with ox gall mixed with +vinegar.'" + +Fundanius looked at Scrofa. "And yet Saserna gives good advice even if +it is in a book on agriculture," he said. + +"Yes, by Hercules," said Scrofa, "and especially in his recipe for +removing superfluous hair, in which he bids you take a yellow frog and +stew it down to a third of its size and then rub the body with what is +left."[56] + +"I would rather cite," said I, "Sasernas' prescription for the malady +from which Fundanius suffers, for his corns make wrinkles on his +brow." + +"Tell me, pray, quickly," exclaimed Fundanius, "for I had rather learn +how 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 at +least as I heard Tarquenna read it: 'When a man's feet begin to hurt +he 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 the +earth, to spit and be sure that you do it all before breakfast." + +"You will find," said I, "many other wonderful secrets in Saserna, all +equally foreign to agriculture, and so all to be left where they are. +But it must be admitted that such digressions are found in many other +authors. Does not the agricultural treatise of the great Cato himself +fairly bristle with them, as for instance his instructions how to make +must cake and cheese cake, and how to cure hams?" + +"You forget," said Agrius, "his most important precept: 'If you wish +to drink freely and dine well in company, you should eat five leaves +of 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 eliminated +from the discussion all those things which agriculture is not, it +remains to discuss what it is. Is it an art, and, if so, what are its +principles and its purposes?" + +Stolo turned to Scrofa and said: "You are our senior in age, in +reputation and in experience, you should speak." And Scrofa, nothing +loath, began as follows: + +"In the first place, agriculture is not only an art but an art which +is as useful as it is important. It is furthermore a science, which +teaches how every kind of land should be planted and cultivated, and +how to know what kind of land will produce the largest crops for the +longest time.[57]" + + +_The purposes of agriculture are profit and pleasure_ + +IV. The elements with which this science deals are the same as those +which Ennius says are the elements of the universe--water, earth, +air and fire. Before sowing your seed it behooves you to study these +elements because they are the origin of all growing things. So +prepared, the farmer should direct his efforts to two ends: profit and +pleasure,[58] one solid the other agreeable: but he should give the +preference to the pursuit of profit.[59] And yet those who have regard +for appearances in their farming, as for instance by planting their +orchards and olive yards in orderly array, often add not only to the +productiveness of the farm but as well to its saleability, and so +doubly increase the value of their estate. For of two things of equal +usefulness, who would not prefer to buy the better looking? + +The farm which is healthiest is the most valuable, for there the +profit is certain. On the other hand, on an unhealthy farm, however +fertile it may be, misfortune dogs the steps of the farmer. For where +the struggle is against Death, there not only is the profit uncertain, +but one's very existence is constantly at risk: and so agriculture +becomes a gamble in which the farmer hazards both his life and his +fortune. And yet this risk can be diminished by forethought, for, when +health depends upon climate, we can do much to control nature and by +diligence improve evil conditions. If the farm is unhealthy by reason +of the plight of the land itself, or of the water supply, or is +exposed to the miasma which breeds in some localities, or if the farm +is too hot on account of the climate, or is exposed to mischievous +winds, these discomforts can be mitigated by one who knows what to do +and is willing to spend some money. What is of the greatest importance +in this respect is the situation of the farm buildings, their plan +and convenience, and what is the aspect of their doors and gates and +windows. During the great plague, Hippocrates the physician saved not +merely one farm but many cities because he knew this. But why should +I summon him as a witness: for when the army and the fleet lay at +Corcyra[60] and all the houses were crowded with the sick and dying, +did not our Varro here contrive to open new windows to the healthy +North wind and close those which gave entrance to the infected breezes +of the South, to change doors and to do other such things, and so +succeed 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, it +now remains to consider in how many divisions this science is to be +studied." + +"I have supposed these to be without number," said Agrius, "when I +have read the many books which Theophrastus wrote on _The History of +Plants_ and _The Causes of Vegetation_. + +"These books," said Stolo, "have always seemed to me to be fitter +for use in the schools of the philosophers than in the hands of a +practical farmer. I do not mean to say that they do not contain many +things which are both useful and practical. However that may be, do +you rather explain to us the divisions in which agriculture should be +studied." + +"There are four chapters for the study of agriculture, of the highest +practical 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 to +be carried out. + +Each of these four chapters may be divided in at least two +subdivisions: + +The first into (_a_) a study of the soil, and (_b_) a survey of the +buildings and stabling. + +The second into an enquiry as to (_c_), the men who will carry on the +farming operations, and (_d_) the implements they will require. + +The third into (_e_) the kind of work to be planned, and (_f_) where +that work is to be done. + +The fourth into what relates (_g_) to the annual revolution of the +sun, and (_h_) the monthly revolution of the moon. + +I will speak of the four principal parts first, and then in detail of +the eight subdivisions. + + +1° CONCERNING THE FARM ITSELF + + +_How conformation of the land affects agriculture_ + +VI. Four things must be considered in respect of the physical +characteristics of the farm: its conformation, the quality of +the soil, its extent, and whether it is naturally protected. The +conformation is either natural, or artificial as the result of +cultivation, and may be good or bad in either case. I will speak first +of natural conformation, of which there are three kinds: plain, hill +and mountain--although there is a fourth kind made up of a combination +of any two or all three of those mentioned, as may be seen in many +places. A different system of cultivation is required for each of +these three kinds of farms, for without doubt that which is suited for +the hot plain would not suit the windy mountain, while a hill farm +enjoys a more temperate climate than either of the other two kinds and +so demands its own system of cultivation. These distinctions are most +apparent when the several characteristic conformations are of large +extent, as for example the heat and the humidity are greater in a +broad plain, like that of Apulia, while on a mountain like Vesuvius +the climate is usually fresher and so more healthy. Those who +cultivate the lowlands feel the effects of their climate most in +summer, but they are able to do their planting earlier in the spring, +while those who dwell in the mountains suffer most from their climate +in winter, and both sow and reap at later seasons. Frequently the +winter is more propitious to those who dwell in the plains because +then the pastures are fresh there and the trees may be pruned more +readily. On the other hand the summer is more kindly in the mountains +for then the upland grass is rich when the pastures of the plains are +burnt, and it is more comfortable to cultivate the trees in a keen +air. + +A lowland farm is best when it is gently sloping rather than +absolutely flat, because on a flat farm water cannot run off and so +forms swampy places. But it is a disadvantage to have the surface too +rolling because that causes the water to collect and form ponds. + +Certain trees, like the fir and the pine, flourish most in the +mountains on account of the eager air, while in this region where it +is more temperate the poplars and the willows thrive best. Again the +arbute and the oak prefer the more fertile lands, while the almond and +the fig trees love the lowlands.[61] The growth on the low hills takes +on more of the character of the plains, on the high hills that of the +mountains. For these reasons the kind of crops to be planted must be +suited to the physical characteristics of the farm, as grain for the +plains, vines for the hills and forests for the mountains. + +All these considerations should be weighed separately with reference +to each of the three kinds of conformation. + +VII. "It seems to me," said Stolo, "that, so far as concerns the +natural situation of a farm, Cato's opinion is just. He wrote, you +will recall, that the best farm was one which lay at the foot of a +mountain looking to the South." + +Scrofa resumed: "So far as concerns the laying out of the farm, I +maintain that the more appearances are considered the greater will be +the profit, as, for instance, orchards should be planted in straight +lines arranged in quincunxes and at a reasonable distance apart. It +is a fact that, because of their unintelligent plan of planting, our +ancestors made less wine and corn to the acre than we do. The point is +that if each plant is set with due reference to the others they occupy +less land and are less likely to screen from one another the influence +of the sun and the moon and the air. This may be illustrated by an +experiment: you can press a parcel of nuts with their shells on into a +measure having only two thirds of the capacity of what is required to +contain them after they have been cracked, because the shells keep +them naturally compacted. When trees are planted in rows the sun and +the moon have access to them equally from all sides, with the result +that more raisins and olives are developed and then mature more +quickly, a double result with the double consequence of a larger crop +of must and oil and a greater profit." + + +_How character of soil affects agriculture_ + +"We will now take up the second consideration in respect of the +physical characteristics of a farm, namely: the quality of the soil, +which partly, if not entirely, determines whether it is considered a +good or a bad farm: for on this depends what crops can be planted and +harvested and how they should be cultivated, as it is not possible +to plant everything successfully on the same soil. For one soil is +suitable for vines, another for corn, and others for other things. In +the island of Crete, near Cortynia, there is said to be a plane tree +which does not lose its leaves even in winter--a phenomenon due +doubtless to the quality of the soil. There is another of the same +kind in Cyprus, according to Theophrastus. Likewise within sight of +the city of Sybaris (which is now called Thurii) stands an oak having +the same characteristic. Again at Elephantine neither the vines nor +the fig trees lose their leaves, something that never happens with +us. For the same reason many trees bear fruit twice a year, as do +the vines near the sea at Smyrna, and the apples in the fields of +Consentinium. The effect of soil appears also from the fact that those +plants which bear most profusely in wild places produce better fruit +under cultivation. The same explanation applies to those plants which +cannot 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 like +the reeds at Reate, others in streams like the alders in Epirus, some +even in the sea like the palms and the squills of which Theophrastus +writes. When I was in the army, I saw in Transalpine Gaul, near the +Rhine, lands where neither the vine, nor the olive, nor the pear tree +grew, where they manured their fields with a white chalk which they +dug out of the ground:[62] where they had no salt, either mineral or +marine, but used in place of it the salty ashes obtained from burning +a certain kind of wood." + +Stolo here interrupted. "You will recall," he said, "that Cato in +comparing the different kinds of soil, ranked them by their merit in +nine classes according to what they would produce, of which the first +was 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 osier +bed; the fourth for an olive yard; the fifth for a meadow; the sixth +for a corn field; the seventh for a wood lot; the eighth for a +cultivated orchard, and the ninth for a mast grove." + +"I know he wrote that," replied Scrofa, "but every one does not agree +with him. There are some who put a good pasture first, and I am among +them." + +Our ancestors were wont to call them not _prala_, as we do, but +_parata_ (because they are always ready for use). The sedile Caesar +Vopicus, in pleading a cause before the Censors, once said that the +prairie of Rosea was the nurse of Italy, because if one left his +surveying instruments there on the ground over night they were lost +next 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 a +vineyard eats up the profit. What kind of vineyard? I ask. For there +are several: in one the vines grow on the ground without props, as in +Spain; in another, which is the kind common in Italy, the vines climb +and are trained either separately on props or one with another on a +trellis, which last is what is called marrying the vine. There are +four kinds of trellis in use--made out of poles, of reeds, of ropes +and of vines themselves, which are in use respectively in Falerum, in +Arpinum, in Brundisium and in Mediolanum. There are two methods of +training the vine on trellises, one upright, as is done in the country +of Canusium; the other crossed and interwoven, as is the practice +generally throughout Italy. If one obtains the material for his +trellises from his own land, the expense of maintaining that kind +of vineyard is negligible, nor is it burdensome if the material is +procured from the neighbourhood. Such trellis material, as has been +described, 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 to +form their own trellis, then you must plant an _arbustum_ where the +vines can be trained on trees, such as maples, which the inhabitants +of Mediolanum use for that purpose; or fig trees, on which the people +of Canusium train their vines. Likewise there are four kinds of props +used for the cultivation of unwedded vines; first, the planted post, +which is called _ridicum_ and is best when fashioned out of oak or +juniper; second, poles cut in the swamp, and the more seasoned they +are the longer they will last, but it is the practice to reset them +upside down when they rot out in the ground; third, for lack of some +thing better, a bundle of reeds tied together and thrust into a +pointed tube of baked clay, which is then planted in the ground and +serves to preserve the reeds from water rot; the fourth is what may be +called the natural prop, when vines are swung from tree to tree. Vines +should be trained to the height of a man and the interval between the +props 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 to +the jug without the aid of any sort of prop. There are two of this +kind, one in which the earth serves as a bed for the grapes, as in +many places in Asia, and where usually the foxes share the crop with +man;[64] or, if mice appear, it is they who make the vintage, unless +you put a mouse trap in every vine, as they do on the island of +Pandataria. The other kind of vineyard, is that where each shoot which +promises to bear grapes is lifted from the earth and supported about +two 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 have +to be taught after the vintage; they are held in place with a bit of +cord or by that kind of tie which the ancients called a _cestus_. As +soon as the farmer sees the vintagers turn their backs he carries +these props under cover for the winter so that he may use them another +year without expense for that account. In Italy the people of Reate +practise this custom. + +Thus there are as many methods of cultivating the vine as there are +kinds of soil. For where the land is wet the vine must be trained high +because 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 soil +to determine for what it is, and for what it is not, suitable. The +word _terra_ is used in three senses: general, particular and mixed. +It is a general designation when we speak of the orb of the earth, the +land of Italy or any other country. In this designation is included +rock and sand and other such things. In the second place, _terra_ is +referred to particularly when it is spoken of without qualification or +epithet. In the third place, which is the mixed sense, when one speaks +of _terra_ as soil--that in which seeds are sown and developed; as for +example, clay soil or rocky soil or others. In this sense there are as +many kinds of earth as there are when one speaks of it in the general +sense, on account of the mixtures of substances in it in varying +quantities which make it of different heart and strength, such as +rock, marble, sand, loam, clay, red ochre, dust, chalk, gravel, +carbuncle (which is a condition of soil formed by the burning of roots +in the intense heat of the sun); from which each kind of soil is +called by a particular name, in accordance with the substances of +which it is composed, as a chalky soil, a gravelly soil, or what ever +else may be its distinguishing quality. And as there are different +varieties of soil so each variety may be subdivided according to +its quality, as, for example, a rocky soil is either very rocky, +moderately rocky or hardly rocky at all. So three grades may be made +of other mixed soils. In turn each of these three grades has three +qualities: some are very wet, some very dry, some moderate, These +distinctions are of the greatest importance in respect of the crops, +for the skilled husbandman plants spelt rather than wheat in wet +land, and on dry land barley rather than spelt, in medium land both. +Furthermore there are still more subtle distinctions to be made +in respect of all these kinds of soil, as for example it must be +considered in respect of loam, whether it is white loam or red loam, +because white loam is unfit for nursery beds, while red loam is what +they require. But the three great distinctions of quality of soil are +whether it is lean or fat, or medium. Fat soils are apparent from the +heavy growth of their vegetation, and the lean lie bare; as witness +the territory of Pupinia (in Latium), where all the foliage is meagre +and the vines look starved, where the scant straw never stools, nor +the fig tree blooms, while for the most part the trees are as covered +with moss as are the arid pastures. On the other hand, a rich soil +like that of Etruria reveals itself heavy with grain and forage crops +and its umbrageous trees are clean of moss. Soil of medium strength, +like that near Tibur, which one might say is rather hungry than +starved, repays cultivation in proportion as it takes on the quality +of rich land." + +"Diophanes of Bithynia," said Stolo, "was very much to the point when he +wrote that the best indication of the suitability of soil for +cultivation can be had either from the soil itself or from what grows in +it: so one should ascertain whether it is white or black, if it is light +and friable when it is dug, whether its consistency is ashy, or too +heavy: or it can be tested by evidence that the wild growth upon it is +heavy and fruitful after its kind.[65] But proceed and tell us of your +third division, which relates to the measurement and laying out of the +farm." + + +_Of the units of area used in measuring land_ + +X. Scrofa resumed: "Every country has its own system for measuring +land. In Further Spain the unit of area is the _jugum_, in Campania +the _versus_, here in the Roman country and among the Latins it is +the _jugerum_. They call a _jugum_ the area which a pair of oxen +can plough in a day. The _versus_ is one hundred feet square: the +_jugerum_ is the area containing two square _actus_: the _actus +quadratus_ or _acnua_, as it is called by the Latins, measuring 120 +feet in width and as much in length.[66] The smallest fraction of a +jugerum is called a _scripulum_ and is ten feet square. From this base +the surveyors some times call the butts of land which exceed a jugerum +_unciae_ (twelfths) or _sextantes_ (seventy seconds) or some other +such duodecimal division, for the jugerum contains 288 scripula, like +the ancient pound weight which was in use before the Punic wars. Two +jugera, which Romulus first made the headright and which thus became +the unit of inheritance, are called an _haeredium_:[67] later one +hundred 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 that +the steading is constructed either too small or too large for the +farm, a mistake which in either case is of prejudice both to the +property and its revenue. If one builds too large or too many +buildings he is eaten up by the expense of maintenance, while if one +builds less than the farm requires the harvest is lost, for there is +no doubt that the largest wine cellar must be provided for that farm +on 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 water +within the walls, or certainly near at hand: it is preferable that +this should be derived from a spring, or, if not, then from an +unfailing stream. If no running water is available a cistern should be +constructed within doors, and a pond in the open, the one for the use +of 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 at +the foot of a wooded hill where the pastures are rich, and turn it so +as to catch the healthiest prevailing breeze. The best situation is +facing the east so to secure shade in summer and sun in winter. But if +you must build on the bank of a river, take care that you do not let +the steading face the river, for it will be very cold in winter and +unhealthy in summer. Like precautions must be taken against swampy +places for the same reasons and particularly because as they dry, +swamps breed certain animalculae which cannot be seen with the eyes +and which we breathe through the nose and mouth into the body where +they cause grave maladies."[68] + +"But," said Fundanius, "suppose I inherited a farm like that, what +should I do to avoid the malady you describe?" + +"The answer to that question is easy," said Agrius. "You should sell +the farm for what you can get for it: and if you can't sell it, give +it away." + +Scrofa resumed: "Take care to avoid having the steading face the +direction from which disagreeable winds blow, yet you should not build +in a hollow. High ground is the best location for a steading: for by +ventilation all noxious gases are dissipated, and the steading is +healthier if exposed to the sun all day: with the further advantage +that any insects which may be bred in or brought upon the premises are +either blown away or quickly perish where there is no damp. Sudden +rains and overflowed streams are dangerous to those who have their +steadings in low or hollow places, and they are more at the hazard of +the ruthless hand of the robber because he is able to take advantage +of those who are unprepared. Against either of these risks the higher +places are safer." + + +_d. Arrangement_ + +XIII. In arranging the steading, see that the cattle are put where +they will be warm in winter. Such crops as wine and oil should be +housed below ground in cellars, or rather in jars placed in such +cellars, while dry crops like beans, and hay, are best stored on high +board floors. A rest room should be provided for the comfort of the +hands where they can gather after the day's work or for protection +from cold or heat and there recruit themselves in quiet. The room of +the overseer should be near the entrance to the farm house so that he +may know who comes in and who goes out during the night, and what they +bring in or out, especially if there is no gate-keeper. The kitchen +also should be near the overseer's room because there in winter is +great activity before daylight when food is being prepared and eaten. +Good sized sheds should be built in the barn yard for the wagons and +other implements which might be damaged by the rain. For while they +may be kept safe from the thief within the gates, yet if they are +exposed to the weather they will be lost nevertheless. It is better to +have two barn yards for a large farm. The inner court should contain a +cistern like a little fish pond into which the drainage from the eaves +may collect: as here the cattle and swine and geese can drink and +bathe in summer when they are driven in from work or pasture. In the +outer court there should be another pond where you can handle lupines +and such other things as must be soaked in water. This exterior court +yard should be strewn thick with straw and chaff, which, by being +trampled under the feet of the cattle, becomes the handmaid of the +farm by reason of the service it renders when it is hauled out. Every +farm should have two manure pits, or one divided into two parts; into +one division should be put the new manure from the barn, in the other +the old manure which is ready for use on the farm: for new manure is +not as good as that which is well rotted.[69] The manure pit is more +serviceable when its sides and top are protected from the sun by +leaves and branches, for the sun draws out from the manure those +elements which the land requires; for this reason experienced farmers +sprinkle water on their manure pits, and so largely preserve its +quality: here too some establish the privies for the slaves. One +should build a barracks (what we call a _nubilarium_ because it +affords protection from the weather) and it should be large enough to +contain under its roof the entire crop of the farm: this should be +placed near the threshing floor and left open only on the side of the +threshing floor, so that while threshing you may conveniently throw +out the corn and if it begins to cloud up then quickly throw it back +again under shelter. There should be windows in this barracks on the +side most fitted for ventilation." + +"A farm would be more of a farm," said Fundanius, "if the buildings +were constructed with reference to the diligence of our ancestors +rather than the luxury of their descendants. For they built for use, +while we build to gratify an unbridled luxury. Their barns were bigger +than their houses, but the contrary is often the case today. Then a +house was praised if it had a good kitchen, roomy stables and a cellar +for wine and oil fitted, according to the custom of the country, with +a floor draining into a reservoir, into which the wine can flow when, +as often happens after the new wine has been laid by, the fermentation +of the must bursts both Spanish butts and our own Italian tuns. In +like manner our ancestors equipped a country house with whatever other +things were necessary to agriculture, but now on the contrary it is +the effort to make such a house as vast and as elegant as possible, +and we vie with those palaces which men like Metellus and Lucullus +have built, to the detriment of the very state itself: in them the +effort is to contrive summer dining rooms fronting the cool east, and +those designed for use in winter facing the western sun, rather than, +as the ancients did, to adjust their windows with regard chiefly to +the cellars, since wine in casks keeps best when it is cool, while oil +craves warmth. For this reason also it would seem that the best place +to 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 are +constructed for the protection of the farm or for dividing the fields. +There are four kinds of such barriers: natural, dead wood, military +and masonry. The first is the natural fence of live hedge, consisting +of planted shrubs or thorns, and, as it has roots, runs no risk from +the flaming torch of the passing traveller who may be inclined to +mischief. The second kind is built of the wood of the country, but +is not alive. It is made either of palings placed close together and +wattled with twigs, or posts placed at some distance apart and pierced +to receive the ends of rails, which are generally built two or three +to the panel, or else of trunks of trees laid on the ground and joined +in line. The third, or military fence, consists of a ditch and a +mound: but such a ditch should be so constructed to collect all the +rain water, or it should be graded to drain the surface water off the +farm. The mound is best when constructed close adjoining the ditch, or +else it should be steep so that it will be difficult to scale. It is +customary to construct this kind of fence along the public roads or +along streams. In the district of Crustumeria one can see in many +places along the via Salaria ditches and mounds constructed as dikes +against damage by the river (Tiber).[70] Mounds are some times built +without ditches and are called walls, as in the country around Reate. +The fourth and last kind of fence is of built up masonry. There are +usually four varieties: those of cut stone, as in the country around +Tusculum; those of burned brick, as in Gaul; those of unburned brick +as in the Sabine country; those of gravel concrete,[71] as in Spain and +about Tarentum." + + +_b. Monuments_ + +XV. Lacking fences, the more discreet establish the boundaries of +their property, or of their sowings, by blazed trees, and so prevent +neighbourhood quarrels and lawing about corners. Some plant pines +around their boundaries, as my wife did on her Sabine farm, or +cypresses, as I have on my property on Vesuvius.[72] Others plant elms, +as many have done in the district of Crustumeria: indeed, for planting +in plains where it flourishes there is no tree which can be set out +with such satisfaction or with more profit than the elm, for it +supports the vine and so fills many a basket with grapes, yields +its leaves to be a most agreeable forage for flocks and herds, and +supplies rails for fences and wood for hearth and oven. + +"And now," said Scrofa, "I have expounded my four points upon the +physical characteristics of a farm, which were, its conformation, the +quality of the soil, its extent and layout, its boundaries and their +protection." + + +_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 to +agriculture on account of the necessary relations with it. There +are four considerations in this respect also, namely: whether the +neighbourhood bears a bad reputation; whether it affords a market to +which our products can be taken and whence we can bring back what we +may require at home; whether there is a road or a river leading to +that market, and, if so, whether it is fit for use; and fourth whether +there is in our immediate vicinity any thing which may be to our +advantage or disadvantage. Of these four considerations the most +important is whether the neighbourhood bears a bad reputation: for +there are many farms which are fit for cultivation but not expedient +to undertake on account of the brigandage in the neighbourhood, as in +Sardinia those farms which adjoin Oelium, and in Spain those on the +borders of Lusitania. + +On the second point those farms are the most profitable which have +opportunities in the vicinity for marketing what they raise and buying +what they must consume: for there are many farms which must buy corn +or wine or what ever else they lack, and not a few which have a +surplus of these commodities for sale. So in the suburbs of a city it +is fitting to cultivate gardens on a large scale, and to grow violets +and roses and many other such things which a city consumes, while it +would be folly to undertake this on a distant farm with no facilities +for reaching the market. So, again, if there is nearby a town or a +village or even the well furnished estate of a rich man where you can +buy cheap what you require on the farm, and where you can trade your +surplus of such things as props and poles and reeds, your farm will +be more profitable than if you had to buy at a distance; nay, more +profitable even than if you were able to produce all you require at +home: because in this situation you can make annual arrangements with +your neighbours to furnish on hire the services of physicians, fullers +and blacksmiths to better advantage than if they were your own: for +the death of a single such skilled slave wipes out the entire profit +of a farm. In carrying on the operation of a vast estate, the rich can +afford to provide such servants for every department of the work: +for if towns and villages are far distant from the farm, they supply +blacksmiths and all other necessary craftsmen and keep them on the +place, in order to prevent the hands from leaving the farm and +spending working days in going leisurely to and from the shop when +they might more profitably be engaged on what should be done in the +fields. So Saserna's book lays down the rule that "No one may leave +the farm except the overseer, the butler, or such a one as the +overseer sends on an errand. If any one disobeys this rule, he shall +be punished for it, but if he disobeys a second time the overseer +shall be punished." This rule may be better stated that no one should +leave the farm without the approval of the overseer, and, without the +consent of the master, not even the overseer, for more than a day at +a time, but in no event more frequently than the business of the farm +requires. + +On the third point, conveniences of transportation make a farm more +profitable, and these are whether the roads are in such condition that +wagons can use them smoothly, or whether there are rivers nearby which +can be navigated. We know that each of these means of transportation +is available to many farms. + +The fourth point, which is concerned with how your neighbour has +planted his land, also relates to your profits: because if he has an +oak forest near your boundary, you cannot profitably plant olives in +that vicinity, for the oak is so perverse in its effect upon the olive +that not only will your trees bear less but they will even avoid the +oaks 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 all +the surrounding land. + + + + +2° CONCERNING THE EQUIPMENT OF A FARM + + +XVII. I have spoken of the four points of husbandry which relate to +the land to be cultivated and also of those other four points which +have to do with the outside relations of that land: now I will speak +of those things which pertain to the cultivation of the land. Some +divide this subject into two parts, men and those assistants to men +without which agriculture cannot be carried on. Others divide it into +three parts, the instruments of agriculture which are articulate, +inarticulate and mute: the articulate being the servants,[73] the +inarticulate the draught animals, and the mute being the wagons and +other 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 for +wages,[74] as when the heaviest farm operations, like the vintage and +the harvest, are accomplished with the aid of hired freemen: in which +class may be included those bond servants whom our ancestors called +_obaerati_, a class which may still be found in Asia, in Egypt and in +Illyricum. With respect to the use of freemen in agriculture, my own +opinion is that it is more profitable to use hired hands than one's +own slaves in cultivating unhealthy lands, and, even where the country +is salubrious, they are to be preferred for the heaviest kind of farm +work, such as harvesting and storing grapes and corn. Cassius has this +to say on the subject: 'Select for farm hands those who are fitted for +heavy labour, who are not less than twenty-two years of age and have +some aptitude for agriculture, which can be ascertained by trying them +on several tasks and by enquiring as to what they did for their former +master.' Slaves should be neither timid nor overconfident. The foreman +should have some little education, a good disposition and economical +habits, and it is better that they should be some what older than the +hands, for then they will be listened to with more respect than if +they were boys. It is most important to choose as foremen those who +are experienced in agricultural work, for they should not merely give +orders but lend a hand at the work, so that the labourers may learn +by imitation and may also appreciate that it is greater knowledge and +skill which entitles the foreman to command. The foreman should never +be authorized to enforce his discipline with the whip if he can +accomplish his result with words. + +Avoid having many slaves of the same nation, for this gives rise to +domestic rows. + +The foremen will work more cheerfully if rewards are offered them, and +particularly pains must be taken to see that they have some property +of their own, and that they marry wives among their fellow servants, +who may bear them children, some thing which will make them +more steady and attach them to the place.[75] On account of such +relationships families of Epirote slaves are esteemed the best and +command the highest prices. + +Marks of consideration by the master will go far in giving happiness +to your hands: as, for instance, by asking the opinion of those of +them 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 looked +down upon, and encourages them to believe that they are held in some +estimation by the master. + +Those slaves who are most attentive to their work should be treated +more liberally either in respect of food or clothes, or in holidays, +or by giving them permission to graze some cattle of their own on the +place, or some thing of that kind. Such liberality tempers the effect +of a harsh order or a heavy punishment, and restores the slaves' good +will and kindly feeling towards their master. + +XVIII. On the subject of the number of slaves one will require for +operating a farm, Cato lays down the two measures of the extent of +the farm and the kind of farming to be carried on. Writing about the +cultivation 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 a +shepherd: for carrying on a vineyard of one hundred jugera, fifteen +slaves are necessary, to-wit: an overseer, a housekeeper, ten +labourers, a teamster, an ass driver and a swineherd. + +On the other hand Saserna says that one man is enough for every eight +jugera,[76] as a man should cultivate that much land in forty-five +days: for while one man can cultivate a jugerum in four days, yet he +allows thirteen days extra for the entire eight jugera to provide +against the chance of bad weather, the illness or idleness of the +labourer 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 to +or subtract from what he prescribes in proportion as our farm is of +greater or less extent than that he describes, he should have excluded +the overseer and the housekeeper from his enumeration. If you +cultivate less than two hundred and forty jugera of olives you cannot +get along with less than one overseer, while if you cultivate twice or +more as much land you will not require two or three overseers. It is +the number of labourers and teamsters only which must be added to or +diminished in proportion to the size of the farm: and this applies +only if the land is all of the same character, for if part of it is of +a kind which cannot be ploughed, as for example very rocky, or on +a steep hillside, there is that much less necessity for teams and +teamsters. I pass over the fact that Cato's example of a farm of two +hundred and forty jugera is neither a fair nor a comparable unit.[78] +The true unit for comparison of farms is a centuria, which contains +two 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 applying +this rule one can deduct also one-sixth of his thirteen slaves; or, +even if we leave out the overseer and the housekeeper, how one can +deduct one-sixth of eleven slaves. Again, Cato says that one should +have fifteen slaves for one hundred jugera of vineyard, but suppose +one had a _centuria_ half in vines and half in olives, then, according +to Cato's rule, one would require two overseers and two housekeepers, +which is absurd. Wherefore it is necessary to find another measure +than Cato's for determining the number of slaves, and I myself think +better of Saserna's rule, which is that for each jugerum it suffices +to provide four days work of one hand. Yet, if this was a good rule +on Saserna's farm in Gaul, it might not apply on a mountain farm in +Liguria. In fine you will best determine what number of slaves and +what other equipment you will require if you diligently consider +three things, that is to say, what kind of farms are there in your +neighbourhood, how large are they, and how many hands are engaged in +cultivating them, and you should add to or subtract from that number +in proportion as you take up more or less work. For nature gave us two +schools of agriculture, which are experience and imitation. The most +ancient farmers established many principles by experiment and their +descendants for the most part have simply imitated them. We should +do both these things: imitate others and on our own account make +experiments, following always some principle, not chance:[79] thus we +might work our trees deeper or not so deep as others do to see what +the effect would be. It was with such intelligent curiosity that some +farmers first cultivated their vines a second and a third time, and +deferred grafting the figs from spring to summer." + + +_Of draught animals_ + +XIX. In respect of those instruments of agriculture which are called +inarticulate, Saserna says that two yokes of oxen will be enough for +two hundred jugera of arable land, while Cato prescribes three yokes +for two hundred and forty jugera in olives: thus if Saserna is +correct, one yoke of oxen is required for every hundred jugera, but if +Cato is correct a yoke is needed for every eighty jugera. My opinion +is that neither of these standards is appropriate for all kinds of +land, but each for some kind: for some land is easy and some difficult +to plough, and oxen are unable to break up some land except by great +effort and often they leave the ploughshare in the furrow broken from +the beam: wherefore in this respect we should observe a triple rule on +every farm, when we are new to it, namely: find out the practice of +the last owner; that of the neighbours, and make some experiments of +our own. + +"Cato adds," resumed Scrofa, "that on his olive farm there are +required 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 asses +for the manure, and an ass for the wine press." + +In respect of cattle kept for all these purposes, which it is +customary to feed in the barn yard, it should be added that you should +keep as many and only as many as you need for carrying on the work of +the farm, so that more easily you can secure diligent care of +them from the servants whose chief care is of themselves. In this +connection the keeping of sheep is preferable to hogs not only by +those who have pastures but also by those who have none, for you +should keep them not merely because you have pasture, but for the sake +of 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 cattle +is that the draft oxen should be fit for their work: when bought +unbroken they should not be less than three years old nor more than +four, 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 have +worked in the plains cannot be trained to service in rough and +mountain land; a rule as applicable when reversed. In breaking young +steers it is best to begin by fastening a fork shaped yoke on their +necks and leaving it there even when they are fed; in a few days they +will become used to it and disposed to be docile. Then they should be +broken to work gradually until they are accustomed to it, as may be +done by yoking a young ox with an old one, so that he may learn what +is expected of him by imitation. It is best to work them first on +level ground without a plough, then with a light plough, so that their +first lessons may be easy and in sand and mellow soil. + +Oxen intended for the wagon should be broken in the same way, at first +by drawing an empty cart, if possible through the streets of a village +or a town, where they may become quickly inured to sudden noises and +strange sights. You should not work an ox always on the same side of +the team, for an occasional change from right to left relieves the +strain of the work. + +Where the land is light, as in Campania, they do not plough with heavy +steers but with cows or asses, as they can be driven more easily to +a light plough. For turning the mill and for carrying about the farm +some use asses, some cows and others mules: a choice determined by the +supply of provender. For an ass is cheaper to feed than a cow, though +a cow is more profitable.[80] + +In the choice of the kind of draft animals he is to keep, a farmer +should always take into consideration the characteristics of his soil: +thus on rocky and difficult land the prime requirement is doubtless +strength, but his purpose should be to keep that kind of stock which +under his conditions yields the largest measure of profit and still do +all the necessary work. + + +_Of watch dogs_ + +XXI. It is more desirable to keep a few dogs and fierce ones than a +pack of curs. They should be trained to watch by night and to sleep by +day chained in the kennel [so that they may be the more alert when set +loose.] + +It remains to speak elsewhere of unyoked cattle, like the flocks, but +if there are meadows on the farm and the owner keeps no live stock, it +is the business of a good farmer after he has sold his hay to graze +and 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 be +said: Those utensils which can be produced on the farm or made by the +servants should never be bought, among which are what ever may be made +out of osiers or other wood of the country, such as hampers, fruit +baskets, threshing sledges, mauls and mattocks, or what ever is made +out of the fibre plants like hemp, flax, rushes, palm leaves and +nettles, namely: rope, twine and mats. Those implements which cannot +be manufactured on the farm should be bought more with reference to +their utility than their appearance that they may not diminish your +profit by useless expense, a result which may be best secured by +buying 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 such +implements is measured by the extent of the farm because the further +your boundaries lie apart the more work there is to do." + +"In this connection," put in Stolo, "given the size of the farm, Cato +recommends with respect to implements as follows: he who cultivates +240 jugera in olives should have five sets of oil making implements, +which he enumerates severally, such as the copper utensils, including +kettles, pots, ewers with three spouts, etc.; the implements made out +of wood and iron, including three large wagons, six ploughs with their +shares, four manure carriers, etc. So of the iron tools, what they +are and how many are needed, he speaks in great detail, as eight iron +pitch forks, as many hoes and half as many shovels, etc. + +"In like manner he lays down another formula of implements for a +vineyard, viz.: if you cultivate 100 jugera you should have three sets +of implements for the wine press and also covered storage vats of +a capacity of eight hundred _cullei_, as well as twenty harvesting +hampers for grapes and as many for corn, and other things in like +proportion. + +"Other writers advise a smaller quantity of such conveniences, but I +believe Cato prescribed so great a capacity in order that one might +not be compelled to sell his wine every year, for old wine sells +better than new, and the same quality sells better at one time than +another. Cato writes further in great detail of the kind and number +of iron tools which are required for a vineyard, such as the falx or +pruning hook, spades, hoes. So also several of these instruments are +of many varieties, as for instance the falx, of which this author says +that there must be provided forty of the kind suitable for use in a +vineyard, five for cutting rushes, three for pruning trees and ten for +cutting briers." + +So far Stolo, when Scrofa began again. "The owner should have an +inventory of all the farm implements and equipment, with a copy on +file both at the house and at the steading, and it should be the +duty of the overseer to see that everything is checked against this +inventory 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 which +are used only at intervals, as at harvest time, like the grape baskets +and such things, for what ever one sees daily is in the least danger +from the thief." + + + + +3° CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF A FARM + + +XXIII. "And now," interposed Agrasius, "as we have discussed the +two 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 only +which comes from sowing the land, there are two considerations which +remain for discussion, what one should sow and where it is most +expedient to sow it, for some lands are best suited for hay, some for +corn, some for wine and some for oil. So also should be considered the +forage crops like basil, mixed fodder, vetch, alfalfa, snail clover +and lupines. All things should not be sown in rich land, nor should +thin land be left unsown, for it is better to sow in light soil those +things which do not require much nourishment, such as snail clover and +the legumes, except always chick peas (for this also is a legume like +the other plants which are not reaped but from which the grain is +plucked) because those things which it is the custom to pluck (legere) +are called legumes. In rich land should be sown what ever require +much nourishment, such as cabbage, spring and winter, wheat and flax. +Certain plants are cultivated not so much for their immediate yield as +with forethought for the coming year, because cut and left lying they +improve the land. So, if land is too thin it is the practice to plough +in for manure, lupines not yet podded, and likewise the field bean, if +it has not yet ripened so that it is fitting to harvest the beans.[81] + +"Not less should you make provision for cultivating what yields you +profit in mere pleasure, like arbours and flower gardens: and those +plantations which do not serve either for the support of man or the +delight of the senses, but are not the less useful in the economy of +the farm. Thus suitable places must be set aside for growing willows +and reeds and other such things which affect wet places. On the other +hand, you should sow field beans as much as possible in your corn +land. There are other plants which seek dry places, and still others +demand shade, like asparagus, both when wild and cultivated: while +violets and garden flowers, which flourish in the sun should be set +out in the open. + +"So other things demand other planting conditions, like the osiers +from which you derive your material for making basket ware, for wagon +frames, winnowing baskets and grape hampers. Elsewhere you might plant +and cultivate a forest for cut wood and a spinney for fowling. + +"So you should reserve ground for planting hemp, flax, rush and Spanish +broom (spartum) which serve to make shoes for the cattle, thread, +cord and rope. Other situations are suitable for still other kinds +of planting, as, for example, some plant garden truck and some plant +other things, in a nursery, or between the rows of a young orchard +before the roots of the trees have spread far out, but this should +never be done when the trees have grown lest the roots be injured." + +"In this respect," said Stolo, "what Cato says about planting is in +point, that a field which is rich and in good heart and without shade +should be planted in corn, while a low lying field should be set in +turnips, radishes, millet and panic grass." + + +_Of planting olives_ + +XXIV. Scrofa resumed: "The varieties of olives to plant in rich and +warm land are the preserving olive _radius major_, the olive of +Sallentina, the round _orchis_, the bitter _posea_, the Sergian, the +Colminian, and the waxy _albicera_: which ever of these does best in +your locality, plant that most extensively. An olive yard is not worth +cultivating unless it looks to the west wind and is exposed to the +sun; if the soil is cold and thin there you should plant the Licinian +olive, for if you set out this variety in a rich and warm soil it will +never make a _hostus_ and the tree will exhaust itself in bearing and +will become infected with red moss. (_Hostus_ is the country name for +the yield of oil from a single tree at each _factus_ or pressing: some +claim this should amount to 160 _modii_, while others reduce it to 120 +_modii_, and even less in proportion to the size and number of their +storage vats.) + +"Cato advises you to plant elms and poplars around the farm so as to +obtain from them leaves to feed the sheep and cattle as well as a +supply of lumber: while this is not necessary on all farms, nor in +some for the forage alone, it may be done with advantage as a wind +break against the north where the trees will not shut out the sun." + +Stolo added the following advice from the same author: 'If you have a +piece of wet ground there plant cuttings of poplars, and also reeds +which are set out as follows: having turned the sod with a hoe plant +the scions of reed three feet one from the other. Wild asparagus (from +which you may cultivate garden asparagus) should also be set out in +such a place because the same kind of cultivation is suitable for it +as for reeds. You should set out Greek willows around the reed bed to +supply ties for your vines.' + + +_Of planting vines_ + +XXV. "In respect of planting vines," resumed Scrofa, "it should be +observed that the varieties fitted for the best land and exposure to +the sun are the little Aminean, the twin _Eugeneam_ and the little +yellow kind: while on rich or wet land the best varieties are the +large Aminean, the Murgentine, the Apician and the Lucanian. Other +vines, and especially the mixed varieties, do well in any kind of +land." + +XXVI. "In all vineyards care is taken that the prop should shelter the +vine against the north wind. And if live cypresses are used as props +they are planted in alternate rows and are not allowed to grow higher +than is necessary for use as a prop. Cabbages are never planted near +vines because they do each other damage." + +"I fear," said Agrius, turning to Fundanius, "that the Sacristan may +get back before we have reached the fourth head of our subject, that +of the vintage, for I am looking forward thirstily to the vintage." + +"Be of good cheer," said Scrofa, "and prepare the grape baskets and +the ewer." + + + + +4° CONCERNING THE AGRICULTURAL SEASONS + + +XXVII. We have two standards of time, the first that of the revolution +of the year, because in it the sun completes his circuit, the other +the measure of the month, because it includes the waxing and the +waning of the moon. + + +_Of the solar measure of the year_ + +First I will speak of the sun, whose recurring journey is divided with +reference to the pursuits of agriculture into four seasons of three +months each, or more accurately into eight seasons of a month and a +half each. The four seasons are Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. In +Spring certain crops are sown and the sod fields are broken up,[82] +so that the weeds in them may be destroyed before they have seeded +themselves again, and the clods, by drying out in the sun, may become +more accessible to the rain and when broken down by its action easier +to cultivate. Such land should be ploughed not less than twice, but +three times is better.[83] The Summer is the season of the grain +harvest; the Autumn, when the weather is dry, that of the vintage: and +it is also the fit time for thinning out the woods, when the trees to +be removed should be cut down close to the ground and the roots should +be dug up before the first rains to prevent them from stooling. In +Winter the trees may be pruned, provided this is done at a time when +the bark is free from frost and rain and ice. + +XXVIII. Spring begins when the sun is in Aquarius, Summer when it is +in 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-third +day after the entrance of the sun in these signs respectively, it +follows that Spring has ninety-one days, Summer ninety-four, Autumn +ninety-one and Winter eighty-nine: which, reduced to the dates of our +present official calendar,[84] makes the beginning of Spring on the +seventh day before the Ides of February (February 7), of Summer on the +seventh day before the Ides of May (May 9), of Autumn on the third day +before the Ides of August (August 11), and of Winter on the fourth day +before the Ides of November (November 10). + + + + +A CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS + + +By a more exact definition of the seasons, the year is divided into +eight parts, the first of forty-five days from the date of the rising +of the west wind (February 7) to the date of the vernal equinox (March +24), the second of the ensuing forty-four days to the rising of the +Pleiades (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 Dog +Star (July 21), the fifth of sixty-seven days to the Autumn equinox +(September 26), the sixth of thirty-two days to the setting of the +Pleiades (October 28), the seventh of fifty-seven days to the winter +solstice (December 24), and the eighth of forty-five days to the +beginning of the first.[85] + + + + +_1° February 7-March 24_ + + +XXIX. These are the things to be done during the first of the seasons +so enumerated: All kinds of nurseries should be set out, the vines +should be first pruned, then dug, and the roots which have protruded +from 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 land +which was formerly sowed and lies awaiting a new ploughing is called +stubble (_novalis_). When land is ploughed for the first time it is +said to be broken up (_proscindere_), and at the second ploughing to +be broken down (_offringere_) because at the first ploughing large +clods are turned up and at the second ploughing these are reduced. The +third cultivation, after the seed has been sown, is called ridging +(_lirare_), that is, when by fastening mould boards on the plough, the +sown seed is covered up in ridges[86] and at the same time furrows are +cut by means of which the surface water may drain off. Some farmers +who cultivate small farms, as in Apulia, are wont to harrow their land +after it is ridged, if perchance any large clods have been left in the +seed bed. The hollow channel left by the share of the plough is called +the 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 to +the 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 between +the 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. Plant +trees before the buds shoot and they begin to blossom, for deciduous +trees are not fit to transplant after they put forth leaves. Plant and +prune your olives. + + + + +3° _May 7-June 24_ + + +XXXI. These are the things to be done during the third season between +the rising of the Pleiades and the summer solstice. Dig the young +vines or plough them, and afterwards put the land in good order; that +is to say, fine the soil so that no clods shall remain. This is called +fining the soil (_occare_) because it breaks down (_occidare_) the +clods. Thin out the vines, but let it be done by one who knows +how, for this operation which is considered of great importance is +performed only on vines and not on the orchard. To thin a vine is to +select and reserve the one, two and some times even three best new +tendrils sprung from the stem of the vine, cutting off all the others, +lest the stem may be unable to furnish nourishment for those which +have been reserved. So in a nursery it is the custom to cut it back +at first so that the vine may grow with a stronger stem and may have +greater strength to produce fruitful tendrils: for a stem which grows +slender like a rush is sterile through weakness and cannot throw out +tendrils. Thus it is the custom to call a weak stem a flag, and +a 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 given +to those vine shoots which are fruitful in grapes, was it seems, at +first, parilema, derived from _parire_ (to produce), whence by a +change of letters, such as we find in many instances, it came to be +called _palma_. + +From another part of the vine springs the _capreolus_, which is a +little spiral tendril, like a curled hair, by means of which the vine +holds on while it creeps towards the place of which it would take +possession, from which quality of taking hold of things (_capere_) it +is called _capreolus_. + +All forage crops should be saved at this season; first, basil, then +mixed fodder (_farrago_)[87] and vetch, and last of all the hay. Our +name for basil is _ocinum_, which is derived from the Greek word +[Greek: ocheos] and signifies that it comes quickly, like the pot herb +of the same name. It has this name also because it quickens the action +of the bowels of cattle and so is fed to them as a purgative. It is +cut green from a bean field before the pods are formed. On the other +hand that forage which is cut with a sickle from a field in which +barley and vetch and other legumes have been sown in mixture for +forage, is called _farrago_ from the instrument (_ferro_) with which +it is cut, or perhaps because it was first sown in the stubble of a +field of corn (_far_). It is fed to horses and other cattle in the +spring 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 means +of which it creeps twisting upward on the stalks of lupines or other +plants 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. They +probably 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 the +rising of the Dog Star most farmers make their harvest, because it is +claimed that to mature properly corn should be allowed fifteen days to +germinate and shoot, fifteen days to bloom and fifteen days to ripen. + +Finish your ploughing: it will be more profitable in proportion as the +earth 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 the +first ploughing large clods are always turned up. This is the time +also to sow vetch, lentils, the small variety of chick peas, pulse +(_ervilia_) and the other things which we call legumes, but which +others, as for example the Gauls, call _legarica_, both of which names +come from the practice of picking their fruit (_legere_) because they +are not cut but gathered. + +Work the old vines a second time and the young ones thrice, especially +if there are any clods left. + + + + +5° _July 21-September 26_ + + +XXXIII. During the fifth season between the rising of the Dog Star +and the autumn equinox thresh your straw and rick it, continue the +harrowing of your fallow land, prune your fruit trees, and mow your +irrigated meadow the second time. + + + + +6° _September 26-October 28_ + + +XXXIV. The authorities advise you to begin to sow at the commencement +of the sixth season immediately after the autumn equinox and to keep +it up for the following 91 days, but not to attempt to sow any thing +after the winter solstice, unless it is absolutely necessary, because +seed sown before the winter solstice germinates in seven days, while +that sown later hardly ever sprouts for 40 days. + +In like manner the authorities say that you should not begin your +sowing before the equinox, lest continued rains cause the seed to rot +in the ground. The best time to plant beans is at the setting of the +Pleiades, but gather the grapes and make the vintage between the +equinox and the setting of the Pleiades. Immediately afterward begin +to prune the vines, to propagate them and plant fruit trees, but in +those regions where the frost comes early it is better to postpone +these operations until the following spring. + + + + +7° _October 28-December 24._ + + +XXXV. These are the things to do during the seventh season between +the setting of the Pleiades and the winter solstice. Plant lilies and +crocuses and propagate roses, which may be done by making cuttings +about three inches in length from a stem already rooted, set these out +and later, after they have formed their own roots, transplant them. +The cultivation of violets has no place on a farm because they require +elevated beds for which the soil is scraped up and these are damaged +or even washed away by heavy rains, thus wasting the fertility of the +land. At any time of the year between the rising of the west wind and +the rising of Arcturus (February-September) it is proper to transplant +from the seed beds thyme, an herb, which owes its name, _serpyllum_, +to its creeping habit (_quod serpit_). This is the season also to +dig new ditches, clean the old ones, and to prune the trees in the +arbustum and the vines which are married to them, but be careful that +you suspend most of your work during the fifteen days before and after +the winter solstice: it is fitting, however, to set out some trees +during this period, as, for example, elms. + + + + +8° _December 24-February 7_ + + +XXXVI. These are the things to do during the eighth season between the +winter solstice and the rising of the west wind. Drain the fields, if +any water is standing on them, but if they are dry and the land is +friable, harrow them. Prune the vines and the orchard. When it is not +fitting to work in the fields then those things should be done which +can be done under cover during the winter twilight. + +All these rules should be written out and posted in the farmstead and +the 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 divided +into two terms, that from the new moon to the full, and that from +the full moon to the next moon, or until that day which we call +_intermenstruus_, or the last and the first of a moon, whence at +Athens this day is called [Greek: henae kai nea] (the old and the +new), though the other Greeks call it [Greek: triakas] the thirtieth +day. Some agricultural operations may be undertaken with more +advantage during the increase of the moon, others during the +decrease,[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 hair +cut on the decrease of the moon, for fear that I might become bald." + +"What are the quarters of the moon," said Agrius, "and what bearing +have they on agriculture?" + +"Have you never heard in the country," said Tremelius, "the lore about +the influence of Jana (Diana) on the eighth day before her waxing, and +again on the eighth day before her waning; how certain things which +ought to be done during the increase can be done to better advantage +in the second quarter than the first, and that what ever is fitting to +do 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 moon +upon agriculture." + + + + +ANOTHER CALENDAR OF SIX AGRICULTURAL SEASONS + + +"There is another division of the year," said Stolo, "which takes +account of both the sun and the moon, namely: into six seasons, +because almost all the cultivated fruits of the earth come to maturity +and reach the vat or the granary after five successive agricultural +operations and are put to use by a sixth, and these are, first, the +preparing (_praeparandum_); second, the planting (_serendum_); third, +the cultivating of the growing crop (_nutricandum_); fourth, the +ingathering (_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 for +different crops, as, if you wish to make an orchard or an arbustum, +you trench and grub and plough; if you plant grain, you plough and +harrow; while, if you cultivate trees, you mulch their roots by +breaking the earth with a mattock, more or less according to the +nature 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, when +it was still a young tree, had a spread of roots to the extent of 33 +cubits). If you break the ground with a plough and cattle, it is well +to work the land a second time before you sow your seed. So, if you +are making a meadow the preparation is to close it to the stock, and +this is usually done when the pear tree is in bloom: if it is an +irrigated meadow the preparation is to turn in the water at the proper +time. + + +_Of manuring_ + +XXXVIII. As part of this same operation should be considered what +places in a field need manure and what kind of manure you can use +to the greatest advantage, for the several kinds have different +qualities. Cassius says that the best manure is that of birds, except +swamp and sea birds,[89] but the best of all is, he claims, the manure +of 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 heaps +like the dung of cattle. I myself think the best manure is that from +aviaries in which thrushes and blackbirds are kept, because it is not +only good for the land but serves as a fattening food for cattle and +hogs: for which reason those who farm aviaries pay less rent when the +owner stipulates that the manure is to be used on the farm, than those +to whom it is a perquisite. Cassius advises that the manure next in +value to that of doves is human feces, and third that of goats and +sheep and asses. The manure of horses is of the least value on corn +land, but on meadows it is the best, because, like the manure of other +draught animals fed on barley, it brings a heavy stand of grass. The +manure pit should be near the barn in order that it may be available +with the least labour. If you plant a stake of oak wood in the manure +pit it will not harbour serpents. + + + + +2° PLANTING TIME + + +_Of the four methods of propagating plants_ + +XXXIX. The second operation, namely that of propagating, must be +considered in relation to the proper time for sowing each kind of +seed, for this concerns the aspect of the field you are to sow and the +season fitting for what you are to plant. Do we not see some things +grow best in the spring, others in summer, some in autumn, and others +again in winter? For each plant is sowed or propagated or harvested in +season according to its nature: so while most trees are grafted most +successfully in spring, rather than the autumn, yet figs may be +grafted at the summer solstice, and cherries even in winter. + +And since there are four methods of propagation of plants, by nature +and by the several processes of art, namely: transplanting from one +place to another, as is done in layering vines, what is called cuttage +or propagating quick sets cut from trees, and graftage, which consists +in transferring scions from one tree to another, let us consider at +what 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 all +germination, is of two kinds, that which is not appreciable by +our senses and that which is. Seed is hidden from us when it is +disseminated in the air, as the physicist Anaxagoras holds, or is +distributed over the land by the surface water, as Theophrastus +maintains. The seeds which the farmer can see should be studied with +the greatest care. There are some varieties, like that of the cypress, +which are so small as to be almost invisible, for those nuts which the +cypress bears, that look like little balls covered with bark, are not +the seed but contain it. Nature gave the principle of germination to +seed, the rest of agriculture was left for the experience of man to +discover, for in the beginning before the interference of man plants +were generated before they were sown, afterwards those seeds which +were collected by man from the original plants did not generate until +after 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 other +varieties of similar appearances: for age has such effect upon seed as +in some respects to change its very nature, thus it is said that rape +will grow from old cabbage seed, and vice versa.[90] + + +_b. Transplanting_ + +In respect of transplanting, care should be taken that it is +done neither too soon nor too late. The fit time, according to +Theophrastus, is spring and autumn and midsummer, but the same rule +will not apply in all places and to all kinds of plants: for in dry +and thin clay soil, which has little natural moisture, the wet spring +is the time, but in a rich and fat soil it is safe to transplant in +autumn. Some limit the practice of transplanting to a period of thirty +days. + + +_c. Cuttage_ + +In respect of cuttage, which consists in planting in the ground a live +cutting from a tree, it behooves you especially to see that this is +done at the proper time, which is before the tree has begun to bud or +bloom: that you take off the cutting carefully rather than break +it from the parent tree, because the cutting will be more firmly +established in proportion as it has a broad footing which can readily +put out roots: and that it is planted promptly before the sap dries +out of it. + +In propagating olives select a truncheon of new grown wood about +a 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 wood +from one tree to another, care must be taken in selecting the tree +from which the scion is taken, the tree on which it is grafted, and +the time and the manner in which it is done: for the pear cannot +be grafted on an oak, even though it may upon the apple. In this +operation many men who have great faith in the sayings of the +soothsayers give heed to their warning that as many kinds of grafts +there 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 how +good it may be, the result will not be as fortunate as if you had +grafted on another cultivated pear. Having regard for the result, on +what 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 scion +comes 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 one +tree from another, when the trees are neighbours. From the tree from +which you wish to take a scion a branch is trained to that on which +you wish to make the graft and the scion is bound upon an incision in +a branch of the stock. The place of contact of both scion and stock is +cut away with a knife so that the bark of one joins evenly with the +bark of the other at the point of exposure to the weather. Care +should be taken that the growing top of the scion is pointed straight +upwards. The following year when the graft has knitted, the scion may +be cut from its parent tree. + + +_Of when to use these different methods_ + +XLI. The most important consideration in propagating is, however, the +time at which you do it: thus things which formerly were propagated in +the spring now are propagated in summer, like the fig, whose wood is +not heavy and so craves heat, as a consequence of which quality +figs cannot be grown in cold climates. For the same reason water is +dangerous to a new fig graft because its soft wood rots easily. For +these reasons it is now considered that midsummer is the best season +to propagate figs. On the other hand it is the custom to tie a pot +of water above a graft of hard wood trees so that it may drip on +the graft and prevent the scion from drying up before it has been +incorporated with the stock. Care must be taken that the bark of the +scion is kept intact, and to that end it should be sharpened but so +that the pith (_medulla_) is not exposed. To prevent the rain or the +heat from injuring it from without, it should be smeared with clay and +bound with bark. It is customary to take off the scion of a vine three +days before it is to be grafted so that the superfluity of moisture +may drain out before the scion is inserted, or, if the graft is +already in place, an incision is made in the stock a little below the +graft from which the adventitious moisture may drain off: but this +is not done with figs and pomegranates, for in all trees of a +comparatively dry nature the graft is made immediately. Indeed, some +trees, like the fig, are best grafted when the scion is in bud. + +Of the four kinds of propagation which I have discussed, that of +graftage is preferred in respect of those trees which, like the fig, +are slow in developing: for the natural seeds of the fig are those +grains seen in the fruit we eat and are so small as scarcely to be +capable of sprouting the slenderest shoots. For all seeds which are +small and hard are slow in germinating, while those which are soft are +more spontaneous, just as girls grow faster than boys. Thus by reason +of their feminine tenderness the fig, the pomegranate and the vine are +quicker to mature than the palm, the cypress and the olive, which are +rather dry than humid by nature. Wherefore we some times propagate +figs in nurseries from cuttings rather than attempt to raise them from +seed: unless there is no other way to secure them, as happens when one +wishes to send or receive seed across the sea. For this purpose the +ripe figs which we eat are strung together and when they have dried +out are packed and shipped wheresoever we wish, and thereafter being +planted in a nursery they germinate. In this way the Chian, the +Chalcidian, the Lydian, the African and other foreign varieties of +figs were imported into Italy. + +For the same reason olives are usually propagated in nurseries from +truncheons such as I have described, rather than from its seed, which +is hard like a nut and slow to germinate. + + +_Of seeding alfalfa_ + +XLII. You should take care not to plant alfalfa[93] in soil which is +either too dry or half wet,[94] but in good order. The authorities say +that if the soil is in proper condition a _modius_ (peck) and a half +of alfalfa seed will suffice to sow a _jugerum_ of land. This seed is +sowed broad-cast on the land like grass and grain. + + +_Of seeding clover and cabbage_ + +XLIII. Snail clover (_cytisus_) and cabbage is sowed in beds well +prepared and is transplanted from them and set out so that the plants +are a foot and a half apart, also cuttings are taken from the stronger +plants 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 ten +modii: in some places a little more or a little less; if the soil is +rich, more; if it is thin, less. Wherefore you should observe how much +it is the custom to sow in your locality in order that you may do what +the region and the quality of the soil demands, which is the more +necessary as the same amount of seed will yield in some localities ten +for 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 one +hundred for one, and as much is claimed for the soil of Syria at +Gadara, and in Africa at Byzacium.[95] + +It is also important to consider whether you will sow in land which +is cropped every year which we call _restibilis_, or in fallow land +(_vervactum_), which is [ploughed in the spring and so] allowed an +interval of rest." + +"In Olynthia," said Agrius, "they are said to crop the land every year +but to get a greater yield every third year." + +"A field ought to lie fallow every other year," said Stolo, "or at +least be planted with some crop which makes less demand upon the +soil." + + + + +3° CULTIVATING TIME + + +"Tell us," said Agrius, "about the third operation which relates to +the cultivation and the nourishment of the crops." + + +_Of the conditions of plant growth_ + +"All things which germinate in the soil," replied Licinius, "in the +soil also are nourished, come to maturity, conceive, are pregnant and +in due time bear fruit or ear, so each fruit after its kind yields +seed similar to that from which it is sprung. Thus if you pluck a +blossom or a green pear from a pear tree, or the like from any other +tree, 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, and +wheat not much later, while the legumes almost always sprout in four +or five days, except the bean, which is somewhat later. Millet and +sesame and the other similar grains sprout in the same time unless +some thing in the nature of the soil or the weather retards them. If +the locality is cold, those plants which are propagated in the nursery +and are tender by nature ought to be protected from the frosts by +coverings of leaves or straw, and, if rains follow, care should be +taken that water is not permitted to stand any where about them, for +ice is a poison to tender roots under ground, as to sprouts above, and +prevents them from developing normally. In autumn and winter the +roots develop more than does the leaf of the plant because they are +nourished by the warmth of the roof of earth, while the leaf above is +cut down by the frosty air. We can learn this by observation of the +wild vegetation which grows without the intervention of man, for the +roots grow more rapidly than that which springs from them, but only so +far as they are actuated by the rays of the sun. There are two causes +of the growth of roots, the vitality of the root itself by which +nature drives it forward, and the quality of the soil which yields a +passage 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 have +mentioned produce some curious mechanical results. Thus it is possible +to determine the time of the year from the motion of the leaves of +certain trees like the olive, the white poplar and the willow, for +when the summer solstice has arrived their leaves turn over. Not less +curious is the habit of that flower which is called the heliotrope, +which in the morning looks upon the rising sun and, following its +journey 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 the +nursery from cuttings and are of a tender nature, should be protected +by sheds built of two planks fastened at each end: moreover they +should be weeded, and this should be done while the weeds are still +young, for after they have become dry they offer resistance, and more +readily break off in your hand than yield to your pull. On the other +hand the grass which springs in the meadows and gives you hope of +forage not only should not be rooted out while it is growing, but +should not even be walked upon; hence both the flock and the herd +should be excluded from the meadow at this time and even man himself +should keep away, for grass disappears under the foot and the track +soon 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, three +parts, namely: the grain, the glume and the beard, not to speak of the +sheath which contains the spike while it is being formed. The grain is +that solid interior part of the spike, the glume is its hull and the +beard those long thin needles which grow out of the glume. Thus as the +glume is the pontifical robe of the grain, the beard is its apex. The +beard and the grain are well known to almost every one, but the glume +to very few: indeed I know only one book in which it is mentioned, +the translation which Ennius made of the verses of Evhemerus. The +etymology of the word _gluma_ seems to be from _glubere_, to strip, +because the grain must be stripped from this hull: and by a like +derivation the hull of the fig which we eat is called a glume. The +beard 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 it +is produced (_gerere_), for we plant corn to produce grain, not glumes +or beards, just as vines are planted to produce grapes, not tendrils. +The spike, which, by tradition, the country people call _speca_, seems +to get its name from _spes_, hope. For men plant with hope of the +harvest. A spike which has no beard is called polled (_muticus_), for, +when the spike is first forming, the beard, like the horns of a young +animal, is not apparent but lies hid like a sword in its scabbard +under a wrapping of foliage which hence is called the sheath. When the +spike 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 the +growing 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 to +dry out with the heat, then it should be cut with scythes and, as it +begins to cure, turned with forks. When it is cured it should be tied +in bales and hauled into the steading; then what hay was left lying +should be raked together and stacked, and, finally, when this has all +been done, the meadow should be gleaned, that is, gone over with the +sickle to save what ever grass escaped the mowing, such as that left +standing on tussocks. From this act of cutting (_sectare_) I think +that 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 the +ingathering of those crops which are reaped, and from this action +(_metere_) its name is derived, but it is mostly used in respect of +corn. There are three methods of harvesting corn, one as in Umbria, +where they cradle the straw close to the earth and shock up the +sheaves as they are cut: when a sufficient number of shocks has been +made, they go over them again and cut each sheaf between the spikes +and the straw, the spikes being thrown into baskets and sent off to +the threshing floor, while the straw is left in the field and stacked. +A second method of harvesting is practised in Picenum, where they have +a 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. A +third method of harvesting, which is used in the vicinity of Rome and +in most places, is to cut the straw in the middle and take away the +upper part with the left hand (whence the word to reap [_metere_] is, +I think, derived from the word _medium_--connoting a cutting in the +middle). The lower part of the straw which remains standing is cut +later,[97] while the rest, which goes with the grain, is hauled off in +baskets to the threshing floor and there in an airy place is winnowed +with a shovel (_pala_) from which perhaps the chaff (_palea_) takes +its name. Some derive the name of straw (_stramentum_) from the fact +that it stands (_stare_), as they think the word _stamen_ is also +derived, 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 that +under normal conditions and in an easy field one man should reap +almost a jugerum a day and still have time to carry the grain in +baskets to the threshing floor. + + +_The threshing floor_ + +LI. The threshing floor should be on high ground so that the wind can +blow upon it from all directions. It should be constructed of a size +proportioned to your crops, preferably round and with the centre +slightly raised so that if it rains the water may not stand on it but +drain off as quickly as possible, and there is no shorter distance +from the centre to the circumference of a circle than a radius:[98] it +should be paved with well packed earth, best of all of clay, so that +it may not crack in the sun and open honeycombs in which the grain can +hide itself, and water collect and give vent to the burrows of mice +and ants. It is the practice to anoint the threshing floor with +amurca,[99] for that is an enemy of grass and a poison to ants and to +moles. Some build up and even pave their threshing floor with rock to +make it permanent, and some, like the people of Bagiennae, even roof +it over because in that country storms are prevalent at the threshing +season. In a hot country where the threshing floor is uncovered it is +desirable to build a shelter near by where the hands can resort in the +heat of the day. + + +_Threshing and winnowing_ + +LII. The heaviest and best of the sheaves should be selected on the +threshing floor and the spikes laid aside for seed. The grain is +threshed from the spikes on the threshing floor, an operation which +some perform by means of a sledge drawn by a yoke of oxen: this sledge +consisting of a wooden platform, studded underneath with flints or +iron spikes, on which either the driver rides or some heavy weight is +imposed in order, as it is drawn around, to separate the grain from +the 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 do +in hither Spain and other places. Others cause the grain to be trodden +out under the hoofs of a herd of driven cattle, which are kept moving +by goading them with long poles. + +When the grain has been threshed it should be tossed from the ground +by means of a winnowing basket or a winnowing shovel when the wind is +blowing 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 the +basket.[100] + + +_Gleaning_ + +LIII. After the harvest is over the grain fields should be gleaned of +shattered grain, and the straw left in the field should be gathered +and housed, but if there is little to be gained by such work, and the +expense is disproportionate, the stubble should be grazed: for in +farming it is of the greatest importance that the expense of an +operation shall not exceed the return from it. + + +_Of the vintage_ + +LIV. In vineyards the vintage should begin when the grape is ripe, but +care must be taken with what kind of grapes and in what part of the +vineyard you begin: for the early grapes and the mixed variety, which +is called black, ripen some time before the others and should be +gathered first, like the fruit grown on the side of the arbustum, or +of the vineyard, which is exposed to the sun. During the gathering +those grapes from which you expect to make wine should be separated +from those reserved for the table: the choicer being carried to the +wine press and collected in empty jars, while those reserved to eat +are collected in separate baskets, transferred to little pots and +stored in jars packed with marc, though some are immersed in the pond +in jars daubed with pitch and some raised to a shelf in the store +room. + +The stems and the skins of the grapes which have been trodden out +should be put under the press so that any must left in them may be +added 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 expressed +by this final operation is hence called _circumcisitum_[101] and is kept +by itself because it smacks of the knife. The marc finally remaining +is thrown into jars, to which water is added, thus preparing a drink +which is called after-wine or grape juice, and is given to the hands +in the winter instead of wine. + + +_Of the olive harvest_ + +LV. And now of the harvest of the olive yard.[102] You should pick by +hand, rather than beat from the tree, all the olives which can be +reached from the ground or from a ladder, because this fruit becomes +arid when it has been struck and does not yield so much oil: and in +picking by hand it is better to do so with the bare fingers rather +than with a tool because the texture of a tool not only injures the +berry but barks the branches and leaves them exposed to the frost. So +it is better to use a reed than a pole to strike down the fruit which +cannot be reached by hand, for (as the proverb is) the heavier the +blow, the more need there is for a surgeon. He who beats his trees +should beware of doing injury, for often an olive when it is struck +away brings down with it from the branch a twig, and when this happens +the fruit of the following year is lost: and this is not the least +reason why it is said that the olive bears fruit, or much fruit, only +every other year. + +Like the grape, the olive serves a two-fold function after it is +gathered. Some are set aside to be eaten and the rest are made into +oil, which comforts the body of man not only within but without, for +it follows us into the bath and the gymnasium. Those berries from +which it is proposed to make oil are usually stored in heaps on tables +for several days where they may mellow a little. Each heap in turn is +carried in crates to the oil jars and to the _trapetus_, or pressing +mill, which is equipped with both hard and rough stones. If the olives +are left too long in the heap they heat and spoil and the oil is +rancid, so if you are unable to grind promptly the heaps of olives +should be ventilated by moving them. The yield of the olive is of two +kinds, oil which is well known and _amurca_, of the use of which many +are so ignorant that one can often see it streaming from the mill and +wasting upon the ground where it not only discolours the soil, but +in places where it collects even makes it sterile: while if applied +intelligently it has many uses of the greatest importance to +agriculture, as, for instance, by pouring it around the roots of +trees, chiefly the olive itself, or wherever it is desired to destroy +weeds.[103] + + + + +_5° HOUSING TIME_ + + +LVI. "Up to this moment," cried Agrius, "I have been sitting in the +barn with the keys in my hands waiting for you, Stolo, to bring in the +harvest." + +"Lo, I am here at the threshold," replied Stolo. "Open the gates for +me." + + +_Of storing hay_ + +In the first place, it is better to house your hay than to leave it +stacked in the field, for thus it makes more palatable provender, as +may be proven by putting both kinds before the cattle. + + +_Of storing grain_ + +LVII. But corn should be stored in an elevated granary, exposed to the +winds from the east and the north, and where no damp air may reach it +from places near at hand. The walls and the floors should be plastered +with a stucco of marble dust or at least with a mixture of clay and +chaff and amurca, for amurca will serve to keep out mice and weevil +and will make the grain solid and heavy. Some men even sprinkle their +grain with amurca in the proportion of a quadrantal to every thousand +modii of grain: others crumble or scatter over it, for the same +purpose, other vermifuges like Chalcidian or Carian chalk or wormwood, +and other things of that kind. Some farmers have their granaries under +ground, like caverns, which they call silos, as in Cappadocia and +Thrace, while in hither Spain, in the vicinity of Carthage, and at +Osca pits are used for this purpose, the bottoms of which are covered +with straw: and they take care that neither moisture nor air has +access to them, except when they are opened for use, a wise precaution +because where the air does not move the weevil will not hatch. Corn +stored 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 of +Apulia they build elevated granaries above ground, which the winds +keep cool, not only by windows at the sides but also from underneath +the floor. + + +_Of storing legumes_ + +LVIII. Beans and other legumes keep safe a long time in oil jars +covered with ashes. Cato says the little Aminnean grape, as well as +the large variety and that called Apician, keep very well when buried +in earthen pots: or they may be preserved quite as well in boiled new +wine, or in fresh after-wine. The varieties which keep best when hung +up are the hard grapes and those known as the Aminnean Scantian. + + +_Of storing pome fruits_ + +LIX. The pome fruits, like the preserving sparrow apples, quinces +and 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 be +kept safely in a cold and dry place when laid on straw, and so those +who build fruit houses take care to have the windows give upon the +north wind and that it may blow through them: but they should not +be left without shutters for fear that the fruits should lose their +moisture and become shrivelled by the effect of the continuous wind. + +The vaults, the walls and the pavements of these fruiteries are +usually laid in stucco to keep them cool: thus rendering them such +pleasant resorts that some men even spread there their dining couches: +as well they may, for if the pursuit of luxury impels some of us to +turn our dining rooms into picture galleries in order to regale even +our eyes with works of art [while we eat], should we not find still +greater gratification in contemplating the works of nature displayed +in a savory array of beautiful fruits, especially if this was not +procured, as has been done, by setting up in your fruitery on the +occasion of a party a supply of fruit purchased for the purpose in +town? + +Some think best to dispose their apples in the fruitery on concrete +tables, 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 the +late maturing Anician pears are best preserved in boiled must. Sorbs +and pears also are some times cut up and dried in the sun, though the +sorb may be easily preserved intact by keeping them in a dry place: +turnips are cut up and preserved in mustard, while walnuts keep well +in sand, as I have explained with respect to ripe pomegranates. There +is a similar way of ripening pomegranates: put the fruit, while it is +still green and attached to its branch, in a pot without a bottom, +bury this in the earth and scrape the soil around the protruding +branch so as to keep out the air, and when the pomegranates are dug up +they will be found to be not only intact but larger than if they had +hung 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 both +when they are dry and when they are green, but if they are bruised it +is well to put them in mastich oil. Round olives will retain their +black colour if they are packed in salt for five days, and then, the +salt having been brushed away, are exposed for two days in the sun: or +they may be preserved in must boiled down to one-third, without the +use of salt. + + +_Of storing amurca_ + +LXI. Experienced farmers do well to save their amurca as they do their +oil and their wine. The method of preserving it is this: immediately +after the oil has been pressed out, draw off the amurca and boil it +down to one-third and, when it has cooled, store it in vats. There are +other 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, it +remains to make a few observations upon the sixth and last operation +in 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 there +are 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 weevil +begins to damage it. When this is apparent the grain should be laid +out in the sun and bowls of water placed nearby and the weevil will +swarm on this water and drown themselves. Those who store their grain +in the pits which are called silos should not attempt to bring out the +grain for some time after the silo has been opened because there is +danger of suffocation in entering a recently opened silo. The corn +which, during the harvest time, you stored in the ear and which you +contemplate using for food, should be brought out during the winter to +be crushed and ground in the grist mill. + + +_Of condensing amurca_ + +LXIV. When it flows from the oil mill, amurca is a watery fluid full +of dregs. It is the custom to store it in this state in earthen jars +and fifteen days later to skim off the scum from the top and transfer +this to other jars, an operation which is repeated at regular +intervals twelve times during the following six months, taking care +that the last skimming is done on the wane of the moon. Then it +is boiled in a copper kettle over a slow fire until it is reduced +two-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 be +racked off while it is fermenting nor until this process has advanced +so far that the wine may be considered to be made. If you wish to +drink old wine, it is not made until a year is completed; when it is a +year old, then draw it out. But if your vineyard contains that kind +of grape which turns sour early, you should eat the fruit, or sell it +before the succeeding vintage. There are kinds of wine, like that of +Falernum, which improve the longer you keep them. + + +_Of preserved olives_ + +LXVI. If you attempt to eat white olives immediately after you have +put them up and before they are cured your palate will reject them on +account 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 been +stored, the more palatable they will be, for by keeping figs lose +their flavour, dates rot and nuts dry up. + + +_Of stored fruits_ + +LXVIII. Fruits which are strung, such as grapes, apples and sorbs show +by their appearance when they may be taken down for use, for by their +change of colour and shrinking they reveal themselves as destined to +the garbage pile unless they are eaten in time. Sorbs which have been +laid by when they are already dead-ripe should be used promptly, but +those which were picked green are slower to decay: for green fruit in +the store house must there go through the process of ripening which +was denied it on the tree. + + +_Of marketing grain_ + +LXIX. The spelt which you wish to have prepared for food should be +taken out in the winter to be ground in the mill: but your seed corn +should not be taken out until the fields are ready to receive it, a +rule which obtains in respect of all kinds of seed. What you have for +sale should be taken out at the appropriate time also, for some things +which cannot be kept long without spoiling should be taken out and +sold promptly, while others which keep should be retained so that you +may sell when the price is high, for often commodities which are kept +on 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 double +profit. + +As Stolo was speaking, the freedman of the Sacristan ran up to us with +his eyes full of tears and, begging our pardon for having kept us +waiting so long, invited us to come to the funeral on the following +day. 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 by +a blow with a knife, but who did it he had been unable to discover by +reason of the crowd, all that he heard being an exclamation that a +mistake had been made. He added that when he had carried his master +home and had sent the servants to call a doctor, whom they brought +back with them quickly, he trusted that it might seem reasonable to +us that he had waited to attend upon the doctor rather than come to +notify us at once, and while he had not been able to be of any service +to his master, who had given up the ghost in a few minutes, yet he +hoped we might approve his conduct. + +Accepting these excuses as amply justified, we descended from the +temple bewildered more by the hazard of human life than surprised that +such a fate should be possible at Rome:[104] and so we went our several +ways. + + + + +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 lived +in the country above those who dwelt in town. For as our peasants +today contemn the tenant of a villa as an idler in comparison with the +busy life of an agricultural labourer, so our ancestors regarded the +sedentary occupations of the town as waste of time from their habitual +rural pursuits: and in consequence they so divided their time that +they might have to devote only one day of the week to their affairs in +town, reserving the remaining seven for country life.[105] + +So long as they persisted in this practice they accomplished two +things both that their farms were fertile through good cultivation and +that they themselves enjoyed the best of health: they felt no need of +those Greek gymnasia which now every one of us must have in his town +house, nor did they deem that in order to enjoy a house in the country +one 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, abandoning +the sickle and the plough and prefer to exercise their hands in the +theatre 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 our +bellies 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 and +Chios! + +And so it has happened that those lands which the shepherds who +founded the city taught their children to cultivate are now, by their +later descendants, converted again from corn fields back to pastures, +thus in their greed of gain violating even the law, since they fail to +distinguish the difference between agriculture and grazing.[106] For a +shepherd is one thing and a ploughman another, nor for all that he may +feed his stock on farm land is a drover the same as a teamster: herded +cattle, indeed, do nothing to create what grows in the land, but +destroy it with their teeth, while the yoked ox on the contrary +conduces to the maturity of grain in the corn fields and forage in the +fallow land. The practice and the art of the farmer is one thing, I +say; that of the shepherd another; the farmer's object being that what +ever may be produced by cultivating the land should yield a profit; +that of the shepherd to make his profit from the increase of his +flock; and yet the relation between them is intimate because it is +much more desirable for a farmer to feed his forage on the land than +to sell it, and a herd of cattle is the best source of supply of that +which 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 of +feeding game, as is done at our country houses, since no little profit +may be derived from aviaries and rabbit warrens and fish ponds. +And since I have written a book concerning the first of these +occupations--that of the husbandry of agriculture--for my wife +Fundania because of her interest in that subject, now, my dear +Turranius Niger, I write this one on the husbandry of live stock for +you, who are so keen a stock fancier that you are a frequent attendant +at the cattle market at Macri Campi, where, by your fortunate +speculations, you have found means to make provision for many crying +expenses. + +I could do this on my own authority because I am myself a considerable +owner of live stock with my flocks of sheep in Apulia and my stud +of horses at Reate, but I will run through the subject, briefly and +summarily rehearsing what I gathered from conversation with certain +large stock feeders in Epirus at the time when, being in command of +the fleet in Greece during the war with the pirates, I lay between +Delos and Sicily.[108] + + +_Of the origin, the importance and the economy of live stock +husbandry_ + +I.[109] When Menates had gone, Cossinius said to me: "We shall not let +you go until you have explained those three points which you began to +discuss the other day when we were interrupted." + +"What three points," said Murrius. "Are they those concerning feeding +cattle, of which you spoke to me yesterday?" + +"Yes," replied Cossinius, "they are the considerations of what was the +origin, what the importance, and what the economy of the husbandry of +live stock. Varro here had begun to discourse upon them while we were +calling on Petus during his illness, when the arrival of the physician +interrupted us." + +"Of the three divisions of the [Greek: historikon] or interpretation +of this subject, which you have mentioned, I will venture," said I, +"to speak only of the first two, of the origin and of the importance +of this industry. The third division, of how it should be practised, +Scrofa shall undertake for us, as one, if I may speak Greek to a +company of half Greek shepherds [Greek: hos per mou pollon ameinon] +(who is better qualified than I am),[110] for Scrofa was the teacher of +C. Lucilius Hirrus, your son-in-law, whose flocks and herds in Bruttii +have such reputation." + +"But," interrupted Scrofa, "you shall hear what we have to say only on +condition that you, who come from Epirus and are masters of the art of +feeding cattle, shall recompense us and shall give public testimony of +what you know on the subject: for none of us knows it all." + +Having thus assumed that my share of the discussion should be the +first or theoretical part of the subject (which I did, although I have +a stock farm in Italy, because, as the proverb is, not every one who +owns a lyre is a musician), I began: + +"Doubtless in the very order of nature both man and cattle have +existed since the beginning of time, for whether we believe that there +was a First Cause of the generation of animals, as Thales of Miletus +and Zeno of Citium maintained, or that there was none as was the +opinion of Pythagoras of Samos and Aristotle of Stagira, it is, as +Dicaearchus points out, a necessity of human life to have descended +gradually from the earliest time to the present day: thus in the +beginning was the primitive age when man lived on whatever the virgin +soil produced spontaneously; thence he descended to the second or +pastoral age, when, as he had formerly gathered for his use acorns,[111] +strawberries, mulberries and apples by picking them from trees and +bushes, so now, to satisfy a like need, he captured in the woods such +as he could of the wild beasts of the field, and, having enclosed, +began to domesticate them. Among these it is considered not without +reason that sheep were foremost, both because of their utility and +because of their docile nature, for this animal is the gentlest of all +and most readily accommodated to the life of man, and supplies him +with milk and cheese for food, and skins and wool to clothe his body. + +"Finally, by the third step, man descended from the pastoral age to +that of agriculture. In this there have persisted many relics of the +two preceding ages, which, long remaining in their original state, are +found even in our day: for in many places may yet be seen some kinds +of our domestic cattle still in their wild state, such as the large +flocks of wild sheep in Phrygia, and in Samothrace a species of wild +goats like those which are called "big horns" (platycerotes) and +abound in Italy on the mountains of Fiscellum and Tetrica. Every body +knows that there are wild swine, unless you maintain that the wild +boar is not a true member of the swine family. + +"There are still many cattle running at large in Dardania, Medica and +Thrace, while there are wild asses in Phrygia and Lycaonia, and wild +horses 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 live +stock, as both the Greek and Latin languages reveal, as well as the +earliest poets, who describe their heroes some as [Greek: polyarnos] +(rich in lambs), some as [Greek: polymaelos] (rich in sheep), and +others as [Greek: polyboutaes] (rich in herds), and tell of flocks +which on account of their value were said to have golden fleeces, like +that of Atreus in Argos which he complained that Thyestes stole away +from him: or that ram which Aeetes sacrificed at Colchis, whose fleece +was the quest of those princes known as the Argonauts: or again like +those so called golden apples (_mala_) of the Hesperides that Hercules +brought back from Africa into Greece, which were, according to the +ancient tradition, in fact goats and sheep which the Greeks, from the +sound of their voice, called [Greek: maela]: indeed, much in the same +way our country people, using a different letter (since the bleat of a +sheep seems to make more of the sound of _bee_ than of _me_) say that +sheep "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 ancients +the astrologers would not have called the signs of the zodiac by their +names in describing the heavens: and they not only did not hesitate to +place them there but many even begin their enumeration of the twelve +signs with these animal names, thus giving Aries and Taurus precedence +over Apollo and Hercules, whose signs, very gods as they are, are +subordinated under the name of Gemini: nor did they deem that a sixth +of these twelve signs was a sufficient proportion for the names of +cattle, but they must even add Capricornus and make it a quarter. +Furthermore, in naming the constellations they selected other names of +cattle, as the goat, the kid, and the dog. And in like manner have not +certain parts both of the sea and of the land taken their names from +cattle, as witness the Aegean Sea, which is called after the Greek +name for goat [Greek: aigeos], and Mount Taurus in Syria after the +bull, and Mount Cantherius in the Sabine country after the horse, and +the 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 itself +derives its name, according to Piso, from _vitula_, our word for +heifer. + +"Who can deny that the Roman people themselves are sprung from a race +of shepherds, for every one knows that Faustulus, the foster father +of Romulus and Remus, who brought them up, was a shepherd. Is it not +proof that they were shepherds that they chose the Parilia, or feast +of the goddess of the shepherds, in preference to all other days, for +the founding of the city; that a penalty even to this day is assessed +in terms of cattle or sheep, according to the ancient custom; that our +most ancient money, the _as_ of cast copper, always bore the effigy of +some domestic animal; that whenever a town was founded the limits of +the walls and the gates were laid off with a plough drawn by a bull +and a cow yoked together; that when the Roman people are purified it +is done by driving around them a boar, a ram and a bull, whence the +sacrifice is known as the Suovetaurilia; that we have many family +names among us derived from both the great and small cattle: thus +from small cattle Porcius, Ovinius, Caprilius, and from great cattle +Equitius, Taurius, and some of our families have received from cattle +cognomens which signify for what they are esteemed, as, for instance, +the Annius family are called Capra, the Statilius family are called +Taurus and the Pomponius family are called Vitulus, and so many others +are derived from cattle. + +"It remains now to discuss the art of animal husbandry, and on this +subject our friend Scrofa, to whom this age has awarded the palm for +excellence in all branches of farm management, will say what ever is +to 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 in +getting the maximum profit out of those things from which the very +name of money is derived, for our word for money (_pecunia_) comes +from _pecus_, cattle, which is the foundation of all wealth. + +"Our enquiry may be divided into nine subjects, or three parts each +with three subdivisions, namely: (i) concerning small cattle, of which +the three kinds are sheep, goats and swine: (2) concerning large +cattle, which are likewise divided by nature into three species, neat +cattle, asses and horses: and (3) concerning those instruments of +animal husbandry which are not kept for profit but for convenience, +namely: mules, dogs and shepherds. Each of these nine subjects must be +considered under nine heads: (a) four relating to the acquisition of +cattle, (b) four to the care of them, and (c) one which has to do +with all the others. So there are at least eighty-one chapters +for discussion of the subject, all indispensable and all of great +importance. + +"Under the head (a) of acquisition, it is first of all necessary, to +enable you to buy good live stock, that you should know at what age it +is best to buy and to keep each different kind. For instance, you may +buy neat cattle for less money before they are a year old and after +they are ten, because they begin to breed at two or three years and +leave off soon after the tenth year, the beginning and the end of the +life of all live stock being sterile. The second consideration under +this head is a knowledge of the conformation of each kind of cattle +and what it should be, for this is of great importance in determining +the value of all animals. Thus experienced stockmen buy cattle with +black horns rather than white, large goats rather than small, and +swine with long bodies and short heads. The third consideration under +this head is to make sure of the breeding. On this account the asses +of Arcadia are celebrated in Greece, as are those of Reate in Italy, +so that I remember an ass that brought sixty thousand sesterces, and a +four-in-hand team at Rome that was held at four hundred thousand. The +fourth consideration is of the legal precautions to be observed in +buying live stock, for in order that title may pass from one to +another certain formalities must intervene, since neither a contract +nor even the payment of the purchase money suffices in all cases to +transfer a title: thus in buying you some times stipulate that the +animal is in good health, some times that it comes out of a healthy +flock or herd, and some times no stipulation at all is made. + +"Under the head (b) of the care of live stock, the four considerations +are what should be done, after you have bought your cattle, in respect +of feeding, of breeding, of raising them, and of maintaining their +health. In the matter of feeding, which is the first of these +considerations, the three things to be observed are where and how +much, when, and on what your cattle will graze: thus it suits goats +better to graze on rough and mountain land than in fat pastures, +while the contrary is true of horses. Nor are the same places fit for +grazing for all kinds of cattle both in summer and winter: thus flocks +of sheep are driven from Apulia a long distance into Samnium to spend +the summer, and are reported to the tax farmer to be registered lest +they violate the regulations of the censor.[112] + +"In the same way mules are driven in the summer from the prairie of +Rosea to the high mountains of Gurgures. + +"The rules for feeding each kind of live stock in the barn yard must +also be studied, as, for instance, that hay is fed to the horse and +the ox, while it will not do for swine which require mast, and that +barley 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 heavily +for thirty days before admitting them to the flock and the herd, the +purpose being to increase their strength, while on the other hand the +feed of the cows is cut down at that time because it is deemed that +they breed most successfully when they are thin. + +"The next consideration is concerning breeding, which I call the period +between conception and birth, for these are the beginning and the end +of pregnancy. First of all then we should consider the stinting and +the season at which this should be accomplished, for as the +season from the rising of the west wind to the vernal equinox +(February-March) is considered best for swine, so that from the +setting of Arcturus to the setting of Aquila (May-July) is best for +sheep. Furthermore, a rule should be made that the male animals are +kept apart from the females for some time before they are bred, a +period which neatherds and shepherds usually fix at two months. The +next consideration is of the rules to be observed while the animal +is pregnant, because the periods of gestation differ in the several +domestic animals: thus the mare goes twelve months, the cow ten, the +ewe 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 of +the coast of Lusitania near the town of Olisippo, mares are some +times impregnated by the wind,[113] some thing which often happens with +respect to chickens, whence their eggs are called [Greek: hypaenemios] +(conceived by the wind),[114] but the foals born of such mares never +live more than three years. + +"When lambs are born in due season, or what we call _chordi_ (that is +to say those lambs which are born late and have remained beyond their +season in the belly of the dam, the name _chordi_, being derived from +[Greek: chorion] the Greek name for the membrane which is called the +after birth), care must be taken to clean them and set them gently on +their feet and to prevent the dam from crushing them. + +"On the third consideration with respect to raising young animals, you +must consider for how long they should be permitted to suck the dam +and when and where, and if the mother has an insufficient supply of +milk, 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 the +udder, 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 fit +to be offered for sacrifice at that age, were formerly called _sacres_ +as Plautus calls them when he says, "What's the price of sacred +pigs?"[115] In like manner stall fed cattle, which are being fattened +for the public sacrifices, are called _opimi_. + +"The fourth consideration relates to the health of the cattle, a +subject as important as it is complex, for a single beast which may be +sick or infected and ailing often brings a great calamity on an entire +herd. There are two degrees of the healing art, one which requires +consultation with a surgeon, as for men: the other which the skilful +shepherd can himself practise, and this consists of three parts, +namely: the consideration of what are the causes, the symptoms and the +treatment which should be followed in relation to each malady. The +common causes of disease in cattle are excess of heat or of cold, +overwork, or its opposite lack of exercise, or, if when they have been +worked, you give them food and drink at once without an interval of +rest. The symptoms of fever due to heat or overwork are a gaping +mouth, heavy humid breath and a burning body. The cure when such is +the malady is this: bathe the animal with water, rub it with a warm +mixture of oil and wine, put it on a nourishing diet, blanket it +as protection against chills and give it tepid water when it is +thirsty.[116] If this treatment does not suffice, let the blood, chiefly +from the head. + +"So there are different causes and different symptoms of the maladies +peculiar to each kind of cattle, and the flock master should have them +all written down. + +"It remains to speak of the ninth head (c), which I mentioned, and this +relates to the number of cattle to be kept and so concerns both of the +other heads. + +"For whoever buys cattle must consider the number of herds and how many +in each herd he can feed on his land, lest his pastures prove short or +more than he need, as so in either case the profit be lost. Further +more, 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 weeded +out. 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 away +from her, which is done to the end that those remaining may prosper." + +"Beware!" put in Atticus, "that your generalisations do not lead +you astray, and that your insistence on the rule of nine does not +contradict your own definition of small and large cattle: for how can +all your principles be applied to mules and to shepherds, since those +with respect to breeding certainly cannot be followed so far as they +are concerned. As to dogs I can see their application. I admit even +that men may be included in them, because they have their wives on +the farm in winter, and indeed even in their summer pasture camps, +a concession which is deemed beneficial because it attaches the +shepherds to their flocks, and by begetting children they increase the +establishment and with it the profit on your investment." + +"If Scrofa's number cannot be measured with a carpenter's rule," said +I, "neither can many other generalisations, as, for instance, when we +say that a thousand ships sailed against Troy, or that a certain court +of Rome consists of a hundred judges (_centumviri_). Leave out, if you +wish, the two chapters relating to breeding in so far as mules are +concerned." + +"But why should we," exclaimed Vaccius, "for it is related that on +several occasions at Rome a mule has had a foal." + +To back up what Vaccius had said, I cited Mago and Dionysius as +writing that when mules and mares conceive they bear in the twelfth +month. "If," I added, "it is considered a prodigy in Italy when a mule +has a foal, it is not necessarily so in all countries. For is it not +true that swallows and swans breed in Italy, which do not lay in other +lands, and don't you know that the Syrian date palm, which bears fruit +in Judea, does not yield in Italy?" + +"If you prefer," said Scrofa, "to make out the entire eighty-one +chapters without any on the care of mules during the breeding season, +there are subjects with which you can fill this double vacancy by +adding those two kinds of extraordinary profit which is derived from +live stock. One of these is the fleece which men shear or pull from +sheep and goats, the other, which is more widely practised, that +from milk and cheese: the Greek writers indeed actually treat this +separately under the title [Greek: turopoiia], and have written +extensively about it." + + +_Of sheep_ + +II. "And now, since I have completed my task and the economy of live +stock husbandry has been defined, do you, men of Epirus, requite us +by expounding the subject in detail, so that we may see of what the +shepherds of Pergamis and Maledos are capable." + +At this challenge, Atticus (who then was known as T. Pomponius but now +as Q. Caecilius retaining the same cognomen)[117] began as follows: + +"I gather that I must make the beginning since you seem to turn your +eyes upon me: so I will speak of those cattle which you, Varro, have +called primitive, for you say that sheep were the first of the wild +beasts of the field which were captured and domesticated by man. + +"In the first place you should buy good sheep, and they are so judged +primarily in respect of their age, that they are not what is known +as aged nor yet undeveloped lambs, because neither can yield you any +profit, the one no longer, the other not yet: but you may deem that +age which holds out a promise preferable to that whose only future is +death. So far as concerns conformation, a sheep should have a round +barrel, wool thick and soft and with long fibre, and, while heavy all +over the body, it should be thickest on the back and neck, and yet the +belly also should be covered, for unless the belly was covered our +ancestors were wont to call a sheep _apica_ and throw it out. They +should have short legs,[118] and, if they are of the Italian breed, long +tails, or short tails if they come from Syria. The most important +point to guard is that your flock is headed by a good sire. The +quality of a ram can usually be determined from his conformation and +from his get. So far as concerns conformation, a ram should have a +face well covered with wool, horns twisted and converging on the +muzzle, tawny eyes, woolly ears, a deep chest, wide shoulders and +loin, a long and large tail. You should see also whether he has a +black or a spotted tongue,[119] for such rams usually get black or +spotted lambs. You may judge them by their get, if their lambs are of +good quality. In buying sheep we practise the formalities which the +law requires, following them more or less strictly in particular +cases. Some men in fixing a price per head stipulate that two late +lambs or two toothless ewes shall be counted as one. In other respects +the traditional formula is employed thus: the buyer says to the +seller, "Do you sell me these sheep for so much?" And the seller +answers, "They are your sheep," and states the price. Whereupon the +buyer stipulates according to the ancient formula: "Do you guarantee +that these sheep, for which we have bargained, are in such good health +as sheep should be; that there is none among them one-eyed, deaf or +bare-bellied; that they do not come out of an infected flock and that +I will take them by good right and title?" + +"Even when this is done the title to the flock does not pass until +they have been counted, but, nevertheless, the purchaser can hold the +seller to the bargain if he does not make delivery, even though the +purchase money has not passed, and by a like right the seller can hold +the buyer if he does not pay up. + +"I will next speak about those other four subjects which Scrofa +outlined, namely: the feeding, breeding, raising and physicking of +sheep. In the first place, one should see that provision is made for +feeding the flock throughout the entire year, as well indoors as out. +The stable should be in a suitable location, protected against the +wind, looking rather to the East than the South, on cleared and +sloping ground so that it can be easily swept out and kept clean, for +moisture not only rots the wool of the sheep but their hoofs as well +and causes scab. When sheep have stood for several days you should +strew the stable with new bedding, so that they may be more +comfortable and be kept cleaner, and thus eat with more appetite. You +should also contrive stalls separated from the others in which you may +segregate the ewes about to yean, as well as any which may be ailing. +This precaution is practicable, however, only with sheep fed at the +steading, but those who graze their sheep in the mountain pastures and +far from cover, carry with them wicker hurdles or nets, and other such +conveniences with which they contrive folds for such separation. Sheep +indeed are grazed far and wide so that often it happens that their +winter quarters are many miles from their summer pastures." + +"I know that to be true," said I, "for my flocks winter in Apulia and +spend the summer in the mountains above Reate: thus the public cattle +drifts between these two localities balance the separated pastures, as +a yoke balances two baskets."[120] + +Atticus resumed: "When sheep are fed continually in the same locality +distinction must be made in the times of feeding them according to the +seasons: thus in summer they are driven out[121] to pasture at day break +because then the dewy grass is more appetizing than at midday, when +it is dry. At sunrise they are driven to water, to make them more +lickerish on their return. About noon and during the heat of the +day they are permitted to lie in the shade of rocks or under broad +spreading trees until the fresher evening air invites them to feed +again until sunset.[122] A sheep should always graze with the sun behind +it, because its head is very sensitive to heat. At sunset the flock +should be given a short rest and then driven again to water, and so +brought back to feed again until it is dark, for at that time of day +the grass has renewed its pleasant savour. This routine is usually +followed from the rising of the Pleiades until the autumn equinox. + +"After the harvest it is of two-fold advantage to turn the flock in on +the stubble, as they will fatten on the shattered grain and improve +the land for next year's planting by spreading their manure in the +trampled straw. + +"The rules for pasturing sheep in winter and spring differ from the +summer rules in this, that at those seasons the flock is not driven +to pasture until the hoar frost has evaporated and they feed all day +long, one watering about noon being enough. + +"This is about all there to say on the subject of feeding sheep, so I +pass to the consideration of breeding. The rams which you are about +to use for breeding should be separated from the flock for two months +before the season, and fed heavily by giving them a ration of barley +when they come into the stable from the pasture: it will make them +stronger for their duty. + +"The best breeding season is from the setting of Arcturus to the +setting of Aquila, (May-July) because lambs begotten later are apt +to be born runts, and weak. As a ewe is pregnant for one hundred and +fifty days, this arrangement causes her to drop her lambs at the end +of autumn when the temperature is mild and the grass is renewed by the +first rains. During the breeding season the flock should drink only +the same kind of water, since a change not only makes spotted wool but +injures the offspring. When all the ewes have been stinted, the rams +should be separated from them again, because it injures ewes to be +teased while they are pregnant. Ewe lambs should never be bred before +they are two years old, as they cannot earlier produce strong lambs, +but will themselves degenerate: indeed, it is better to keep them +until the third year. To this end some shepherds protect their ewe +lambs from the ram by tying baskets made of rushes or something of +that kind over their rumps, but it is better to feed them apart from +the 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 has +stalls set apart for the purpose, where the new born lambs can be +placed near a fire to strengthen them, and there the ewes are kept two +or there days until the lambs know their dams and are able to feed +themselves. Thereafter the lambs are still kept up but the ewes are +driven out to pasture with the flock, being brought back to them in +the evening to be suckled and then once more separated, lest the lambs +be trampled by the ewes at night. In the morning before the ewes go +out to pasture they are given access to their young again until the +lambs are satisfied with milk. After about ten days have elapsed the +lambs are picketed out of doors, being tethered with fibre or such +other light material, to stakes planted some distance apart so that +the little fellows may not injure themselves as they frisk together +all day. + +"If a lamb will not suck, it should be held up to the teat and its lips +greased with butter or suet, and so made to smell at the milk. A few +days later some soft vetch or tender grass may be given them before +they go out to pasture and after they come in. And so they are nursed +until they are four months old. + +"There are some shepherds who do not milk the ewes during the nursing +period, but those who do not milk them at all do better, as thus they +bear more wool and more lambs. + +"When the lambs are weaned great attention is necessary to prevent them +from wasting away in their longing for the dam: they should be tempted +to eat by giving them appetizing food, and care should be taken that +they do not suffer from cold or heat. When at last they have forgotten +the taste of milk and no longer yearn for the dam, they may be driven +out with the flock. + +"A ram lamb should not be altered until he is five months old, nor yet +in very hot or very cold weather. Those which you wish to keep for +rams should be chosen as far as possible from dams who are in the +habit of having twin lambs. + +"Most of these recommendations apply equally to those fine wool sheep +which are called _pellitae_, because they are jacketed with skins, as +is 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 the +folds and stables of such sheep than is necessary for the ordinary +breeds: so they are paved with stone to the end that no urine may +stand 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 too +much or too little of it, in either of which cases it is bad for the +digestion, but clover and alfalfa agree with them best and make both +fat and milk with the utmost facility. + +"So far as concerns the health of the flock, there are many things +I might add, but, as Scrofa has said, the flock master keeps his +prescriptions written down in a book and carries with him what he +needs in the way of physic. + +"It remains to speak of the number of sheep in a flock. Some make this +more, some less, for there is no natural limit. In Epirus almost all +of us have a rule not to allow more than one hundred short wool sheep +or fifty fine wool jacketed sheep to a shepherd." + + +_Of goats_ + +III. As Atticus stopped, Cossinius took him up. "Come, my dear +Faustulus," he cried, "you have bleated long enough. Take now from me, +as from a late born Homeric Melanthius,[123] a small offering from my +flock of goats, and at the same time learn a lesson in brevity. He +who 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 for +some time to come, for a tiro is more useful for that purpose than a +veteran. As to conformation, see to it that they are strong and large, +with a smooth body and thick coat: but beware of the short haired +goat, for there are both kinds. The she goat should have two +excrescences, like little teats, hanging under the muzzle: those which +have them are fecund:[124] the larger the udder the more milk and butter +fat she will yield. The qualities of a buck are that his coat should +be largely white: his crest and neck short and his gullet long. You +will have a better flock if you buy at one time goats which have been +accustomed to run together, rather than by putting together a lot of +goats 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 are +slow of foot, because they are of quieter disposition, all goats are +as excitable as they are agile. Of, this last characteristic Cato +records in his book _Origines_: 'In the mountains of Socrate and +Fiscellus there are wild goats which leap from rock to rock a distance +of more than sixty feet.' For as the sheep which we feed are sprung +from wild sheep, so the goats which we herd are sprung from wild +goats: and it is from them that the island of Caprasia, near the coast +of Italy, gets its name. + +"As it is recognized that the best breed of goats is one which bears +two kids at a birth, breeding bucks are chosen from such a race +whenever possible. Some fanciers even take the trouble to import bucks +from the island of Melia, where are bred what are considered the +largest and most beautiful specimens of the race. + +"I hold that the formula for buying sheep cannot altogether apply to +goats because no sane man ever guaranteed that goats are without +malady, for the fact is that they are forever in a fever. For this +reason the usual stipulation has had a few words cut out of it for use +in respect of goats, and, as Manilius gives it in his treatise on the +law of Sales, runs as follows: 'Do you guarantee that these goats are +well today; that they are able to drink, and that I will get good +title to them?' + +"There is a wonderful fact concerning goats which has been stated +by certain ingenious shepherds and is even recorded in the book of +Archelaus, 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 goats +I have this to say. The flock is better stabled in the winter if its +quarters look toward the Southeast, because goats are very sensitive +to cold. So also, as for most cattle, the goat stable should be paved +with stone or brick that the flock may be less exposed to damp and +mud. When the flock passes the night out of doors, a place should be +selected having the same exposure and the fold strewn with leaves to +protect the flock from fouling themselves. + +"There is not much difference in the method of handling goats in the +pasture from sheep, but goats have this characteristic, that they +prefer the mountain woodland pastures to meadows, for they feed +eagerly on the brushwood and in cultivated places crop the shrubbery; +indeed, their name _caprae_ is derived from _carpere_, to crop. For +this reason it is customary to stipulate in farm leases that the +tenant shall not graze any goat on the leased land, for their teeth +are the enemies of all planted crops: wherefore the astrologers were +careful to station them in the heavens outside of the pale of the +twelve signs of the zodiac, but there are two kids and a goat not far +from Taurus. + +"So far as concerns breeding, it is the custom to separate the bucks +from the pastured flock at the end of autumn and confine them apart, +as has been said with respect to rams. The nannies which conceive at +this time drop their kids in four months, and so in the spring. In +what regards rearing the kids, it is enough to say that when they are +three months old they are raised and may join the flock. What shall I +say of the health of these animals who never have any? yet the flock +master should have written down what remedies are used for certain of +their maladies and especially for the wounds which often befall them +by reason of their constant fighting among themselves and their +feeding in thorny places. It remains to speak of number: this is +less to the herd in the case of goats than with sheep because of the +wantonness 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 into +many flocks rather than concentrate them in large ones, because a +pestilence quickly takes possession of a large herd and sweeps it to +destruction. About fifty goats is considered to be a large enough +flock. + +"The experience of Gaberius, a Roman of the equestrian order, will +illustrate the reason for this: for he, who had a thousand jugera of +land near Rome, met one day a certain goatherd leading ten goats to +town, and heard him say that he made a denier[126] a day out of each +goat, whereupon Gaberius bought a thousand goats, hoping that he might +thereby derive from his property an income of a thousand deniers a +day: but so it fell out that he lost all his goats after a brief +illness. On the other hand, among the Sallentini and near Casinum they +graze their goats in flocks of one hundred. + +"Almost the same difference of opinion exists as to the relative number +of bucks to nannies, for some, and I am among them, allow a buck to +every ten nannies, but others, like Menas, make it fifteen, and some +even twenty, like Murrius." + + +_Of swine_ + +IV. "And now," concluded Cossinius, "which of you Italian swine +breeders will stand forth and tell us of his herd? Surely he should be +able to speak with the most authority whose cognomen is Scrofa." + +At this pleasantry, Tremelius turned upon Cossinius and said: "You seem +to be ignorant why I am called Scrofa, but, in order that our friends +sitting beside you may understand, you should know my family did not +always bear this swinish cognomen, nor am I of the race of Eumaeus. The +first of us to be called Scrofa was my grandfather who, when he was +quaestor under the praetor Licinius Nerva, and was left in command of +the 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 a +victory and began to attack the camp. My grandfather, in exhorting the +soldiers to take up their arms and go out against the enemy, exclaimed +that he would soon scatter them as a sow (scrofa) does her pigs, and he +was as good as his word. For in that battle he so overwhelmed and +discomfited the enemy, that on account of it the praetor Nerva was +hailed Imperator and my grandfather obtained his cognomen and so was +called Scrofa.[127] So, while neither my great grandfather nor any of my +ancestors of the Tremelian family was ever called Scrofa, yet as I am +not less than the sixth of our family in succession who has attained +praetorian rank, it ill becomes me to run away in the face of your +challenge, so I will tell you what I know about swine. Indeed from my +youth I have been devoted to agriculture, so that I am perhaps as well +acquainted with that animal as is any of you great stockmen: for who of +us cultivates a farm but keeps hogs, and who has not heard his father +say that that man is either lazy or a spendthrift who hangs in the meat +house a flitch of bacon obtained from the butcher rather than from his +own farm. + +"He who wishes to have a proper herd of swine ought to choose them, in +the first place, of the right age, and in the second place, of good +conformation: which means large everywhere except in the head and feet +and of a solid colour rather than spotted: but the boar should have +without fail a thick neck in addition to these other qualities. Swine +of good breed may be known from their appearance, if both boar and sow +are of good conformation; from their get, if they have many pigs at +a birth; and from their origin, if you buy them in a place with a +reputation for producing fat rather than lean hogs. The usual formula +for buying runs thus: 'Do you warrant that these hogs are in good +health; that I shall take good title to them; that they have committed +no tort, and that they do not come out of a diseased herd?' + +"Some add a particular stipulation that they are not affected with +cholera. + +"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 for +which appears in the tradition that when a wolf has fallen upon a hog +he always drags the carcass into the water because his teeth cannot +endure the natural heat of hog flesh. + +"Swine are fed mostly on mast, though also on beans, barley and other +kinds of corn, which not only make them fat but give the meat an +agreeable relish. In summer they go out to pasture early in the +morning and before the heat of the day: at midday they are brought +into some shady place, preferably where there is water: in the +afternoon, when the heat has abated, they are fed again. In the winter +time they do not go out to pasture until the hoar frost has evaporated +and the ice has melted. + +"In the matter of breeding, the boar should be separated from the herd +for two months before the season, which should be arranged between +the rising of the west wind and the vernal equinox, for thus it will +befall that the sows (which are big for four months) will have their +litters in summer when forage is plenty. Sows should not be bred under +a year old, but it is better to wait until the twentieth month so that +they may have pigs at two years. They are said to breed regularly for +seven years after the first litter. During the breeding season they +should be given access to muddy ditches and sloughs, so that they may +wallow in the mud, which is the same relaxation to them that a bath +is to a man. When all the sows are stinted, the boars should be +segregated again. A boar is fit for service at eight months and so +continues until his prime, after which his vigor decreases until he is +fit only for the butcher to make of his flesh a dainty offering for +the 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 victims +were chosen from the race of swine for the earliest sacrifices; +evidence of which remains in the tradition that pigs are sacrificed +at the initiation to the mysteries of Ceres, that when a treaty +is ratified peace begins with the slaughter of a pig, and that in +solemnizing a marriage the ancient kings and mighty men of Etruria +caused the bride and the bridegroom to sacrifice a pig at the +beginning of the ceremony, a practice which the earliest Latins and +the Greek colonists in Italy seem also to have followed: nam et +nostrae mulieres, maxime nutrices, naturam qua feminae sunt +in 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] and +so life and salt perform the same functions for him, as they both +preserve his flesh. + +"The Gauls[130] are reputed to put up not only the largest quantity but +the best quality of pork: evidence of its quality being that even now +hams, sausage,[131] bacon and shoulders are imported every year from +Gaul to Rome: while Cato writes concerning the amount of pork cured by +the Gauls: 'In (northern) Italy the Insubres are wont to put up three +or four thousand cuts of pork [the bulk of which can be appreciated +from the fact that among that people][132] the hog some times grows so +fat that it is not able to stand on its feet or to walk, so that it +is necessary to put it on a cart to move it any where.' Atilius the +Spaniard, who is a truthful man and learned in many things, tells of +a hog which was killed in further Spain or Lusitania from which two +chops, sent to the Senator L. Volumnius, were found to weigh three and +twenty pounds, the fat on them being so thick that it measured a foot +and three fingers from the skin to the bone." + +"I can testify to some thing not less extraordinary than what you have +related," said I, "for in Arcadia I saw with my own eyes a hog which +was so fat that not only was it unable to get up but a shrew mouse +having eaten a hole in its back had there made its nest and was +rearing a family. I have heard that this same thing happened in the +country of the Veneti." + +"Usually," resumed Scrofa, "the fecundity of a sow may be learned from +her first litter, for in later litters she does not vary much from the +number of pigs in the first. + +"In the matter of rearing young swine, which we call _porculatio_ it +is customary to leave pigs with the sow for two months, and then when +they are able to feed themselves to separate them. Pigs born in the +winter are apt to be runts on account of the cold and because the sow +refuses to suckle them, partly by reason of her lack of milk at that +season and partly to protect her teats from the teeth of the hungry +pigs. + +"Each sow should suckle her pigs in her own stye, because a sow will +not drive strange pigs away from her, and it results that if the +litters are mingled the breed deteriorates. The year is naturally +divided for the sow into two parts, because they breed twice a year, +being heavy in pig for four months and suckling for two. The stye +should be built about three feet deep and a little more in width and +such a height from the ground as will permit a pregnant sow to get out +without straining herself, as that might cause her to abort. A good +measure of the proper height from the ground is what is necessary to +enable the swineherd to keep watch that no little pigs are crushed by +the sow, and to clean out the bedding easily. There should be a door +to the stye with the lower sill elevated a foot and a palm high so as +to prevent the pigs from following the sow when she goes out. As often +as the swineherd cleans out the stye he should strew the floor with +sand, or some thing else to absorb moisture. + +"When a sow has had her pigs she should be fed liberally to enable her +to make milk: for this the ration is usually two pounds of boiled +barley, indeed some feed this both at morning and at night if other +feed is lacking. When pigs are taken from their dam they are sometimes +called _delici_ or weanlings being then no longer _lactantes_ or +sucklings. + +"Pigs are considered to be clean ten days after birth, and for that +reason were then called by the ancients sacred, as being then first +fit for sacrifice: and so in the _Menaechmi_ of Plautus, when a +character thinking some one in Epidamnus to be out of his wits and +seeking 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 Greek +name 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 to +promote the flow of milk. A sow should bear as many pigs as she has +teats: if she has less it is considered that she is unprofitable, but +if more, a prodigy. In this respect there is the ancient tradition +that the sow of Aeneas bore thirty white (_albos_) pigs at +Lavinium,[133] which portended that after thirty years the inhabitants +of Lavinium would found the town of Alba: indeed, vestiges of this sow +and of her pigs may still be seen at Lavinium where there is a brazen +image of them now in the public square, and the true body of the sow +is shown by the priests, preserved in pickle. + +"Sows are able at first to suckle eight little pigs, but as they grow +larger half of them are usually taken away by experienced swineherds, +because the sow cannot supply milk enough for all, and too many pigs +fed together do not prosper in any event. A sow should not be driven +out of the stye for ten days after having her litter except for +water, but after that time she is permitted to graze in a paddock so +conveniently near at hand that she may return to the stye frequently +to suckle the pigs. When the pigs are large enough they are permitted +to follow the sow to pasture, but at home they should be penned apart +from the sow and fed by themselves until they overcome their yearning +for the dam, which usually happens in ten days. The swineherd should +train his shoats to do every thing at the sound of the trumpet. This +training is begun by letting the shoats hear the trumpet outside +their pens and then at once come out to a place where barley has been +scattered broad cast (for thus less is wasted than if the feed is +put in heaps and more of the shoats can get to it easily). By such +education it is possible to collect pasturing hogs at the sound of a +trumpet and prevent their being lost when scattered in the woods.[134] + +"Boars are altered most successfully when they are a year old, but in +no 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 of +example: if the sow is not able to supply milk the sucking pigs should +be fed, until they are three months old, on roasted wheat (for when it +is raw it loosens the bowels) or on barley boiled in water. + +"As to number: it is considered that ten boars to an hundred sows is +enough; some even reduce this proportion. + +"The practice varies as to the number to a herd, but my judgment is +that a hundred is a moderate number: some make it more, say 150: some +feed two herds together, and some do even more than that. A small herd +is less expensive than a large one because the swineherd requires less +assistance. A swinefeeder should fix the number to be fed as a herd on +a principle of utility, not by the number of boars he may happen to +have, 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 as +learned as he is agreeable and intimate with us all. "Hail, my fellow +citizens of Epirus," he exclaimed in Greek,[135] "and you, my dear +Varro, 'shepherd of men,' for I have already greeted Scrofa this +morning." + +While one saluted him, another reproached him for having come so late +to our club. + +"I will see to that, my merry men, for I am about to offer you my back +and a scourge: or else, Murrius, you who are my friend: come with me +while I pay a forfeit to the goddess Pales, so that you may bear me +witness if our friends here seek to make me do it again." + +"Tell him," said Atticus, turning to Murrius, "what we have been +talking about and what is still on the programme, so that when his +turn comes he may be prepared. In the meantime we will take up the +second order of domestic live stock and proceed to a discussion of the +larger cattle." + +"In this," said Vaccius, "my name would seem to assign me a part, +since cows (_vaccae_) are included in that category. Wherefore I will +tell what I know about neat cattle, so that he who knows less may +learn, while he who knows more may correct me when I fall down." + +"Be careful what you do, Vaccius," said I, "for the genus _Bos_ is +of the first importance among cattle, certainly in Italy, which is +thought to have taken its very name from that family, for, as Timaeus +records, in ancient Greece a bull was called [Greek: italos], whence +is derived our word _vitula_, and from this Italy is supposed to have +taken its name because of the number and beauty of its breed, of +cattle (_vituli_). Others claim that the name comes from that of +the famous bull Italus which Hercules drove out of Sicily into this +country. + +"The ox is indeed the companion and fellow labourer of man and the +minister of Ceres: wherefore the ancients, holding him inviolable, +made it a capital offence to kill an ox.[136] Both Attica and +Peloponnesus bear witness of the regard in which the ox was held: for +he who first yoked oxen to the plough is celebrated at Athens under +the name Buzyges and at Argos under that of Homogyros." + +"I know," replied Vaccius, "the importance of the ox and that his +very name is used to signify that quality, as in words like [Greek: +bousukon](big fig), [Greek: boupais](a big boy), [Greek: boulimos] (a +ravenous hunger),[Greek: boopis] (large eyed), and again that a certain +large grape is called _bumamma_ (cow teat). Furthermore, I know it was +the form of a bull that Jupiter assumed when he wooed Europa and bore +her across the sea from Phoenicia: that it was a bull which protected +the children of Neptune and Melanippe from being crushed in a stable +by a herd of cattle: I know too that the bees which give the sweetest +honey are generated from the carcase of an ox, whence the Greeks call +them [Greek: bougeneis] (born of an ox), an expression which Plautius +latinized on the occasion where the praetor Hirrius, was accused at +Rome of having libeled the Senate. 'But be of good cheer, I will +give you at least as great satisfaction as did he who wrote the +Bugonia.'[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 that +they are of an age to produce, rather than past breeding; that they +are well set up, clean limbed, square bodied, large, with black horns +and broad brows, large black eyes, hairy ears, flat cheek bones, +snub-nosed, not hump-backed but rather with the back bone slightly +roached, wide nostrils, blackish lips, a neck muscular and long with +dew laps hanging from it, the barrel large and well ribbed, the +shoulders broad and the quarters good, a tail sweeping the heels, +the end being frizzled in a heavy brush, the legs rather short and +straight with knees projecting a little and well separated, the feet +narrow and not inclined to spread in walking, the hoofs not being +splayed but consisting of light and even bones, and a hide which is +not rough and hard to the touch. The best colour is black, next red, +third chestnut and last white: for a white coat indicates weakness, as +black indicates endurance: of the other two colours red is more common +than chestnut, and both than black and white. In addition you should +be particular that the bull is of good breed, which is determined +from his conformation and his get, as calves usually reproduce the +qualities of their sire. And, finally, it is of importance whence they +come. Gallic cattle are considered in Italy to be the best for work, +while on the other hand Ligurian cattle are worthless. The foreign +cattle of Epirus are not only better than all the Greek cattle but +even than the Italian: nevertheless, there are those who choose +Italian cattle for victims and to serve as offerings to the gods on +account of their size: and without doubt they may be preferred for +such holy offices, so great is the distinction of their majestic bulk +and their candid coats: and they are the more suitable for such use +because white cattle are not so common in Italy as in Thrace at the +gulf of Melas, where there are few of any other colour. + +"When cattle are bought already broken for work we stipulate thus: 'Do +you guarantee these cattle to be in good health and warrant me against +liability for any tort committed by them?' + +"When we buy them unbroken, we say: 'Do you guarantee these yearlings +to be in good health and to come out of a healthy herd, and warrant me +against liability for tort?' + +"When butchers buy for the shambles they use a fuller formula +recommended by Manilius: but those who buy for the altar do not +usually stipulate for health in their victims. + +"Neat cattle pasture best in groves where there is brushwood and much +leafage: and so when they are wintered by the sea they are driven up +to 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 cows +because it is deemed that they breed more certainly when they are +thin. On the other hand, I fatten the bulls up on grass and straw and +hay for two months before the breeding season, and during that time I +keep them apart from the cows. Like Atticus, I have two for seventy +cows, one a yearling, the other two years old. When that constellation +has risen which the Greeks call Lyra, and we Romans, Fides, I turn +the bull into the herd again. The bull indicates whether a male or a +female 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," said +Vaccius, turning to me, "I leave to you who read Aristotle." + +"A cow should not be served under two years, so that she may have her +first calf in the third year: it would be better in the fourth. Most +cows bear for ten years, some even more. The most suitable time for +stinting cows is during the forty days following the rising of the +Dolphin, or even a little later, for thus they will drop their calves +at the most temperate season of the year, for a cow goes ten months +pregnant. On this subject I have come upon an extraordinary statement +in a book that a bull which has just been altered can get a cow with +calf. + +"Breeding cows should be pastured where there is abundant grass and +plenty of water, and care should be taken to protect them from +crowding too close together, and from being struck, or from fighting +with one another: moreover, to protect them against being worried in +summer by cattle flies and those minute insects which get under their +tails, 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 they +can rest comfortably. In summer they are driven to water twice a day, +in winter once. Against the time when they are due to drop their +calves you should arrange to give them access to fresh forage near the +stable which they can eat with appetite as they go out, for at that +time they are very dainty about their food. A watch out must be kept +to prevent their frequenting chilly places, for cold depresses the +vitality as much as hunger. + +"These are the rules for raising neat cattle: the suckling calves +should not be suffered to sleep with their dams, for they might crush +them, but should be given access to them in the morning and when they +return from pasture. When the calves are weaned the dams should be +comforted by having green stuff thrown into their stalls for them to +eat. The floor of a calf stable, like most others, should be paved +with stone to keep their hoofs from rotting. The calves may be +pastured with their dams after the autumn equinox. Bull calves should +not be altered before they are two years old, as they recover with +difficulty if the operation is performed sooner, while if it is done +later they are apt to be stubborn and useless. + +"As in the case of other cattle, the herd should be gone over every +year and the culls thrown out because they occupy the room of those +which might be profitable. If a cow loses her calf she should be given +another to nurse, taken from a cow which has not a sufficient supply +of milk. Calves six months old are fed wheat bran and barley meal and +young grass, and care should be taken that they are watered morning +and evening. + +"The rules for taking care of the health of neat cattle are many. I +have those which Mago has recorded written out and I take care that my +herdsman reads them frequently. + +"I have already said that a yearling and a two-year old bull should be +provided for every sixty cows, though some have more or less cows in +the herd: thus Atticus has two bulls for every seventy cows. Some +observe 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 Atticus +here, like Lucienus, has one hundred and twenty." + +So far Vaccius. + + +_Of asses_ + +VI. While Vaccius was speaking, Murrius had returned with Lucienus and +now began: + +"I propose to tell about asses as well I may, because I am from Reate +where the best and the largest are found; indeed, I have sold to the +Arcadians themselves asses of this race and of my own breeding. He who +wishes to establish a good herd of asses should see in the first place +that he procures jacks and jennies of prime age so that they may breed +as long as possible, strong, well made in all parts, of full body and +of a good breed, that is to say derived from those localities whence +the best specimens come; thus the Peloponnesians, so far as possible, +buy asses bred in Arcadia and we in Italy those from the valley of +Reate. For if the best of those delicious fish we call _muraenae +flutae_ are taken on the coast of Sicily and the best sturgeons at +Rhodes, it does not follow that they are of equal delicacy in all +seas. + +"There are two kinds of asses, one wild, which is called the onager, +of which there, are many herds in Phrygia and Lycaonia; the other +domestic, as they are all over Italy. The onager is fit for use for +breeding because he is easily tamed and once domesticated never +reverts to a wild life.[138] + +"Because their young take after their parents, it is important to +choose both jack and jenny of good conformation. The conditions of +buying and selling asses are much the same as for other kinds of +cattle and include stipulations as to their health and against tort. +They are best fed on corn and barley bran. The jennies are bred before +the solstice so that they may have their foals at the same season in +the following year, for their period of gestation is twelve months. +The jennies should be relieved from work while in foal for fatigue at +that time injures the offspring: but the jacks, on the contrary, are +worked all the time, because it is lack of exercise which is bad for +them. + +"In the matter of rearing, practically the same rules apply to asses as +to horses. The foals are not separated from their dams for the first +year after they are born: during the second year they are permitted +to stay with their dams at night, but they should then be tied with a +loose halter or some other such restraint. In the third year you begin +to break them for whatever service they are intended. + +"As to the number: they are not usually kept in herds unless it may be +for transport service; generally they are used to turn the mill, or +for carrying about the farm, or even for the plough where the soil +is light, as in Campania. Herds of asses are some times employed by +merchants, like those who transport wine, or oil, or corn, or any +other commodity, from Brundisium or Apulia to the sea, by pack +trains." + + +_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 only +stallions, of which, like Atticus, I keep one for every ten breeding +mares, but mares as well, such as Q. Modius Equiculus, that gallant +soldier, was wont to esteem for use even in war nearly as much as +stallions.[139] + +"He who wishes to have such studs of stallions and mares as may be seen +in Peloponnesus and in Apulia should first consider age and see that +he obtains them not less than three nor more than ten years old. The +age of a horse, as also of nearly all animals whose hoofs are not +cloven, even horned animals, may be known from the condition of the +teeth: thus at thirty months of age a colt is said to lose the milk +incisors from the middle of his mouth, two above and two below. At the +beginning of the fourth year, in like manner he sheds the same number, +being the incisors adjoining those previously lost, and at that age +also the teeth called canine begin to appear. At the beginning of the +fifth year he loses two more incisors, and at that time the new teeth +show hollow. In the sixth year the new teeth begin to fill out their +cavities, and by the seventh usually all have been renewed and the +permanent mouth is made. What is the age of a horse beyond this point +it is not possible to determine accurately, except that when the teeth +project and the eye brows are white and have hollows under them, it is +considered that a horse is sixteen years old. + +"A breeding mare should be of medium size, for it is not fitting that +they should be either very large or very small, but the quarters and +belly should be broad. + +"A breeding stallion on the other hand should be chosen with a large +body, well made and all his parts in harmony. What sort of horse it +will turn out to be can be determined from the points of the foal, for +it should exhibit a small head: limbs well knit together: a black eye, +wide nostrils: ears well pricked: a mane which is thick, dark and +curly, of fine hairs and falling on the right side of the neck: a +breast broad and well developed: strong shoulders: a moderate belly: +the loins flat and rising to the quarters: long shoulder blades: a +back bone well doubled [with ridges of meat] but if these are not +prominent in no event should the bone itself stand out: a tail large +and curly: legs straight and even and rather long: knees round and +small and not turned in as you look at them: hard hoofs: veins visible +all over the body (for a horse of this kind is fit for treatment when +he is sick). + +"The breed is of the greatest importance, for there are many. In this +respect the celebrated breeds take the names of the countries from +which they come: thus in Greece we have the Thessalian breed: in Italy +the Apulian from Apulia, and the Rosean from Rosea.[140] + +"It is a sign that they will make good horses if, when at pasture +with the herd, the colts contend with one another for superiority in +running or in any thing else, or if when a stream is to be crossed +they leap it at the head of the herd and do not look back for the +others. + +"Horses are bought in almost the same manner as cattle or asses, +because they change ownership by similar formalities, all of which are +set forth in the book of Manilius. + +"Horses should be pastured whenever possible in meadows of grass, and +in the stable and stall they are fed on hay. + +"When a mare has foaled she should be fed on barley and watered twice a +day. + +"In the matter of breeding, the period of service is from the vernal +equinox to the solstice so that the foal may come at a suitable +season, for they are supposed to be born on the tenth day of the +twelfth month after the mare was stinted. Those which are born after +the time are usually defective and unfit for use. When the season has +come the stallion should be admitted to the mare twice a day, in the +morning and in the evening, under the direction of the _origa_ (so the +studgroom 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 mare +is stinted she makes it known by defending herself. If the stallion +shows an aversion for a mare, her parts should be smeared when she +is in heat with the marrow of a shrimp macerated in water to the +consistency of honey, and the stallion allowed to smell of it. + +"Although it may seem incredible, what I am about to relate is true and +should be remembered. Once upon a time a studgroom tried to make a +stallion 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 his +mother successfully: but when the bandage was removed and the stallion +saw what he had done, he fell upon the groom and killed him with his +teeth. + +"When the mares have been stinted it must be seen to that they are +worked only in moderation and are kept out of cold places, because +cold is of the greatest prejudice to a mare in that condition. For +this reason the floor of their stable should be kept dry and the +windows and doors should be kept shut: and furthermore the mares +should be separated one from another by long poles fastened back from +the 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 claim +they get better colts, on the same principle that as corn land is +exhausted by continuous cropping, so is a mare which is bred every +year.[141] + +"The foal should be led out to pasture with its dam on the tenth day +after it is born, so to avoid burning its tender hoofs by standing +on 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 whole +with its bran, or any other product of the earth which he will eat +with appetite. When they are a year old they may be fed barley in the +grain mixed with bran, and this should be kept up as long as they +suckle, for they should not be weaned until they have completed the +second year. From time to time while they are still with their dams +they should be handled so that they may not be wild after they are +separated. To the same end it is well to hang bridles in their stalls +so that while they are still colts they may become accustomed to the +sight of them and the sound of their clanking as well. When a colt has +learned to come to an outstretched hand you should put a boy on his +back, for the first two or three times stretched out flat on his +belly, but afterwards sitting upright. The time to do this is when +the colt is three years old, for then he has his full growth and is +beginning 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 too +to 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. It +should be fed for ten days to the exclusion of all other food. On the +eleventh day and until the fourteenth you should feed barley, adding a +little to the ration every day for four days and then maintaining that +quantity for the ten days succeeding: during this period the horse +should be exercised moderately, and when in a sweat rubbed down with +oil. 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, it +follows that the methods of handling and looking after them all are +not the same. Thus the soldier chooses some and rears and trains them +for his particular use, and so in turn does the charioteer and the +circus rider. Nor does he who wishes a cart horse choose the same +conformation or give the same training as to a horse intended for the +saddle or the carriage: for as the one desires mettle for military +service, the other prefers a gentle disposition for use on the road. +It was to provide for this difference of use that the practice of +castrating horses was inaugurated, for horses that are altered are of +a quieter disposition: they are called geldings, as hogs in the same +state are called barrows and chickens are called capons. + +"As to medicine for the horse, there are so many symptoms of their +maladies and so many cures that the studgroom must have them written +down: indeed, on this account in Greece the veterinarians are mostly +called [Greek: hippiatroi] (horse leeches)." + + +_Of mules_ + +VIII. While we were talking a freedman came from Menas and said that +the sacrificial cakes were cooked and every thing ready for the +sacrifice--that whoever wishes to take part had only to come. + +"But I will not suffer you to go," I protested, "until you have +fulfilled 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 said +briefly. Mules and hinnies are mongrels and grafts as it were on a +stock of a different species, for a mule is got by an ass out of a +mare, 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 the +custom 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 on +straw, hay and barley. The foster mother must be given good attention +also, as she must bring up her own colt in addition to her service as +a wet nurse. An ass raised in this way is fit to get mules when he is +three years old, nor will he contemn the mares because he has become +used to their kind. If you use him for breeding earlier he will +quickly exhaust himself and his get will be poor. + +"If you have no ass foal to have brought up by a mare and you wish a +breeding jackass, you should buy the largest and handsomest you can +find; the best breed, as the ancients said, was that of Arcadia, but +nowadays we who know maintain that the breed of Reate is best: where +breeding jacks have brought thirty and even forty thousand sesterces +($1,800-$2,000). + +"Jacks are bought like horses, with the same stipulations and +guarantees. We feed them principally on hay and barley, increasing the +ration at the breeding season so as to infuse strength into their get +by 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, but +if 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 that +they may be able to work under a load, the other that the eye may have +pleasure in looking at them: for a team of two good mules is capable +of drawing any kind of a wagon on the road. + +"You, my friend from Reate," Murrius added, turning to me, "can vouch +for what I have said, as you yourself have herds of breeding mares at +home and have bred and sold many mules. + +"The get of a horse out of a she ass is called a hinny: he is smaller +in the body and usually redder in colour than a mule, and has ears +like a horse, but mane and tail like an ass. Hinnies are carried by +the dam twelve months, like a horse, and, like the horse too, they are +raised 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 the +quadrupeds on our programme, that is to say, of dogs, which are of the +greatest importance to us who feed the woolly flock, for the dog is +the guardian of such cattle as lack the means to defend themselves, +chiefly sheep and goats. For the wolf is wont to lie in wait for +them and we oppose our dogs to him as defenders. Hogs can defend +themselves, as well pigs, boars, barrows and sows, for they are near +akin 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 an +instance of a herd of mules pastured together, which, when they were +attacked by a wolf, joined in forming a circle about him and killed +him with blows of their hoofs: and again, bulls often stand together, +rump to rump, and drive off wolves with their horns. But of dogs there +are two kinds, hunting dogs, which are used against wild beasts and +game, and herd dogs, which are used by the shepherd. I will discuss +the latter methodically, following Scrofa's nine heads. + +"Of the first importance is the choice of dogs of suitable age, for +puppies 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 or +tawny eyes: a symmetrical nose: lips blackish or ruddy, neither drawn +back above nor hanging underneath: a short muzzle, showing two teeth +on either side, those of the lower jaw projecting a little, those +above rather straight and not so apparent, and the other teeth, which +are covered by the lips, very sharp: a large head, ears large and +turned over: a thick crest and neck: long joints: straight legs, +rather bowed than knock-kneed: feet large and well developed, so that +in walking they may spread out: toes slightly splayed: claws hard and +curved: the pad of the foot neither horny nor hard but as it were +puffed and soft: short-coupled: a back bone neither projecting nor +roached: a heavy tail: a deep bark, and wide gaping chops. The colour +to be preferred is white because it gives the dog a lion-like aspect +in the dark.[143] Finally, the females should have large teats equally +distributed. Care should be taken that they are of good breed, such +as those called for their place of origin, Laconian, Epirot and +Sallentian. Be careful not to buy a sheep dog from a professional +hunter or a butcher, because the one is apt to be lazy about following +the flock, while the other is more likely to make after a hare or a +deer which it might see, than to tend the sheep. + +"It is better either to buy, from a shepherd, dogs which are accustomed +to follow sheep or dogs which are without any training at all. While a +dog does readily whatever he has been trained to do, his affection is +apt to be stronger for the shepherds than for the flock.[144] + +"Once P. Aufidius Pontianus of Amiternum bought certain flocks of sheep +in further Umbria, the dogs which herded them being included in +the bargain, but not the shepherds, who were, however, to make the +delivery at the Saltus of Metapontum and the market of Heraclea: when +these shepherds had returned home, their dogs, longing for their +masters, a few days later of their own will came back to the shepherds +in Umbria, having made several days journey without other food than +what the fields afforded. Nor had any one of those shepherds done what +Saserna 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 of +buying: this is accomplished by delivery by the former owner to the +purchaser. + +"The same stipulations as to health and against liability for tort are +made as in the case of cattle, leaving out whatever is inapplicable to +dogs. Some make a price on dogs at so much per head, others stipulate +that the puppies shall go with the mother, others that two puppies +shall count as one dog--as two lambs usually count as a sheep. Usually +it is provided that all the dogs which have been accustomed to be +together 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 not +provided, hunger will lead them in search of it away from the +flock, unless, indeed, they shall find it in one another, thereby +contradicting the old proverb,[146] or perchance they may realize the +fable of Actaeon and turn their teeth against their master himself. +You would do well to feed them on barley bread soaked in milk, because +when they have become accustomed to that diet they will not readily +desert the flock. They should never be suffered to taste the flesh of +a carrion sheep lest the relish should tempt them to indulge in such +food again. They may be fed also broth made out of bones, or bones +themselves when broken up, for that makes their teeth stronger and the +mouth wider: and thereby the jaws are stretched, while the zest of the +marrow makes the dog fiercer. They should be accustomed to take their +food in the day time where the flock is feeding and at night where the +flock is folded. + +"In the matter of breeding it is the practice to line the bitch at the +beginning of spring, for then she is said to be in heat, that is to +say, to show a readiness for breeding. When they are lined at this +season they pup about the solstice, for they go three months. While +they are in pup they should be fed barley bread rather than wheat +bread, for it is more nourishing and makes more milk. + +"In the matter of bringing up the puppies after birth: if there are +many in the litter you should choose those you wish to keep and +destroy the others: the fewer you keep the better they will be +nourished, 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 brought +up. Puppies open their eyes twenty days after birth.[147] During the +first two months they are not separated from their mother, but wean +themselves 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 weariness +develops cowardice. They should also be accustomed to be tied, at +first with a light leash, and if they attempt to gnaw it they should +be punished by whipping, so that they may not get the habit. On rainy +days their kennels should be bedded with leaves or grass, for two +reasons: that they may not soil themselves or suffer from cold. Some +castrate 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 bitter +almonds steeped in water because flies, ticks and fleas usually +develop sores in those parts, unless it is your practice to so anoint +them. To protect them from wounds from wild beasts we place collars on +them, of the kind which we call _melium_, which is a girth around the +neck made from strong leather studded with nails and lined with soft +leather to protect the neck from being chafed by the hard iron heads +of the nails: for if a wolf or other wild beast is once wounded by +these nails all the other dogs are safe from his attack, even if they +have 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 the +practice varies. Thus there should be more in localities where wild +beasts are plentiful, and those increase the number also who are wont +to drive their flocks over the long forest drift ways to their summer +or their winter feeding grounds. + +"But two dogs are enough for a flock kept on a farm: in which case +they should be male and female, for they are more attached and, by +emulation, fiercer, and if one is sick for a protracted time the flock +will not be without a dog." + +Here Atticus looked around as if to enquire whether he had omitted any +thing. + +"This is the silence," said I, "which summons another player on the +boards." + + +_Of shepherds_ + +X. "The rest of this act," I added, "relates to how many and what kind +of shepherds are necessary." + +Cossinius took the cue. "For large cattle," he said, "men of full age +are required; for small cattle boys will do: but in either case those +who drive their flocks and herds on the drift ways must be stouter +than those who remain on the farm and return to the steading every +day. + +"So in the wood pastures _(saltus)_ it behooves one to have young men +and usually armed men, while on the farm boys or even girls may tend +the flock. Those who use the distant feeding grounds should require +their shepherds to feed their flocks together all day, but at night +to remain each one with his own flock. They should all be under +the supervision of one flock master, who should be older and more +experienced than the others, because they will obey more cheerfully +one who surpasses them in age and knowledge; and yet the flock master +should be of such years that he may not be prevented by age from hard +work: for neither old men nor boys can endure the steeps of the drift +ways, nor the ardours and roughness of the mountains, which must be +suffered by those who follow flocks, especially cattle and goats, to +whom the rocks and the forests are pleasant grazing places. + +"So far as concerns the conformation of the men chosen for these +occupations, they should be strong and swift and active, with ready +limbs not only able to follow the cattle but to defend them from the +incursions of wild beasts and of brigands: men who can load the packs +on the sumpter beasts: can run and throw a javelin.[148] + +"Every nation is not fit for tending cattle, especially the Basculi and +the Turduli [of Spain]. The Gauls are the best of all, particularly +for draught cattle. + +"In the matter of the purchase of shepherds, there are six usual +methods of obtaining lawful title to a slave: (i) by inheritance, (2) +by due form of mancipation, which is delivery of possession by one +who has the legal right, (3) by the legal process called surrender in +court (_cessio in jure_) from one who has that right, the transfer +taking place where it should, (4) by prescriptive use (_usucapion_), +(5) by purchase of a prisoner of war "under the crown" (6) by auction +at the distribution of some one's property by order of court under the +process known as _bonorum emptio_.[149] + +"The _peculium_ or personal property of the slave usually passes with +him to a new master unless it is specially excepted in the terms of +sale: there is also the usual guaranty as to the health of the slave +and that he has committed no theft or tort for which his master is +legally responsible, and, unless the purchase is by mancipation, the +bargain is bound by an obligation of double indemnity, or in the +amount of the purchase price alone, if that is the agreement. + +"The shepherds should take their meals separately during the day, each +one with his flock, but in the evening they should meet at a common +supper under the supervision of the flock master.[150] It should be the +duty of the flock master to see that every thing is provided which may +be required by the flock or by the shepherds, chiefly the victuals +for the men and medicine for the flock: for which the master should +provide beasts of burden, either horses or some thing else which can +carry a load on its back. + +"As to what relates to the breeding of shepherds, it is easy, so far as +concerns those who remain on the farm all the time because they can +have a fellow servant to wife at the farmstead, for Venus Pastoralis +demands no more. Some hold that it is expedient also to furnish +women[151] for those who pasture the flocks in the Saltus and the +forests and have no residence but find their shelter from the rain +under improvised sheds: that such women following the flocks and +preparing the food for the shepherds keep the men better satisfied and +more devoted to their duty. But they must needs be strong though not +deformed, and not less capable of work then the men themselves, as +they 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 cook +the food, or keep watch over the household utensils in their cottages. + +"As to the method of raising their children, it suffices to say that +the shepherd women are usually both mothers and nurses at the same +time." + +At this Cossinius looked at me and said: "I have heard you relate +that, when you were in Liburnia, you saw women big with child bringing +in fire wood and at the same time carrying a nursing child, or even +two of them, thus putting to shame those slender reeds, the women of +our class, who are wont to lie abed under mosquito bars for days at a +time when they are pregnant." + +"That is true," I replied, "and the contrast is even more marked in +Illyricum, where it often happens that a pregnant woman whose time has +come will leave her work for a little while and return with a new born +child which you would think she had found rather than borne.[152] + +"Not only this, the custom of that country permits the girls as much as +twenty years of age, whom they call virgins, to go about unprotected +and to give themselves to whomever they wish and to have children +before marriage." + +"As to what pertains to the health of man and beast," resumed +Cossinius, "and the leech craft which may be practised without the aid +of a physician, the flock master should have the rules written down: +indeed, the flock master must have some education, otherwise he can +never 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 number +of men required in respect of large flocks (like those containing +a thousand head or more) much more readily than in respect of +comparatively small flocks, like Atticus' and mine, for I have only +seven hundred head of sheep, and you, Atticus, have, I believe, eight +hundred, 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 of +them should have a mare broken for riding to serve as a mount in those +localities where it is the custom to drive the mares to pasture, as +often happens in Apulia and Lucania." + + +_Of milk and cheese and wool_ + +XI. "And now that we have fulfilled our promise, let us go," said +Cossinius. + +"Not until you have added some thing," I cried, "concerning that +supplemental profit from cattle which was promised; namely, of milk +and cheese and the shearing of wool." + +So Cossinius resumed: + +"Ewes' milk, and, after it, goats' milk, is the most nourishing of all +liquids which we drink. As a purgative, mares' milk ranks first, and, +after it, in order, asses' milk, cows' milk and goats' milk, but +the quality depends upon what has been fed to the cattle, upon the +condition of the cattle, and upon when it is milked. + +"So far as concerns the food of the cattle, milk is nourishing which +is made from barley and stover and other such kinds of dry and hard +cattle food. + +"So far as concerns its purgative qualities, milk is good when made +from 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 best +which comes from cattle in vigorous health and from those still young. + +"So far as concerns the time of milking, that milk is best which comes +neither from a 'stripper' nor from a recently fresh dam. + +"The cheese made of cows' milk is the most agreeable to the taste but +the most difficult to digest: next, that of ewes' milk, while the +least agreeable in taste, but the most easily digested, is that of +goats' milk. + +"There is also a distinction between cheese when it is soft and new +made and when it is dry and old, for when it is soft it is more +nourishing and digestible, but the opposite is true of old and dry +cheese. + +"The custom is to make cheese from the rising of the Pleiades in spring +to their rising in summer, and yet the rule is not invariable, because +of difference in locality and the supply of forage. + +"The practice is to add a quantity of rennet, equal to the size of an +olive, to two _congii_ of milk to make it curdle. The rennet taken +from the stomachs of the hare and the kid is better than that from +lambs, but some use as a ferment the milk of the fig tree mixed with +vinegar, 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 beside +the chapel of the goddess Rumina[154] was planted by shepherds for the +purpose you mention, for there is it the practice to make libations of +milk rather than of wine or to sacrifice suckling pigs. For men used +to use the word _rumis_ or _ruma_ where we now say _mamma_, signifying +a teat: hence even now suckling lambs are called _subrumi_ from the +teat 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 mineral +than the marine kind. + +"Concerning the shearing of sheep, the first thing to be looked into +before you begin is that the sheep are not suffering from scab or +sores, as it is better to wait, if necessary, until they are cured +before shearing. + +"The time to shear is between the vernal equinox and the summer +solstice, when the sheep begin to sweat (it is the sweat which gives +new clipped wool its name _sucida_). As soon as the sheep are sheared +they are smeared with a mixture[155] of wine and oil, some add white +wax and hogs' grease. If they are sheep which are kept blanketed, the +inside of the blanket should be anointed with this mixture before it +is put on again. + +"If the sheep has suffered any wound during the shearing, it should be +treated with liquid tar. + +"Long wool sheep are usually sheared about the time of the barley +harvest: in some places before the hay harvest. + +"Some men shear their sheep twice a year, as in hither Spain, investing +double work because they think they get more wool, just as some men +mow their meadows twice a year. Careful shepherds are wont to shear on +a mat so as not to lose any of the wool. A clear day should be chosen +for the shearing and it is usually done between the fourth and the +tenth hours (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) since wool sheared in the hot sun is +softer, heavier and of better colour by reason of the sweat of the +sheep. Wool which has been collected and packed in bags is called +_vellera_ or _velamina_, words derived from _vellere_, to pull, whence +it may be concluded that the practice of pulling wool is older than +shearing. Those who pull the wool today make a practice of starving +their sheep for three days before, because when they are weak the wool +yields more readily." + +"Speaking of shearing," I said, "it is reported that the first +barbers were brought into Italy from Sicily in the year 453 after the +foundation of Rome (B.C. 300) by P. Ticinius Menas, as appears from +the inscription in the public square of Ardea. The statues of the +ancients show that formerly there were no barbers because most of them +have long hair and a heavy beard."[156] + +Cossinius resumed: + +"As the wool of the sheep serves to make clothes, so the hair of +goats is employed: on ships, in making military engines and certain +implements of industry. Certain nations, indeed, are clad in goat +skins, as in Gaetulia and Sardinia. Their use for this purpose by +the ancient Greeks is apparent, because old men in the tragedies are +called [Greek: diphtheriai], from the fact that they were clad in +goat skins: and it is the custom also in our comedies to dress rustic +characters in goat skins, like the youth in the _Hypobolimaeus_ (the +Counterfeit) 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 Phrygia +because there the goats have heavy coats, of which cilicia (so called +because 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 criticism +of what he had said, Vitulus' freedman, coming into town from the +gardens [of his master] turned to us and said, "I was on my way to +your house to invite you to come early so as not to shorten the +holiday." + +And so, my dear Turranius Niger, we separated: Scrofa and I going to +the 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 are +manifestly as different in the time of their origin as they are in +their habitat, that of the country and that of the town. Country life +is much the more ancient, for time was when men lived altogether in +the country and had no towns: indeed, the oldest town in Greece, +according to the tradition, is the Boeotian Thebes, which was founded +by King Ogyges, and in our own land that of Rome, founded by King +Romulus of which now it may be affirmed with confidence, as was not +possible 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 about +twenty-one hundred years: and if that period is compared with the +lapse of time since men began to cultivate the land and to live in +huts and hovels, knowing naught of city walls and gates, it is evident +that life in the country preceded life in town by a tale of immemorial +years. Nor is this to be wondered at since 'God made the country and +man made the town.'[157] While the tradition is that all the arts were +invented in Greece within a thousand years, there never was a time +when the earth could not be cultivated. And, as life in the country +is the more ancient, so it is the better life: for it was not without +good reason that our ancestors were wont to plant colonies of citizens +in the country, because by them they were both fed in times of peace +and protected in times of war: nor was it without significance that +they called both the Earth and Ceres by the common name of Mother and +esteemed that those who worshipped her lead a life at once pious and +useful and were the sole representatives left on earth of the race of +Saturn. A proof of this is that the mysteries peculiar to the cult of +Ceres were called _Initia_, the very name indicating that they related +to the beginning of things. + +A further proof that country life was earlier than that of town is +found in the name of the town of Thebes, which was bestowed from the +character of its situation rather than from the name of its founder: +for in the ancient language, and among the Aeolians who had their +origin in Boeotia, a small hill is called _tebas_ without the +aspirate; and in the Sabine country, where Pelasgians from Greece +settled, they still have the same locution: witness that hill called +Tebae which stands in the Sabine country on the via Salaria not far +from the mile stone of Reate. At first agriculture was conducted on so +small a scale that it had little distinction, since those who followed +it, being sprung from shepherds, at once sowed their corn and +pastured their flocks on the same land, but as later this art grew in +importance the husbandry of live stock was separated, and it befel +that some men were called farmers and others shepherds. + +The art of feeding live stock should really be divided into two +branches, as is not yet fully appreciated, one relating to the stock +kept at the steading, the other to the stock pastured in the fields. +The latter, which is designated by the name _pecuaria_, is well known +and highly esteemed so that rich men, either lease or buy much +pasture land in order to carry it on: the other, which is known as +_villatice_, has, because it seemed to be of less importance, been +treated by some as an incident of the husbandry of agriculture, when +in fact it should be made a part of the husbandry of live stock: nor +has it been described separately and at length by any one, so far as I +know. + +And so, as I think that there are three branches of farm management +which are undertaken for profit, namely: agriculture, live stock and +the industries peculiar to the steading, I have planned three books, +of which I have already written two, the first concerning the +husbandry of agriculture, which I dedicated to my wife Fundania, and +the second concerning the husbandry of live stock to Turranius Niger: +the third, relating to the profits of those industries which are +carried on at the steading, I now send herewith to you; for the fact +that we are neighbours and entertain a mutual affection seems to +demand that it should be dedicated to you above all others. + +Although you have a villa, which is remarkable for the beauty of its +workmanship within and without, and for the splendour of its mosaic +pavements, still you deem it to be bare unless you have the walls +decorated also with books: so in like manner that your villa may be +more distinguished by the profits you derive from it than by the +character of its construction, and that I may be of assistance to that +end, so far as may be, I have sent you this book, which is a summary +of some conversations which we have had on the subject of what makes +the 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 our +votes at the comitia for the election of aediles, and, although it was +the heat of the day, we wished to be on hand when the candidate whom +we were supporting should go home. So Axius said to me: "What would +you think of taking shelter in the _villa publica_[158] while the votes +are 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 him +who gives it, but that good advice is good for both the giver and the +taker." + +And so we made our way to the _villa publica_, where we found Appius +Claudius,[159] the Augur, seated on a bench waiting for any call for his +services 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. Petronius +Passer (sparrow). When we had approached them Axius, smiling, said to +Appius: "May we come into your aviary where you are sitting among the +birds?" + +"By all means," replied Appius, "and especially you who set before me +such birds as still make my mouth water, when I was your guest a few +days ago at your Reatine villa on my way to lake Velinus to settle the +controversy 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: do +you see any where here any furniture of citrus wood or ormolu, any +decorations of vermillion or blue, any tessellations or mosaic work, +all of which on the other hand were displayed in your house? And while +this is open to the entire people, yours is available to you alone: +this is the resort for the citizens after the comitia in the Campus +Martius, and for all alike, while yours is reserved for mares and +asses. And furthermore it should be considered that this building is +useful in carrying on the public business, for here the consuls review +the army on parade, here the arms are inspected, here the censors +enumerate the people." + +"Tell me," retorted Axius, "which is useful, this villa of yours +giving on the Campus Martius, more extravagantly arrayed with objects +of art than all Reate put together, so bedizened is it with pictures +and garnished with statues, or mine where there is no trace of the +artists Lysippus or Antiphilus, but there are many of the farm hand +and the shepherd? + +"And since there can be no villa where there is no farm and that well +cultivated, how can you call this house of yours a villa which has no +land appurtenant to it and no cattle or horses? Again, tell me, pray, +how does your villa compare with that of your grandfather and great +grandfather, for one cannot see at yours, as one could always see at +theirs, cured hay in the mows, the vintage in the cellar, and the +harvest in the granary? Because, forsooth, a house is situated out of +town, it is no more a villa for that reason than the houses of those +who 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 I +may not make a fool of myself, as I am planning to buy from M. Seius +his villa at Ostia: for if a mere house is not a villa unless it is +equipped with a jackass costing forty thousand sesterces ($2,000), +like that you showed me at your place, I fear that I would be making +a mistake in buying Seius' house on the shore at Ostia in the belief +that it is a villa. But it was our friend Merula here who put me in +mind of buying this house, for he told me that he had spent several +days there and that he had never seen a more delightful villa, and yet +he saw there no paintings, nor any bronze or marble statues, neither +did 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 the +utensils of a farm?" + +"Do you consider," said Merula, "that your house on the bank of +Velinus, which neither painter nor architect has ever seen, is any +less a villa than the one you have in Rosea so elegantly decorated +with the work of an architect and which you share with your famous +jackass?" + +Axius admitted, with a nod, that a simple farm house was as much +entitled to be called a villa as any house which united the +characteristics of both town and country, and asked what he deduced +from this. + +"What?" said Merula. "Why, if your estate in Rosea is to be approved +by reason of the husbandry which you carry on, and is properly called +a villa because there cattle are fed and stabled, then, by the same +reasoning, all those houses should be called villas in which large +profits are derived from husbandry: for what difference does it make +whether you derive your profit from sheep or from birds? Is the income +any sweeter which comes from cattle in which bees are generated, than +from the bees themselves, such as work in their hives at the villa of +Seius? Do you sell to the butcher the hogs which you raise at your +farm 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 farm +at Reate: is Sicilian honey made at Seius' place and only Corsican +honey at Reate,[161] and does the mast which he buys for his wild boars +make them fat while that which I get for nothing from my woods makes +mine lean?" + +"But," said Appius, "Merula does not deny that you _can_ carry on at +your villa the kind of husbandry which Seius does at his, yet I myself +have 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 and +pigeons and bees and other such things which are usually kept at a +villa. + +"About the latter, Mago the Carthaginian, and Cassius Dionysius and +others have treated specially in different parts of their books, and +it would seem that Seius has read their precepts and so has learned +how to make more profit from his villa alone by such husbandry than +others make out of an entire farm." + +"Certainly," agreed Merula, "for I have seen there great flocks of +geese, chickens, pigeons, cranes and pea-cocks: also dormice, fish, +wild boars and other such game.[162] The freedman who keeps his books +which Varro has seen, assured me when he was doing the honours in the +absence of his master, that Seius derives an income of more than fifty +thousand sesterces ($2,500) per annum from his villa." + +As Axius seemed astonished, I asked him: "Surely you know the estate +of my aunt in the Sabine country which is at the twenty-fourth mile +stone from Rome on the via Salaria." + +"Of course, I do," Axius replied, "for it is there that I am wont to +divide the day in summer on my way from Reate to town and to spend the +night when I come thence in winter." + +"Well," I continued, "in that villa there is an aviary from which +I know that there were taken in one season five thousand thrushes, +which, at three deniers apiece, means that that department of the +establishment brought in a revenue of sixty thousand sesterces that +year, or twice the yield of the entire two hundred jugera of your farm +at Reate."[163] + +"What, sixty thousand," exclaimed Axius, "sixty thousand: you are +making game of me!" + +"Sixty thousand," I affirmed, "but in order that you might realize +such a lucky throw you will require either a public banquet or a +triumph on the scale of that of Scipio Metellus, or club dinners, +which indeed have now become so frequent as to raise the price of +provisions of the market." + +"You will perchance expect this return every year," said Merula, "so I +trust that your aviary may not lead you into a loss. But surely in such +good times as these it could not happen that you would fail, except +rarely, for what year is there that does not see such a feast or a +triumph, or club dinners, such as now-a-days consume victuals without +number. Nay," he added, "it seems that in our habit of luxury such a +public banquet is a daily occurrence within the gates of Rome."[164] + +To supplement the examples of such profits: L. Albutius, a learned +man and, as you know, the author of certain satires in the manner of +Lucilius, has said that the returns from feeding live stock on his +Alban farm are always less than his income from his villa, for the +farm yields less than ten thousand sesterces and the villa more than +twenty. He even maintains that if he should establish a villa near +the sea in such a place as he might choose he could derive from it +an income of more than a hundred thousand sesterces. Did not M. Cato +recently sell forty thousand sesterces worth of fishes from the fish +ponds of Lucullus after he had accepted the administration of his +estate?" + +"My dear Merula," exclaimed Axius, "take me, I beg of you, as your +pupil in the art of the husbandry of the steading." + +"I will begin," replied Merula, "as soon as you promise me a minerval +in 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 beginning +of your experience with villa feeding will be dead geese or deceased +pea-cocks." + +"And what difference will it make to you," retorted Axius, "if I do +serve you fish or fowl which has come to an untimely end: for in no +event could you eat them unless they were dead: but I beg you," he +added, "matriculate me in the school of villa husbandry and expound to +me 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 of +creatures you may raise or feed in or about a villa, either for your +profit 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 of +fowls which are usually kept within the walls of a steading: under the +head of warrens not merely what our great grandfathers meant--places +where rabbits were usually kept--but any enclosure adjoining a villa +in which game animals are enclosed to be fed. In like manner I include +under the head of fish ponds all those places in which fish are kept +at a villa either in fresh or salt water. + +"Each of these divisions may be separated into at least two parts: thus +the first, that with respect to poultry houses, should be treated with +reference to a classification of fowls as between those which are +content on land alone, such as pea-cocks, turtle doves, thrushes; and +those which require access to water as well as land, such as geese, +widgeons and ducks. So the second division, that relating to game, has +two different classifications: one which includes the wild boar, the +roe buck and hares; the other bees, snails and dormice. + +"The third, or aquatic division, likewise has two classifications, one +including fresh water fish, the other salt water fish. + +"In order to secure and maintain a supply of these six classes of stock +it is necessary to provide a force of three kinds of artificers, +namely: fowlers, hunters and fishermen, or else you may buy breeding +stock from such men, and trust to the diligence of your servants to +rear 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 the +business of keeping them began with the stock native to every farm: +for the breeding even of chickens has not been a monopoly of the Roman +augurs, to make provision for their auspices, but has been practised +by all farmers from the beginning of time.[166] From such a start in the +kind of husbandry we are now discussing, the next step was to provide +masonry enclosures near the steading to confine game, and these served +as well for shelter for the bee-stand, for originally the bees were +wont to make their hives under the eaves of the farm house itself. + +"The third division, that of keeping fish, had its origin in simple +fresh water ponds in which fish taken in the streams were kept. + +"There have been two steps in the development of each of these three +conveniences; the earlier distinguished by the ancient simplicity, +the later by our modern luxury. The earlier stage was that of our +ancestors, who had but two places for keeping poultry: one the court +yard of the steading in which chickens were fed and their profit +derived from eggs and pullets, the other above ground, for their +pigeons 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 are +known as _ornithones_, and serve to house thrushes and pea-cocks +to cater to the delicate appetite of the master: and indeed such +structures now have larger roofs than formerly sufficed to cover an +entire 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 time +any such extensive enclosures as now are made, many jugera in extent, +to hold wild boars and roe bucks. You can witness," he said, turning +to me, "that you found many wild boars in the warren of your farm at +Tusculum, when you bought it from M. Piso." + +In respect of the third class, who was there who used to have any kind +of a fish pond, except of fresh water, stocked merely with cat fish +and mullets, while today our elegants declare that they would as soon +have a pond stocked with frogs as with those fish I have named. You +will recall the story of Philippus when he was entertained at Casinum +by Ummidius: a pickerel caught in your river, Varro, was put before +him, 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 carried +our fish ponds even to the sea itself and has herded shoals of sea +fish into them. Have not Sergius Orata (goldfish) and Licinius Murena +(lamprey) taken their cognomens from fishes for this reason? And who +does 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 the +sequel--_postprincipia_, as they say in the camps--that is, with +the present day rather than with the past, because the profits from +pea-cocks are greater than those from hens, I will not dissemble that +I wish to hear first of _ornithones_ because the thrushes which are +kept in them make the very name sound like money: indeed, the 60,000 +sesterces of Fircelina have consumed me with avarice." + +"There are two kinds of _ornithones_," replied Merula; "one for +pleasure, like that so much admired which our friend Varro here has at +his villa near Casinum: the other for profit, such as are maintained +commercially, some even indoors in town, but chiefly in the Sabine +country which abounds in thrushes. There is a third kind, consisting +of a combination of the two I have mentioned, such as Lucullus +maintained at his Tusculan villa, where he contrived a dining room +under the same roof as his aviary to the end that he might feast +delicately, satisfying two senses, now by eating the birds cooked and +spread on a platter, now by seeing them flying about the windows: but +the truth is that he was disappointed, for the eyes did not take as +much pleasure from the sight of the flying birds as the nostrils were +offended by their odour." + + +_a. For profit_ + +V. "But, as I gather you would prefer, Axius, I will speak of that kind +of _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, with +a roof over it and enclosed with netting, sufficiently large to +accommodate several thousand thrushes[168] and blackbirds; indeed, some +also include other kinds of birds, such as ortolans and quail, which +sell for a good price when fat. Into this enclosure water should be +conducted through a conduit and so disposed as to wind through the +aviary in channels narrow enough to be cleaned easily (for if the +water spreads out it is quickly polluted and rendered unfit to drink) +and draining like a running stream to find its vent through another +conduit, so that the birds may not be exposed to the risk of mud. The +door should be low and narrow and well balanced on its hinges like +the doors they have in the amphitheatres where bulls are fought: few +windows and so placed that the birds cannot see trees and wild birds +without, for that makes the prisoners pine and grow thin. The place +should have only so much light as may be necessary to enable the birds +to see where they are to perch and to eat and drink. The doors and the +windows should be lightly stuccoed round about to keep out rats and +other such vermin. + +"Around the wall of the building on the inside are fastened many +perches where the birds can sit, and another such convenience should +be contrived from poles set on the ground and leaning against the +walls and tied together with other poles fastened transversely at +regular intervals, thus giving the appearance of the rising degrees of +a theatre. Down on the ground near the drinking water you should place +the birds' food, which usually consists of little balls of a paste +made out of figs and corn meal: but for twenty days before you intend +to 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 which +may 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, to +render an account of them to his master, and where he may drive the +birds which are ready for market from the larger aviary: and to this +end this smaller room is connected with the main cage by a large door +and has more light: and there, when he has collected the number he +wishes to market, the keeper kills them, which is done secretly, lest +the others might despond at the sight and themselves die before they +are ready for market. + +"Thrushes are not like other birds of passage which lay their eggs in +particular places, as the swan does in the fields and the swallows +under the roof, but they lay anywhere: for, despite their masculine +name (_turdus_) there are female thrushes, just as there are male +blackbirds, although they have a purely feminine name (_merula_). + +"All birds are divided as between those which are of passage, like +swallows and cranes, and those which are domestic, like chickens and +pigeons: thrushes are birds of passage and every year fly from across +the sea into Italy about the time of the autumn equinox, returning +about the spring equinox. At another season doves and quail do the +same in immense numbers, as may be seen in the neighbouring islands of +Pontia, Palmaria and Pandataria, for there they are wont to rest a few +days on their arrival and again before they set out across the sea +from Italy." + + +_b. For pleasure_ + +"So," said Appius to Axius, "if you enclose five thousand thrushes +in such an aviary as Merula has described and there happens to be a +banquet or a triumph, you will gain forthwith that sixty thousand +sesterces which you so keenly covet and be able to lend the money out +at good interest." And then, turning to me, he added, "Do you tell us +of that other kind of ornithon, namely: for pleasure merely, for it is +said that you have constructed one near Casinum which surpasses not +only the original built by the inventor of such flying cages, our +friend M. Laenius Strabo of Brundisium (who was the first to keep +birds confined in the chamber of a peristyle and to feed them through +the net), but also the vast structures of Lucullus at Tusculum." + +"You know," I said, "that there flows through my estate near +Casinum[169] a stream which is both deep and clear and fifty-seven feet +wide between the masonry embankments, so that it is necessary to use +bridges to get from one part of the property to the other. On the +upper reach of this stream is situated my Museum[170] and at a distance +of 950 feet below is an island formed by the confluence of another +stream. Along the bank for this distance is an uncovered walk ten feet +broad and between this walk and the field is the location of my aviary +enclosed on both sides, right and left, with high masonry walls. The +_ornithon_ itself is built in the shape of a writing tablet with a +capital on it, the main quadrangle being forty-eight feet wide and +seventy-two feet long, the capital semi-circular with a radius of +twenty-seven feet. To this a covered walk or portico is joined, as +it were across the bottom of the page of the tablet, with passages +leading on either side of the _ornithon_ proper which contains the +cages, to the upper end of the interior quadrangle [_adjoining the +capital_]. This portico is constructed of a series of stone columns +between which and the main outside walls are planted dwarf shrubs, +a net of hemp being stretched from the top of the walls to the +architrave of the portico, and thence down to the stylobate or floor. +The exterior spaces thus enclosed are filled with all kinds of birds +which are fed through the net, water being provided by a small running +stream. On the interior sides of the porticos, and adjoining them at +the upper end of the interior quadrangle, are constructed on both +sides two narrow oblong basins. Between these basins a path leads +to the _tholus_, or rotunda, which is surrounded with two rows of +columns, like that in the house of Catulus, except that I have +substituted columns for walls. Beyond these columns at the end is +a grove of large transplanted trees forming a roof of leaves, but +admitting light underneath, as that is entirely cut off by the high +walls 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 are +filled in with a transparent net instead of walls, thus permitting the +birds to look out upon the grove and the wild birds there but without +escaping: the interior columns being filled in with the net of the +main aviary. The space between the two rows of columns thus enclosed +is equipped with perches for the birds in the form of many rods let +into 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 means +of a small canal and food is supplied under the net. [_Under the +lantern of the tholus is a basin of water: and around this_] a foot +and nine inches below the stylobate or pedestal of the interior row +of columns, runs a stone platform. This is five feet in width and two +feet above the level of the basin, thus affording a space on which +my 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 width +adjoining [but below the level of] the platform and has a little +island in the middle. Around the platform and the quay are contrived +docks for ducks. On the island is a little column arranged to turn +on its axis and carrying a wheel-shaped table with hollow drum-like +dishes fashioned at the ends of the spokes two and a half feet wide +and 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. From +the elevation of the platform, where mats are usually placed, the +ducks go out to swim in the basin, and from this streams flow into +the two basins I have already described, and little fish may be seen +darting from one to the other, while warm or cold water may be turned +on the guests from the circumference of the revolving table, which I +have described as equipped with spokes. + +"Within the dome is an arrangement to tell the hours by marking the +position in the heavens of the sun by day and Hesperus by night: and +furthermore, as in the clock which [Andronicus] Cyrrestes constructed +at Athens, the eight winds are depicted on the dome, and, by means of +an arrow connecting with a vane, the prevailing wind is indicated to +those within."[172] + +As we were talking an uproar was heard on the Campus Martius. While +this did not astonish old parliamentary hands[173] like ourselves, who +knew the enthusiasm of an election, yet we were anxious to know what +it meant, and at this moment Pantuleius Parra came up and told us that +while the votes were being sorted some one was caught stuffing the +ballot box[174] and had been haled before the consul by the supporters +of the rival candidate. Pavo rose to go, for it was understood that +he who had been arrested was the campaign manager of Pavo's own +candidate. + + +_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 in +his presence, you might perchance have a crow to pluck with him on +account of his relationship."[175] + +"Within my memory," said Merula, "the practice of keeping commercial +flocks of pea-cocks has largely developed and it has so developed +that M. Aufidius Lurco is said to derive an income of sixty thousand +sesterces per annum from them. If you keep them for profit it is well +to have somewhat fewer males than females; while the contrary is true +if you keep them for pleasure, for the pea-cock far surpasses his hen +in beauty. With us they are fed in the country, but abroad it is said +that they are kept on islands, as at Samos in the grove of Juno and at +Planasia, the island of M. Piso. In setting up a flock age and beauty +must be considered, for nature has given the palm of beauty to the +pea-cock among all the birds. The hens are not fit for breeding under +two years of age, nor when they are aged. They are fed all kinds of +grain but chiefly barley. Scius makes a practice of feeding them a +modius of barley apiece for the month before they begin to breed, his +purpose being to make them more productive. He expects his overseer to +raise three pea fowl for every hen, and he sells them when matured for +fifty deniers ($10) a piece, a price such as one never obtains for a +sheep.[176] + +"Furthermore, he buys eggs and sets them under dunghill hens, +transferring the young pea fowls so hatched to the shelter set apart +for their kind. This house should be built large enough for the number +of pea fowl to be kept and should be equipped with separate roosting +places smoothly stuccoed, so that snakes and such vermin may not be +able to get into it: and, furthermore, it should have attached to it +a run in which the pea fowl may feed on sunny days, and both these +places should be kept clean, as this kind of fowl demands. The keeper +should make the rounds often with a shovel to collect and preserve +their manure, which is not only fit for use in agriculture but serves +also as bedding for your pea chicks. + +"It is said that Q. Hortensius was the first to serve pea-cocks at +dinner, on the occasion of his inauguration as an augur, an evidence +of prodigality which was more approved by the luxurious than by good +men of simple manners: but many others quickly followed his example, +so that the price of pea fowl was raised until an egg sold for five +deniers ($1) and a pea fowl itself readily for fifty ($10), thus a +flock of an hundred of them easily yields an income of forty thousand +sesterces, ($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 and +said that the augurs were summoned. As Appius went out from the _villa +publica_, a flock of pigeons flew in, whereupon Merula said to Axius: +"If you had established a [Greek: peristerogropheion] you would think +that these were your pigeons, although they are wild, for it is the +custom to keep both kinds in a [Greek: peristerotropheion]. One is the +wild dove (or, as some call them the rock dove, or _saxatilis_), such +as live in the towers and dormers (_columines_) of a farm house, +whence they get the name _columbae_, because, on account of their +natural timidity, they seek the highest places on the roof. On this +account wild doves usually frequent towers, to which they may fly +from the fields of their own accord, and return.[177] The other kind of +pigeons is tamer and are wont to seek their food at the very threshold +of a house. This kind is usually white in colour, the wild variety +being mottled but without any white. From these two stocks a third or +mixed variety has been developed for commercial profit and these are +collected in the place which some call a _peristereon_ (pigeon house), +and others a _peristerotropheion_ (place for raising pigeons), where +there are often confined as many as five thousand at a time. + +"A pigeon house is made like a great dome, with arched roof, a narrow +entrance, and grilled windows or with wider lattices on all sides so +that the interior may be well lighted and yet no snake or other such +pest may have access. The walls and the dome within and the edges of +the windows without should be smeared with light stucco to keep out +rats and lizards, for nothing is so timid as a pigeon. A round nest +should be provided for each pair of pigeons and these should be +arranged in close order so that there may be established as many as +possible of them ranked from the ground to the very dome. Each nest +should have a door no bigger than necessary to enable the pigeons to +go in and out but within should be of three palms in diameter. Under +each rank of nests should be fastened planks two palms broad for the +use of the pigeons as a vestibule on coming out. Water should be led +into the pigeon house, both for them to drink and to bathe in, for +pigeons are very clean birds. For this reason the keeper of the +pigeons should sweep out the house several times a month, for that +which soils it has so great a. value in agriculture that some writers +even claim that it is the best of all manures. Furthermore, the keeper +in these rounds may tend any pigeon which is ailing, remove any which +are 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 may +be 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 will +always bring them home themselves unless they are struck down by a +crow or cut off by a hawk. Pigeon breeders rid themselves of the +last mentioned pests by planting in the ground two rods smeared with +birdlime and bent in one upon the other, and then tie on some bait +so disposed that when the hawk falls upon his prey he finds himself +entangled in the birdlime and is taken. + +"It may be noted that the pigeon has a homing instinct, as is proved by +the practice of many in letting pigeons loose from their bosoms in the +theatre expecting them to return home, for if they did not return the +practice would not persist. + +"The food for pigeons is placed in mangers fastened around the walls +and filled from the outside by means of conduits. They thrive on +millet, wheat, barley, peas, beans and vetch. This regimen should be +followed 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 be +secured, neither squabs nor veterans, and as many males as females. +Nothing is more prolific than the pigeon, for in forty days they +conceive, lay, hatch and raise a brood, and they keep this up nearly +all the year, stopping only from the winter solstice until spring. +Squabs are hatched in pairs, and as soon as they have grown up and +have strength breed with their own mothers. Those who fatten squabs in +order to sell them dearer, make a practice of isolating them as soon +as they are covered with feathers, then they cram them with white +bread which has been chewed:[178] in winter this is fed twice a day, in +summer three times a day, morning, noon and night, the midday meal +being omitted in winter. Those which are just beginning to have +feathers are left in the nests, but their legs are broken, and, in +order 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 than +others 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 good +breed: some times they even bring a thousand _nummi_, and there is +a report that recently L. Axius, a Roman of the equestrian order, +declined that sum, refusing to sell for less than four hundred +deniers."[179] + +"If I could procure a fully equipped [Greek: peristereon]," cried +Axius, "as readily as I have bought a supply of earthen ware nests, I +would have had it already on the way to my farm." + +"As if," remarked Pica, "there were not many of them here in town. But +perhaps those who have pigeon houses on their roofs do not seem to you +to be justified in calling them [Greek: peristereonas] even though +some of them represent an investment of more than one hundred thousand +sesterces. I advise you to buy out one of them and learn how to pocket +a profit here in town, before you build on a large scale in the +country." + + +_Of turtle doves_ + +VIII. "So much for that then," said Axius. "Proceed, please, to the +next subject, Merula." + +"For turtle doves," said Merula, "in like manner a house should be +constructed proportioned to the number you intend to feed, and this, +like the pigeon house, I have described, should have a door and +windows and fresh water and walls and a vaulted roof, but in place of +breeding nests the mutules should be extended through the walls or +poles set in them in regular order with hempen mats on them, the +lowest rank being not more than three feet from the floor, the rest at +intervals of nine inches, the top rank six inches from the vault, and +of equal breadth as the mutule stands out from the wall. On these +the doves are fed day and night. For food they are given dry wheat, +usually a half modius for every one hundred and twenty doves. Every +day the house should be cleaned out, that they may not be injured by +the accumulation of manure, and because also it has its place in the +economy of the farm. The best time for fattening doves is about the +harvest, for then the mothers are in their best condition and produce +young 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 should +know of raising and fattening poultry and wood pigeons, then we can +proceed to the discussion of the remainder of our programme." + +"There are three kinds of fowls usually classed as poultry," replied +Merula, "dunghill fowl, jungle fowl and guinea fowl. The dunghill fowl +are those which are constantly kept in the country at farms. + +"He who wishes to establish an [Greek: ornithoboskeion] from which, by +the exercise of intelligence and care, he can take large profits, as +the people of Delos do with such great success,[180] should observe five +principal rules: 1° in regard to buying, what kind and how many he +will keep: 2° in regard to breeding: 3° in regard to eggs, how they +are set and hatched: 4° in regard to chicks, how and by whom they are +reared, and 5°, which is a supplement of all the foregoing, how they +are fattened. + +"The females of the dunghill fowl are called hens, the breeding males +cocks, and the males which have been altered capons. Cocks are +caponized by burning the spurs[181] with a hot iron until the skin is +broken, the wound being poulticed with potters' clay. + +"He who wishes to have a model [Greek: ornithoboskeion] should equip it +with all three kinds of fowls, though chiefly the dunghill variety. In +purchasing these last it is important to choose fertile hens, which +are 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, a +beak short, strong and sharp, eyes tawny or black, wattles a whitish +red, neck spotted or tinged with gold, the second joint of his legs +well covered with feathers, short legs long spurs, a heavy tail, and +profuse feathers, also by his spirit and his frequent crowing, his +readiness to fight, and that he is not only not afraid of such animals +as do the hens harm, but even goes out to fight them. You must be +careful, however, not to buy for breeding any fowls of the breeds +known as Tanagran, Medean and Chalcidean, for, while they are +beautiful to look at and are fit for fighting with one another, they +are practically sterile. + +"If you wish to keep a flock of two hundred, choose an enclosed place +and there construct two large poultry houses side by side and looking +to the East, each about ten by five feet and a little less than five +feet in height, and furnished with windows three by four feet in which +are fitted shutters of wickerwork, which will serve to let in plenty +of fresh air and light and yet keep out such vermin as prey upon +chickens. + +"Between the two houses should be a door by which the _gallinarius_ who +takes care of them, may have access. Within the houses enough poles +are arranged to serve as roosts for all the chickens: opposite each +roost a nest should be set in the wall. In front of the house should +be an enclosed yard to which the fowls may have access in the day time +and where they can dust themselves,[182] and there should be constructed +the keeper's house, which should be equipped all about with nests, +either set into the walls or firmly fastened to them, for the least +disturbance injures eggs when they are setting. + +"When the hens begin to lay, straw should be spread in their nests and +this should be renewed when they begin to set, for in such bedding +are bred mites and other insects which will not suffer the hen to be +quiet, 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 a +season. The best time for hatching is from the spring to the autumn +equinox. Eggs laid before or after this season, or the first eggs laid +by a pullet, should never be set. Hens used for setting should be +old rather than young, without sharp beaks and claws, for those so +equipped are better employed in laying than in setting. Hens a year or +two years old are better fitted for laying. + +"If you set pea-cock eggs under a hen, you should wait ten days before +adding hen eggs to the nest, to insure them all hatching together, for +the period of incubation of chicken eggs is thrice seven days and that +of the eggs of pea-fowl is thrice nine. Sitting hens should be shut up +day and night, except for a time in the morning and evening, when they +are 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 tell +whether an egg is fertile or sterile by putting it in water: for if it +is sterile it will float, while if it is fertile it will sink. Those +who shake their eggs to ascertain this fact make a mistake for thereby +they destroy the germ in them. It is also said that you can tell a +sterile egg by the fact that it is transparent when held against the +light. + +"To preserve eggs they should be rubbed with fine salt or soaked for +three or four hours in brine, and then cleaned off or packed in chaff +or straw. Care should be taken to set eggs only in uneven numbers. The +keeper can tell whether an egg is fertile or not four days after it is +set, by holding it to the light, when he should throw it out if it is +found to be empty and substitute another for it. + +"The new hatched chickens should be taken from every nest and given to +a hen who has only a few to care for. When in this way a setting hen +has less than half her eggs left unhatched, they should be taken from +her and put under another hen which has eggs still unhatched. It is +not well to give more than thirty chicks to a hen. Chicks should +be fed for the first fifteen days in the dust to protect them from +injuring their tender beaks on the hard ground: their diet being +crushed barley mixed with cress seed and soaked in wine, for prepared +in this way the grain is digestible. They should be kept away from +water in the beginning. When they begin to have feathers on their legs +the mites should be carefully picked off their heads and necks, for +these banes often destroy them. Deer's horn should be burnt around +their coops to keep snakes away, for the very smell of those vermin is +fatal to young chickens. They should be allowed to run in the sun and +to scratch in a dung heap, which serves to develop them. This rule +applies not only to young chickens but also to the entire [Greek: +ornithoboskeion], and should be practised all summer and even in +winter on mild and sunny days. A net should be stretched over the +chicken yard to keep the fowls themselves from flying out and to +protect them from hawks and other birds of prey. Fowls should be +protected 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 to +follow 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 earlier +seldom hatch many chicks. + +"They hatch usually in twenty days. + +"And now since I have discussed the dunghill fowl at some length, I +will make up to you by brevity with respect to the other kinds of +fowls. + +"Jungle fowl are rarely seen at Rome, and then usually in cages. They +resemble guinea chickens more than dunghill fowls. When perfect in +form and appearance they are often carried in the public processions +with parrots and white blackbirds and other such rarities. They do not +usually lay or raise their chickens on a farm, but in the forests. The +island of Gallinaria, which lies in the Tuscan sea off the coast of +Italy, opposite the Ligurian mountains (and the towns of Intermelii +and Alba Ingannua) derives its name from them, though some maintain +that the name comes from dunghill fowl which were carried to that +island by sailors and have there run wild. Guinea fowl (_gallinae +africanae_) are large, mottled and have their humps in their backs. +The Greeks call them [Greek: meleagrís].[183] They are the last fowls +which the culinary art has introduced to our dining tables, on account +of their gamy flavour.[184] By reason of their rarity they sell for a +high price. + +"Of the three kinds of fowls, the ordinary dunghill fowl is used +chiefly for cramming. For this purpose they are shut up in a small +confined and darkened coop, because both exercise and light are +enemies of fat. Any large chickens may be selected for this operation, +not necessarily of that breed which the peasants call Melica +incorrectly, for as the ancients said Thelis when they meant Thetis, +so the country people still say Melica for Medica. This name was given +at first to the fowls which were imported from Medea on account of +their great size and then to all of that breed, but now the name is +given indiscriminately to all large fowls by reason of their general +resemblance. After the feathers have been pulled from their tails and +wings they are crammed with balls of barley paste, with which may be +mixed darnel meal, or flax seed soaked in soft water. They are fed +twice a day but care must be taken to see that the last meal is +digested before another is put before them. After they have been fed +and 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 of +good flavour and bouquet, claiming that they are thereby made fat and +tender in twenty days.[185] + +"If in the process of cramming the fowls lose their appetite from too +much food, the ration should be reduced daily during the last ten days +in 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 first +day. + +"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 in +the barn yard all the time, or even on land, but requires access to +ponds. I mean those whom you philhellenes call amphibia. I understand +that you call the places in which geese are kept by the Greek name +[Greek: chaenoboskeion], and that Scipio Metellus and M. Seius have +several large flocks of geese." + +"It is Seius' practice," said Merula, "to maintain his flocks of +geese[186] in accordance with the five rules I have laid down for +poultry, 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 select +them of good size and of white plumage, because they reproduce their +own qualities in their goslings. This is necessary for there is +another kind of geese of variegated plumage, which are called wild, +and do not flock freely with the other kind and are domesticated with +difficulty. + +"The best time for breeding geese is at the end of winter and for +laying and hatching from the beginning of February or March until the +summer solstice. They breed usually in the water, diving to the bottom +of the stream or pond.[187] A goose lays only three times a year: and +each one should be furnished with a coop about two and a half feet +square and bedded with straw: each of their eggs should be marked for +identification, for they will not hatch any eggs but their own. They +are usually set on nine or eleven eggs, never more than fifteen, nor +less than five. In cold weather they set for thirty days, in warm +weather twenty-five. When they are hatched the goslings are suffered +to remain with their mother for five days, and then daily, when the +weather is fine, they are driven out to the meadows or to the ponds +or some swampy place. The gosling houses may be built either above or +below ground, but never more than twenty should be housed together and +care must be taken lest the floor be damp and that they are bedded on +chaff or some thing of that kind, and that the house is so constructed +as to keep out weasels and other beasts which prey on goslings. Geese +are fed in wet places and it is the practice to sow especially for +their food supply, using for this purpose any kind of grain, but +particularly that salad plant called endive[188] which keeps green +wherever there is water, freshening at the mere contact of water +however dry it may be. This is gathered to be fed to them, for if they +have access to the place where it is growing they will destroy the +plant by trampling on it, or else kill themselves by eating too much +of it, for they are greedy by nature. For this reason they must be +watched, as often in feeding their greediness leads them to seize a +root and to break their own necks in attempting to pull it from the +ground: for the neck is weak, as the head is soft. + +"If there is none of this plant they should be fed barley or some other +grain. When the farrago season is on, feed that to them, but in the +same manner as I have described in respect of endive. While they are +setting they may be fed ground barley soaked in water. The goslings +may be fed for the first two days on barley cake (_pollenta_) or raw +barley, and for the next three days fresh water cress chopped fine in +a dish. When they are of an age to be kept by themselves in flocks of +twenty, in the kind of house I have described, they are fed on barley +meal or farrago or some kind of young herbage cut up. + +"For cramming, goslings are picked out when they are about six months +old, and are shut up in the fattening pen and there are fed three +times a day as much as they will eat, of crushed barley and flour +dust mixed with water, and after meals they should be made to drink +copiously. Kept on this diet they will be fat in about two months.[189] +After every meal the feeding place must be cleaned, for, while geese +like a clean place, they never leave any place clean in which they +have 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 is +possible, a swampy location because that is most agreeable to the +ducks, but, if not, then a situation sloping to a natural lake or +pool, or to an artificial pond, with steps leading down to it, +practicable for the ducks. The enclosure where they are kept should +have a wall fifteen feet high, such as you saw at Seius' villa, with +only one door opening into it. All around the wall on the inside +should run a broad platform on which are built against the wall the +duck houses, fronting on a level concrete vestibule in which is +constructed a permanent channel in which their food can be placed in +water, for ducks are fed in that way. The entire wall should be given +a smooth coating of stucco to keep out polecats[190] and other animals +of prey, and the enclosure should be covered with a net of large mesh +to prevent eagles from pouncing in and the ducks themselves from +flying out.[191] + +"For food they are given wheat, barley, grape marc, and some times even +lobsters and other such aquatic animals. The pond in the enclosure +should be fed with a large head of water so that it may be kept always +fresh. + +"There are other kinds of similar birds, like teals and coots which may +be fed in the same way. + +"Some even keep partridges, which, as Archelaus writes, conceive +when they hear the voice of the male bird. By reason of the natural +abundance and the delicacy of their flesh, these last are not crammed +like those domestic fowls I have described, but they are fattened by +feeding in the ordinary way. + +"And now, as I think that I have completed the first act of the drama +of the barn yard, I am done." + + +_Of rabbits_ + +XII. At this point Appius returned and, after an exchange of questions +and answers as to what had been said and done during his absence, he +said: "Here beginneth the second act of those industries which are +wont to be practised at a villa, namely of those enclosures which are +still 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 deer +and roe deer are enclosed. Q. Fulvius Lippinus is said to have forty +jugera enclosed in the neighbourhood of Tarquinii[192] where he keeps +not only those animals I have named but wild sheep as well. Parks +of still larger extent are found in the territory of Statonia (in +Etruria) and in certain other places: indeed, in transalpine Gaul T. +Pompeius has so great a game preserve that the enclosure is about four +miles in extent.[193] + +"It is the practice to keep in such enclosures not only the animals +I have named, but also snail houses and bee hives and jars in which +dormice are fed, but the care and the increase and the feeding of all +these things are easy, except in the case of bees. Who does not know +that a _leporarium_ should be enclosed with masonry walls which are +at once smooth and high the one to keep out wild cats and badgers and +other such beasts: the other to prevent wolves from getting over. +Within should be coverts where the hares may lurk in the day time +under bushes and grass, and trees with broad spreading branches to +ward off the attacks of the eagle. + +"Who does not know also that if he introduces only a few hares of both +sexes in a short time the place will be full of them, for such is +the fecundity of this quadruped that two pair are enough to stock an +entire warren in a short time. Often a mother who has just had her +litter is found to be big with another: indeed, Archelaus says that if +you want to know how old a hare is you have only to count the number +of openings in her belly, for without doubt there is one for every +year 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 in +small hutches where they are fattened. There are three kinds of hares: +the first, our common Italian kind, which has short front legs and +long hind legs, the upper part of the body dark coloured, the belly +white, and long ears. Some say that our hare conceives a second time +while it is still big. In transalpine Gaul and Macedonia they grow to +a great size, but in Spain and in Italy they are not so large. The +second kind is native in Gaul near the Alps, and is white all over the +body: these are brought to Rome, but rarely. The third kind is native +in Spain and is like our hare in every way except that it is smaller +and is called rabbit (_cuniculus_).[194] L. Aelius thinks that the hare +(_lepus_) gets his name from his swiftness, as it were that he is +light of foot (_levipes_), but I think the name is derived from the +ancient Greek, because the Aeolians of Boeotia call him [Greek: +leporis]. The rabbits derive their latin name of _cuniculi_ from the +habit of making underground burrows to hide in [for _cuniculus_ is a +Spanish word for mine]. If possible you should have all these three +kinds 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 Spain +doubtless 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 that +those which are brought in wild are fattened with as little trouble as +the tame ones which are born in the park, for you have doubtless seen +at the farm near Tusculum, which Varro here bought from M. Pupius +Piso, wild boars and roe bucks assemble at the sound of the trumpet +to be fed at regular hours, when from a platform, the keeper scatters +mast to the wild boars and vetch or some such forage to the roe +bucks." + +"I saw this done," put in Axius, "more dramatically when I was a +visitor 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 a +warren; 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 at +once Orpheus was surrounded by a large audience of deer and wild boars +and other quadrupeds: it seemed to be not less agreeable a spectacle +than the shows of game, without African beasts, which the Aediles +provide in the Circus Maximus." + + +_Of snails_ + +XIV. And turning to Merula, Axius continued: "Appius has lightened +your task, my dear Merula, so far as concerns the matter of game, and +briefly the second act of our drama may be brought to an end, for I +do not seek to learn any thing about snails and dormice, which is all +that is left on the programme, for there can be no great trouble in +keeping them." + +"It is not so simple as you seem to think, my dear Axius," replied +Merula, "for a place suitable for keeping snails[195] I must be not only +in the open air but entirely surrounded by water, otherwise you will +be kept running not only after the children but also the parents which +you have supplied for breeding." + +"In other words," said I, "they must be enclosed by water to save the +maintenance of a slave catcher." + +"A place which is not baked by the sun and on which the dew remains is +preferable," continued Merula. "If the place you use for your snails +is not supplied with dew naturally, as often is the case in sunny +situations, and there is no available shady recess, such as is found +under rocks or hills whose feet are laved by a lake or a stream, then +you must supply dew artificially. This may be done by leading into the +snailery a pipe on the end of which is fixed a rose nozzle, through +which water is forced against a rock so that it scatters in spray. The +problem of feeding snails is small, for they supply themselves without +help, finding what they require as they creep over the level ground +and also while clinging to the sides of a wall, if no running water +prevents their access to it. On the hucksters' stands they keep alive +a long time, as it were chewing their own cud, all that is done for +them being to supply a few laurel leaves and scatter a little bran +over them: so a cook never knows whether he is cooking them alive or +dead. + +"There are many kinds of snails, such as the small white ones, which +come from Reate: the large variety which are imported from Illyricum, +and the medium size which come from Africa: but they vary in size in +certain localities of each of those countries. Thus, there is found in +Africa a variety which are called _solitannae_ of so great size that +their shells will hold ten quarts:[196] and so in the other countries +I have named they are found together of all sizes. They produce an +innumerable progeny, which at first are very small and soft but +develop their hard shell with time. If you have large islands in the +enclosure you may expect a rich haul from your snails. + +"Snails are fattened by placing them in a jar smeared with boiled must +and corn meal, on which they feed, and pierced with holes to admit the +air, but they are naturally hardy." + + +_Of dormice_ + +XV. "Dormice[197] are preserved on a different systern than snails, for +while the one is confined by barriers of water, the other is kept in +by a wall which must be coated on the inside with smooth stone or +stucco to prevent their escape. Young nut trees should be planted in +the enclosure, and when these are not bearing, mast and chestnuts +should be thrown in to the dormice, for that is what makes them +fat. Roomy cages should be provided for them in which to rear their +young.[198] Little water is necessary, for dormice do not require much +water, but on the contrary affect dry places. They are fattened in +jars which are usually kept indoors. The potters make these jars in +different shapes, but with paths for the dormice to use contrived on +the sides and a hollow to hold their food, which consists of mast, +walnuts and chestnuts.[199] Covers are placed on the jars and there in +the dark the dormice are fattened." + +_Of bees_ + +XVI. "It remains now," said Appius, "to rehearse the third and last +act of our drama of the husbandry of the steading and to discuss the +keeping of fishes." + +"The third, indeed," exclaimed Axius, "shall we deprive ourselves of +honey 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 a +poor orphan with two brothers and two sisters to provide for, and it +was not until I had married one of them to Lucullus without portion +and he had named me his heir that I began to drink mead in my own +house and to supply it to my household: but there never was a day when +I did not offer it to all my guests. But apart from that, it has been +my fortune, not yours,[200] Axius, to have known these winged creatures +whom nature has endowed so richly with industry and art, and that you +may appreciate that I know more than you do of their almost incredible +natural art, listen to what I am to say. It will then be for Merula +to 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 partly +from the decaying carcase of an ox: so Archelaus in one of his +epigrams 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 social +nature, like men, a characteristic they share with daws, but not for +the same reason, for bees live in colonies, the better to work and +build, while daws congregate for gossip. Thus the life of a bee is one +of intelligence and art, for man has learned from them to manufacture, +to build, and to store his food: three occupations which are not the +same but are diverse in their nature, for it is one thing to provide +food, another to manufacture wax and honey, and still another to build +a house. Has not each cell in a honey comb six sides, or as many as a +bee has feet, the art of which arrangement appears in the teaching of +the geometricians that of all polygons the hexagon covers the largest +area within a circle.[202] Bees feed out of doors, but it is at home +that they manufacture that which is the sweetest of all things, +acceptable to gods and men alike: for honey comb is offered on the +altars and honey is served at the beginning of a dinner and again at +dessert. + +"Bees have institutions like our own, consisting of royalty, government +and organized society. Cleanliness in all things is their aim: and so +they 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 may +consider agreeable. For the same reason if one who approaches them is +covered with perfume,[203] they do not lick him as flies do, but they +sting him, and by the same token no one ever sees bees crawling on +meat and blood and grease, as flies do. And so they only settle in +places of sweet savour. They do a minimum of damage because in their +harvesting they leave what they touch none the worse.[204] They are not +so cowardly as not to resist who ever attempts to disturb them, and +yet they are fully conscious of their own weakness. They are called +the Winged Servants of the Muses, because when they swarm they are +quickly brought together by the music of cymbals and the clapping of +hands: and as men assign Helicon and Olympus to be the haunts of the +Muses, so nature has attributed the flowery and uncultivated mountains +to the bees. They follow their king[205] wheresoever he goes, supporting +him when he is tired and even taking him upon their backs if he is +unable to fly, so do they wish to serve him.[206] As they are not idlers +themselves, so do they hate those who are, and thus driving out the +drones, they exclude them from the hive, because they are of no +service 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 which +is found between the cells which the Greeks call [Greek: erithakae]. +They live under the discipline of an army, taking turns in resting and +all doing their equal share of work, and they send out colonies and +carry out the orders of their leaders, given with the voice, but as it +were with a trumpet: and in like manner they have signs of peace and +of war. + +"But, Merula, now in my course I pass on the torch to you, as our +Axius here is doubtless languishing while he has listened to all this +natural history, for I have said nothing of profit." + +"I do not know," said Merula, "whether what I can say on the subject +of the profit to be derived from bees will satisfy you, Axius, but I +have as my authorities not only Seius, who takes five thousand pounds +of honey every year from the hives he leases,[207] but also our friend +Varro here, for I have heard him tell of two brothers Veiani, from the +Falerian territory, whom he had under his command in Spain and who, +although their father left them only a small house with a curtilage of +not exceeding a jugerum in extent, nevertheless made themselves rich. +They set bee hives all about the house and planted part of the land +in a garden and filled up the rest with thyme and clover and that +bee 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 they +estimated, an average income of not less than ten thousand sesterces +per annum from honey; but they did this by being willing to wait until +they could sell at their own time and price rather than by forcing the +market." + +"Tell me," exclaimed Axius, "where and how I should establish a +bee-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 a +location where there is no echo (for such sounds are deemed to put +them to flight, as timid men are by the din of a battle) and where the +temperature is mild, exposed neither to the heat of summer nor the +cold of winter, giving preferably to the Southeast and near of access +to places where their food is abundant and there is a supply of fresh +water. If there is no natural supply of food available you should +plant 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 bees +which are sick, for it begins to bloom at the vernal equinox and lasts +until that of autumn. As clover is the best food for sick bees, so +thyme is the best for making honey, and it is because Sicily abounds +in good thyme that it takes the palm for producing honey. On this +account some men bruise thyme in a mortar and mix warm water with it +and then spray all their nursery plants with it for the sake of the +bees. + +"The hives should be set as near the house as convenient: some men even +put them under the very portico for greater safety. Hives are made in +various shapes and sizes and of different material;[210] thus some make +them round out of wicker work: others of frame covered with bark: +others use hollow tree trunks: others vessels of pottery: some even +build them square out of rods, allowing about three feet in length and +a foot in height, but these dimensions should be reduced where you +have not enough bees to fill a hive of that size, for fear that the +bees might become discouraged by too large an empty space. + +"The bee hive derives its name _alvus_, which is the same as our word +for 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 the +form of the belly, small in the waist and bulging out below. When the +hives are made of wicker work they should be coated evenly within and +without with ox dung[211] so that the bees may not be driven away by +the roughness of their roof. The hives should be so ordered under the +shelter of a wall that they may not be disturbed nor touch one another +when arranged in ranks, for it is the practice to place hives in two +and some times three separated ranks, but the opinion is that it is +better to reduce the ranks to two than to increase them to four. In +the middle of the hive small openings are made on the right and the +left to serve as entrances for the bees, and on top is placed a +practicable cover, which may be removed to give access to the honey +comb. This is best when made of bark, and worst of pottery, because +that is strongly affected both by the cold of winter and the heat of +summer. In spring and summer the bee keeper should inspect each hive +at least three times a month, fumigating them lightly, cleaning +and throwing out dirt and worms. At the same time he should take +precautions to keep down the number of princes, for they keep the bees +from work by stirring up sedition. There are said to be three kinds of +royalties among the bees: the black, the red and the mottled, or, as +Menecrates writes, two: the black and the mottled: and as the latter +is the better it behooves the bee keeper, when he finds both kinds in +a hive, to kill the black one, as he is forever playing politics[212] +against the other king, whereby the hive must suffer, for inevitably +one of the kings will flee or be driven out, in either case taking his +party with him. + +"Of working bees the small round mottled variety is considered the +best. The drone, or, as some call him, the thief,[213] is black with a +large 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 wild +which feed in the forests, and those tame which feed in cultivated +places. The forest bees are smaller in size and hairy but better +workmen. + +"In buying bees it behooves the purchaser to see whether they are +well or ailing. The signs of health are a thick swarm, well groomed +appearance and a hive being filled in a workmanlike manner. The signs +of lack of condition on the other hand are a hairy and bristling +appearance and a dusty coat, unless this last is caused by a pressure +of work, for under such circumstances they often wear themselves down +and become thin. + +"If the hives are to be transferred from one place to another it is +necessary to choose a fit time to make the move and a suitable place +to receive them. As to time, spring is preferable to winter because in +winter they have difficulty in adjusting themselves to a new location +and so often run away, as they do also if you move them from a good +location to a place where proper pasture is not available. Nor is a +transfer from one hive to another in the same place to be undertaken +carelessly, but that to which the bees are to be transferred should be +rubbed with bee balm, which will serve as a bait for them, and +some pieces of honey comb should be placed in it, not far from the +entrances, for fear that the bees might run away if they found the +larder of their new home empty. + +"Menecrates says that bees contract a malady of the bowels from their +first spring pasture on the blossoms of the almond and the cornel +cherry and are cured by giving them urine to drink.[214] + +"That gummy substance which the bees use, chiefly in summer to +construct a sort of curtain between the entrance and the hive, is +called _propolis_, and by the same name is used by physicians in +making plasters: by reason of which use it sells in the Via Sacra for +more than honey itself. That substance which is called _erithacen_, +and is used to glue the cells together, is different from both honey +and _propolis_: it is supposed to have a quality of attraction for +bees and is accordingly mixed with bee balm and smeared on the branch +or other place on which it is desired to have a swarm light. The comb +is made of wax and is multicellular, each cell in it having six sides +or as many as nature has given the bee feet. It is said that bees do +not gather from the same plants all the materials which enter in these +four substances which they manufacture, namely: propolis, erithacen, +wax and honey. Thus from the pomegranate and the asparagus they gather +food alone, wax from the olive tree, honey from the fig, but not of +good quality: other plants like the bean, the bee balm, the gourd and +the cabbage serve a double purpose and yield both wax and food: while +the apple and the wild pear serve a similar double purpose but for +food and honey and the poppy again for wax and honey. + +"Others again provide material for three purposes, food, honey and +wax, such as the almond and the charlock.[215] In like manner there +are flowers from each of which they derive a different one of these +substances, and others from which they derive several of them: while +they make distinctions in respect of plants according to the quality +of the product they yield,--or rather the plants make the distinction +for them--as with respect to honey, some yield liquid honey, like the +skirwort,[216] and others thick honey like the rosemary. So again honey +of insipid flavour is made from the fig, good honey from clover, and +the best of all from thyme. + +"And since drink is part of a bee's diet and water is the liquid they +use, there should be provided near the stand a place for them to +drink, which may be either a running stream or a reservoir not more +than two or three fingers deep in which bricks or stones are placed +in such a way as to project a little from the water, and so furnish +a place for the bees to sit and drink; but the greatest care must be +taken to keep this water fresh, as it is of high importance to the +making of good honey. + +"As the bees cannot go out to distant pasture in all weathers, food +must be prepared for them, as otherwise they will live on their supply +of honey and so deplete the store in the hive. For this purpose ten +pounds of ripe figs may be boiled in six congii of water and bits +of the paste thus prepared should be set out near the hives. Others +provide honey water in little dishes and float flocks of clean wool on +them through which the bees may suck without risk of either getting +more than is good for them or of being drowned. One such dish should +be provided for each hive and they should be kept filled. Others again +bray dried grapes and figs together and, mixing in some boiled must, +make a paste of which bits are exposed near the hives during such part +of the winter as the bees are still able to go forth in search of +food. + +"When a swarm is about to come out of the hive (which happens when a +number of young bees have matured, and the hive determines to send +their youth out to found a colony, as formerly the Sabines often were +compelled to do on account of the number of their children)[217] there +are two signs by which the intention may be known: one that for +several days before hand, and especially in the evening, many bees +weave themselves together and hang upon the entrance of the hive like +grapes: the other that when they are about to go forth or have already +begun to go they buzz together lustily, as soldiers do when they break +camp. Those who have come forth first fly about the hive waiting for +the others, who have not yet collected, to join them. When the bee +keeper notices this he has only to throw dust on them and at the +same time beat upon some copper vessel to collect them, thoroughly +frightened, where he desires in some nearby place on which he has +smeared erithacen and bees' balm and other things in which they +delight. When they have settled down he should place near them a hive +smeared within with the same baits, and then, by blowing a light smoke +around them, compel them to enter the hive. When thus introduced into +their new abode the swarm makes itself at home cheerfully, so that +even if placed next to the parent hive they will prefer their new +colonial settlement. + +"And now, having told you all I know about the care of bees, I will +speak of that for which the industry is carried on, that is to say, of +the profit. + +"The honey is taken off when the hive is full, as may be determined by +removing the cover of the hive, for if the openings of the combs are +seen to be sealed, as it were with a skin, then the hive is full +of honey: but the bees themselves give notice of this condition by +keeping up a loud buzzing within, by their agitation when they go in +and out and by driving out the drones. + +"In taking off honey some say that you should be content with nine +parts, leaving the tenth, because if you take it all the bees will +desert the hive: others leave a still larger proportion than I have +mentioned. + +"As those who crop their corn land every year obtain good yields only +at intervals, so it is with bee hives: you will have more industrious +and more profitable bees if you do not exact of them the same tribute +every year. + +"It is considered that honey should be taken off for the first time at +the rising of the Pleiades, for the second time at the end of summer +before Arcturus has reached the zenith, and for the third time after +the setting of the Pleiades, but this last time beware not to take +more than one-third of the store even if the hive is full, leaving +the other two-thirds for the winter supply, but if the hive is only +partially filled nothing should be taken off. In any event, when a +large amount of honey is to be taken off a hive it should not be done +all at once or ostentatiously less the bees be discouraged. Those +combs which, on being taken off, are found to be partly unfilled with +honey or to be soiled, should be pared with a knife. + +"Care must be taken that the weaker bees in a hive are not oppressed by +the stronger, for this diminishes the profit: to this end the minority +party[218] may be colonized under another king. When bees are given to +fighting with one another, you should sprinkle them with honey water, +upon which they will not only cease fighting but will crowd together +and kiss one another: and this will prove the case even more if they +are sprinkled with mead, for the savour of the wine in it will cause +them to apply themselves so greedily that they will fuddle themselves +in sucking it. If the bees seem lazy about coming out to work and any +part of them get the habit of remaining in the hive, they should be +fumigated and odoriferous herbs, like bees' balm and thyme, should be +placed near the hive. Watchful care is necessary to protect them from +ruin by heat or cold. If the bees are overtaken by a sudden rain or +cold while at pasture (which rarely happens for they usually foresee +such things) and are stricken down by the heavy rain drops and laid +low and stunned, you should gather them in a dish and place them under +cover in a warm place until the weather has cleared, when they should +be sprinkled with ashes of fig wood (making sure that the ashes are +rather hot than warm) the dish should then be shaken gently without +touching the bees with your hand, and placed in the sun. When the bees +feel this warmth they revive and get on their feet again, just as +flies do after they have been apparently drowned. This should be done +near the hive so that when the bees have come to themselves they may +return home and to work." + + +_Of fish ponds_ + +XVII. Here Pavo returned and said: "You may weigh anchor now if you +wish. The drawing of the lots of the tribes to determine a tie vote is +over and the herald is announcing the result of the election." + +Appius arose without delay and went to congratulate his candidate, and +escort him home. + +Merula said: "I will leave the third act of our drama of the husbandry +of the steading to you, Axius," and went out with the others, leaving +Axius with me to wait for our candidate whom we knew would come to +join us. Axius said to me: "I do not regret Merula's departure at this +point, for I am quite well up on the subject of fish ponds, which +still remains to complete our programme. + +"There are two kinds of fish ponds, of fresh water and salt water. The +former are commonly maintained by farmers and without much expense, +for the Lymphae, the homely goddesses of the Fountains, supply the +water for them, while the latter, the sea ponds, are the play things +of our nobles and are furnished with both water and fishes, as it were +by Neptune himself: serving more the purposes of pleasure than of +utility, their accomplishment being rather to empty than to fill the +exchequers of their lords. For in the first place they are built at +great expense, then they are stocked at great expense, and finally +they are maintained at great expense. + +"Hirrus was wont to derive an income of twelve thousand sesterces from +the buildings surrounding his fish ponds, all of which he spent +for food for his fishes: and no wonder, for I remember that on one +occasion he lent two thousand _murenae_ to Caesar[219] by weight +(stipulating for their return in kind), so that his villa (which +was not otherwise extraordinary) sold for four million sesterces on +account 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 must +have a series of them linked together: for as Pausias and other +painters of his school have boxes with as many compartments as they +have different coloured wax, so must they fain have as many ponds as +they have different varieties of fish. + +"These fish are furthermore sacred, more sacred, indeed, than those +fish which you, Varro, say you saw in Lydia, (at the same time that +you saw the dancing isles)[221] which came to the shore, where the altar +was 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 been +known to have 'sauced' one of these fishes.[222] + +"When our friend Hortensius had those fish ponds at Baulii, which +represented so large an investment, he was wont to send to Puteoli to +buy the fish he served on his table, as I have often seen when I was +visiting him. And it was not enough that his fishes did not supply +his table, but he was at pains to supply theirs, taking greater +precautions lest his mullets (_mulli_) should go hungry than I do for +my mules in Rosea, and it was not at less cost that he supplied meat +and drink to his stock than I do to mine. For I raise my asses, which +bring such fancy prices, at the cost of one servant, a little barley +and the water which springs from my land, while Hortensius must needs +maintain a fleet of fishermen to keep him supplied with small fry to +feed to his fish, or, when the sea runs high and such deep sea forage +is cut off by a storm, and it is not possible even to draw live bait +ashore in a net, he is fain to buy in the market for the delectation +of the denizens of his ponds the very salt fish which is the food of +the people." + +"Doubtless," said I, "Hortensius would prefer to have you take the +carriage mules out of his stable than one of his barbel mules from the +fish pond." + +"Yes, indeed," agreed Axius, "and he would rather have a sick slave +drink cold water than that his beloved fish should be risked in that +which is fresh. On the other hand, M. Lucullus was reputed to be so +careless and neglectful of his fish ponds that he did not provide any +suitable quarters for his fishes in hot weather, but permitted them to +remain in ponds which were unhealthy with stagnant water: a practice +very different from that of his brother L. Lucullus, who yielded +nothing to Neptune himself in his care of his fishes, for he pierced +a mountain at Naples, and so contrived that the sea water in his fish +ponds should be renewed by the action of the tides. Furthermore, he +has arranged that his beloved fishes may be driven into a cool place +during the heat of the day, just as the Apulian shepherds do when they +drive their flocks along the drift ways to the Sabine mountains: for +so great was his ardour for the welfare of his fishes that he gave a +commission to his architect to drive at his sole cost a tunnel from +his fish ponds at Raise to the sea, and by throwing out a mole +contrived that the tide should flow in and out of his fish ponds twice +a day, from moon to moon, and so cool them off." + +At this moment, while we were talking, there was a sound of foot steps +on the right and our candidate came into the _villa publica_ arrayed +in the broad purple of his new rank as an aedile. We went to meet him +and, after congratulations, escorted him to the Capitol, whence he +departed for his home and we to ours. + +So there, my dear Pinnius, is the brief record of our discourse on the +husbandry of the steading. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: "The manner in which the ancients managed their fallow +is certainly most worthy of our attention: their care in ploughing, +according to the situation of the land, and nature of the climate, and +their manner of adapting the kind of ploughing to answer the purposes +intended by the operation, are also most worthy of our imitation. +Their exactness in these things exceeds any thing of the kind found +amongst the moderns, and is even beyond what any practical writer on +agriculture has proposed. This is an evidence that tillage is not even +in this age brought to that perfection of which it is capable: and +that, notwithstanding all the improvements lately introduced, we may +yet receive some instruction from a proper attention to the precepts +and practices of the ancients. I am desirous to add that this +attention may be useful by preventing improvers from running into +every specious scheme of agriculture produced by a lively imagination +and engaging them to study the great variety of soils and even +climates in this island, and to be careful in adapting to these their +several operations." Dickson _Husbandry of the Ancients_, XXIII. + +The Rev. Andrew Dickson, who died in 1776, was minister of Aberlady in +the county of East Lothian, the son of a progressive and successful +Scots farmer, and had experience in practical agriculture, as well as +in 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 Emperor +Constantine VII about the middle of the tenth century A.D. It is very +largely a paraphrase of the Roman authors, and is useful principally +in 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 agriculture +which have been written in old age and by men of affairs, in many +lands and many languages.] + +[Footnote 4: It is interesting to record, however, that Varro received +the _Navalis Corona_ for personal gallantry in the war against the +pirates. This distinction was even more rare than our modern Medal of +Honor or Victoria Cross, and was awarded only to a commander who leapt +under arms on the deck of an enemies' ship and then succeeded in +capturing her.] + +[Footnote 5: Caesar did not live to accomplish this, but some years +after his death a public library was established at Rome by Asinius +Pollio, which Pliny says (H.N. VII, 31) was the first ever built, +those at Alexandria and Pergamus having been private institutions of +the kings. + +In a land where public libraries have been every where founded out +of the accumulations of Big Business, it is interesting to note that +Pollio derived the funds with which this the first of their kind was +endowed, 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 have +taken the trouble to study Varro thoroughly. They are usually better +scholars than farmers.] + +[Footnote 7: It is not remarkable that Virgil failed to make +acknowledgment to Varro in the _Georgics_ when he failed to make +acknowledgment to Homer in the _Aeneid_. See Petrarch's _Epistle to +Homer_ for a loyal but vain attempt to justify this neglect.] + +[Footnote 8: _Cf_. W.H. Myers' _Classical Essays_, p. 110: "For in the +face of some German criticism it is necessary to repeat that in order +to judge poetry it is, before all things, necessary to enjoy it. We +may all desire that historical and philological science should push +her dominion into every recess of human action and human speech, but +we must utter some protest when the very heights of Parnassus are +invaded by a spirit which surely is not science, but her unmeaning +shadow; a spirit which would degrade every masterpiece of human genius +into the mere pabulum of hungry professors, and which values a poet's +text only as a field for the rivalries of sterile pedantry and +arbitrary conjecture."] + +[Footnote 9: It was perhaps this encomium upon the farmer at the +expense of the banker which inspired Horace's friend Alfius to +withdraw his capital from his banking business and dream a delicious +idyl 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 repented +that 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 town +and sought to get his money out again at usury. + +Columella (I, praef.) is not content with Cato's contrast of the +virtue of the farmer with the iniquity of the banker, but he brings +in the lawyer's profession for animadversion also. This, he says, the +ancient Romans used to term a canine profession, because it consisted +in barking at the rich.] + +[Footnote 10: The Roman numerals at the beginning of the paragraphs +indicate the chapters of Cato from which they are translated. If +Cato had not pretended to despise every thing which smacked of Greek +literary art he might have edited and arranged his material, in which +event his book would have been easier to read than it is, and no less +valuable. Modern scholarship would not now venture to perform such an +office for such a result, because it involves tampering with a text +(as who should say, shooting a fox!) and yet modern scholarship +wonders at the decay of classical studies in an impatient age. At the +risk of anathema the present version has attempted to group Cato's +material, and in so doing has omitted most of those portions which are +now of merely curious interest.] + +[Footnote 11: This, of course, means buying at a high price, except +in extraordinary cases. There is another system of agriculture which +admits of the pride of making two blades of grass grow where none was +before, and the profit which comes of buying cheap and selling dear. +This is farming for improvement, an art which was well described two +hundred years before Cato. Xenophon (_Economicus_ XX, 22) says: + +"For those who are able to attend to their affairs, however, and +who will apply themselves to agriculture earnestly, my lather both +practised himself and taught me a most successful method of making +profit; 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 means +in those who had possessed it, was left untilled and unplanted. He +used to say that well cultivated land cost a great sum of money and +admitted of no improvement, and he considered that land which is +unsusceptible of improvement did not give the same pleasure to the +owner as other land, but he thought that whatever a person had or +bought up that was continually growing better afforded him the highest +gratification."] + +[Footnote 12: Every rural community in the Eastern part of the United +States has grown familiar with the contrast between the intelligent +amateur, who, while endeavoring earnestly to set an example of good +agriculture, fails to make expenses out of his land, and the born +farmer who is self-supporting in the practice of methods contemned +by the agricultural colleges. Too often the conclusion is drawn that +scientific agriculture will not pay; but Cato puts his finger on the +true reason. The man who does not depend on his land for his living +too often permits his farm to get what Cato calls the "spending +habit." Pliny (_H.N._ XVIII, 7) makes some pertinent observations on +the subject: + +"I may possibly appear guilty of some degree of rashness in making +mention of a maxim of the ancients which will very probably be looked +upon as quite incredible, 'that nothing is so disadvantageous as to +cultivate land in the highest style of perfection.'" + +And he illustrates by the example of a Roman gentleman, who, like +Arthur Young in eighteenth century England, wasted a large fortune in +an attempt to bring his lands to perfect cultivation. "To cultivate +land well is absolutely necessary," Pliny continues, "but to cultivate +it in the very highest style is mere extravagance, unless, indeed, the +work is done by the hands of a man's own family, his tenants, or those +whom he is obliged to keep at any rate."] + +[Footnote 13: In this practice has been the delight of men of affairs +of all ages who turn to agriculture for relaxation. Horace cites it +with telling effect in the ode (III, 5) in which he describes the +noble serenity of mind with which Regulus returned to the torture +and certain death which awaited him at Carthage: and Homer makes an +enduring picture of it in the person of the King supervising his +fall ploughing, which Hephsestus wrought upon the shield of Achilles +(_Iliad_, XVIII, 540). "Furthermore, he set in the shield a soft fresh +ploughed field, rich tilth and wide, the third time ploughed, and many +ploughers therein drove their yokes to and fro as they wheeled about. +Whensoever they came to the boundary of the field and turned, then +would a man come to each and give into his hands a goblet of sweet +wine: while others would be turning back along the furrows, fain to +reach the boundary of the deep tilth, ... and among them the King was +standing in silence, with his staff, rejoicing in his heart."] + +[Footnote 14: This advice to sell the worn out oxen and the sick slaves +justly excited Plutarch's generous scorn, and has been made the text +of a sweeping denunciation by Mommsen of the practice of husbandry by +men of affairs in Cato's time. "The whole system," says Mommsen, "was +pervaded by the utterly unscrupulous spirit characteristic of +the power of capital." And he adds, "If we have risen to that +little-to-be-envied elevation of thought which values no feature of +an economy save the capital invested in it, we cannot deny to the +management of the Roman estates the praise of consistency, energy, +punctuality, frugality and solidity." Without any desire to defend +Cato, one may suggest, out of an experience in a kind of farm +management not very different from that Cato pictures, that it is +doubtful whether even Cato himself was quite as economical and +efficient, and so as capitalistic in his farming, as he advises others +to be: certainly a whole race of contemporary country gentlemen was +not equal to it. It is much easier to write about business-like +farming than to practise it.] + +[Footnote 15: Hesiod (W. & D. 338) had already given this same advice +to 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 to +come ungirt, but kinsfolk gird themselves first." This agreement of +the Socialist Hesiod with the Capitalist Cato is remarkable only as +it illustrates that both systems when wisely expounded rest on human +nature. That upon which they here agree is the foundation of the +modern European societies for rural co-operative credit which +President Taft recommended to the American people. These societies, +says the bulletin of the International Institute of Agriculture +published at Rome in 1912, rest on three chief safeguards: + +(a) That membership is confined to persons residing within a small +district, and, therefore, the members are personally known to one +another; + +(b) That the members, being mutually responsible, it will be to the +interest of all members to keep an eye upon a borrower and to see that +he makes proper use of the money lent to him; + +(c) That in like manner, it is to the interest of all members to help +a member when he is in difficulties.] + +[Footnote 16: This was an estate of average size, probably within +Virgil's precept, (_Georgic_ II, 412). "Laudato ingentia rura, exiguum +colito." Some scholars have deemed this phrase a quotation from Cato, +but it is more likely derived from Mago the Carthaginian who is +reported to have said: "Imbecilliorem agrum quam agricolam, esse +debere,"--the farmer should be bigger than his farm.] + +[Footnote 17: The philosophy of Cato's plan, of laying out a farm is +found in the agricultural history of the Romans down to the time of +the Punic wars. Mommsen (II, 370) gives the facts, and Ferrero in his +first volume makes brilliant use of them. There is sketched the old +peasant aristocrat living on his few acres, his decay and the +creation of comparatively large estates worked by slaves in charge of +overseers, which followed the conquest of the Italian states about +B.C. 300. This was the civilization in which Cato had been reared, +but in his time another important change was taking place. The Roman +frontier was again widened by the conquest of the Mediterranean basin: +the acquisition of Sicily and Sardinia ended breadstuff farming as the +staple on the Italian peninsular. The competition of the broad and +fertile acres of those great Islands had the effect in Italy which the +cultivation of the Dakota wheat lands had upon the grain farming of +New York and Virginia. About 150 B.C. the vine and the olive became +the staples of Italy and corn was superseded. Although this was not +accomplished until after Cato's death, he foresaw it, and recommended +that a farm be laid out accordingly, and his scheme of putting one's +reliance upon the vine and the olive was doubtless very advanced +doctrine, when it first found expression.] + +[Footnote 18: Pliny quotes Cato as advising to buy what others have +built rather than build oneself, and thus, as he says, enjoy the +fruits of another's folly. The _cacoethes aedificandi_ is a familiar +disease among country gentlemen.] + +[Footnote 19: Columella (I,4) makes the acute observation that the +country house should also be agreeable to the owner's wife if he +wishes to get the full measure of enjoyment out of it. Mago, the +Carthaginian, advised to, "if you buy a farm, sell your house in town, +lest you be tempted to prefer the cultivation of the urban gods to +those of the country."] + +[Footnote 20: According to German scholarship the accepted text of +Cato's version of this immemorial epigram is a model of the brevity +which is the test of wit, "Frons occipitio prior est." Pliny probably +quoting from memory, expands it to "Frons domini plus prodest quam +occípitíum." Palladius (I, 6) gives another version: "Praesentia +domini provectus est agri." It is found in some form in almost every +book on agriculture since Cato, until we reach the literature in which +science has taken the place of wisdom--in the Byzantine _Geoponica_, +the Italian _Crescenzi_, the Dutch _Heresbach_, the French _Maison +Rustique_, 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 is +perennial in its appeal. The present editor saw it recently in the +German comic paper _Fliegende Blätter_. But the jest is much older +than Cato. It appears in Aeschylus, _Persae_, 171 and Xenophon employs +it in _Oeconomicus_ (XII, 20): + +"The reply attributed to the barbarian," added Ischomachus, "appears +to me to be exceedingly to the purpose, for when the King of Persia +having met with a fine horse and wishing to have it fattened as soon +as possible, asked one of those who were considered knowing about +horses 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 the +endless procession of small fields of maize and rye and alfalfa +through which serried ranks of mulberry or feathery elm trees, linked +with the charming drop and garland of the vines, seem to dance toward +one 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 called +it the best of the vegetables and urged that it be planted in every +garden for health and happiness. Horace records (Odes. III, 21, 11) +that old Cato's virtue was frequently warmed with wine, and Cato +himself explains (CLVI) how this could be accomplished without loss +of dignity, for, he says, if, after you have dined well, you will eat +five cabbage leaves they will make you feel as if you had had nothing +to drink, so that you can drink as much more as you wish--"bibesque +quantum 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 eighteenth +century, whom Dr. Johnson considered a better farmer than judge and a +better judge than scholar, but who had many of the characteristics of +our _priscus_ Cato, argues (following an English tradition which +had previously been voiced by Walter of Henley and Sir Anthony +Fitzherbert) in his ingenious _Gentleman Farmer_ against the expense +of ploughing with horses and urges a return to oxen. He points out +that horses involve a large original investment, are worn out in farm +work, and after their prime steadily depreciate in value; while, on +the other hand, the ox can be fattened for market when his usefulness +as a draught animal is over, and then sell for more than his original +cost; that he is less subject to infirmities than the horse; can +be fed per tractive unit more economically and gives more valuable +manure. These are strong arguments where the cost of human labour is +small and economical farm management does not require that the time of +the ploughman shall be limited if the unit cost of ploughing is to be +reasonable. The ox is slow, but in slave times he might reasonably +have been preferred to the horse. Today Lord Kames, (or even old +Hesiod, who urged that a ploughman of forty year and a yoke of eight +year steers be employed because they turned a more deliberate and so a +better furrow) would be considering the economical practicability of +the gasolene motor as tractive power for a gang of "crooked" ploughs.] + +[Footnote 24: Cato adds a long list of implements and other necessary +equipment.] + +[Footnote 25: The Roman overseer was usually a superior, and often a +much indulged, slave. Cf. Horace's letter (_Epist._ I, 14) to his +overseer.] + +[Footnote 26: This was the traditional wisdom which was preached also +in Virginia in slave times. In his Arator (1817) Col. John Taylor of +Caroline says of agricultural slaves: + +"The best source for securing their happiness, their honesty and +their usefulness is their food.... One great value of establishing a +comfortable diet for slaves is its convenience as an instrument of +reward and punishment, so powerful as almost to abolish the thefts +which often diminish considerably the owner's ability to provide for +them."] + +[Footnote 27: Reading "compitalibus in compito," literally "the cross +roads altar on festival days."] + +[Footnote 28: It is evident that Cato's housekeeper would have welcomed +a visit from Mr. Roosevelt's Rural Uplift Commission. We may add to +this Sir Anthony Fitzherbert's description of the duties of a farmer's +wife in sixteenth century England: + +"It is a wyues occupation to wynowe all maner of cornes, to make +malte, to wasshe and wrynge, to make heye, shere corne, and in tyme of +nede to helpe her husbande to fyll the mucke-wayne or dounge-carte, +dryue the ploughe, to loode hey, corne and suche other. And to go +or ride to the market, to sel butter, chese, mylke, egges, chekyns, +capons, hennes, pygges, gese, and all maner of cornes. And also to bye +all maner of necessarye thynges belongynge to houssholde, and to make +a trewe rekenynge and acompte to her husbande what she hath payed." + +Sir Anthony Fitzherbert (1470-1538) was the English judge whose +law books are, or should be, known to all lawyers. His _Boke of +Husbandry_, published in 1534, is one of the classics of English +agriculture, and justly, for it is full of shrewd observation and +deliberate wisdom expressed in a virile style, with agreeable leaven +of piety and humour. Fitzherbert anticipated a modern poet, Henley, in +one of his most happy phrases: "Ryght so euery man is capitayne of his +owne soule". The Husbandry is best available to the modern reader in +the edition by Skeat published for the English Dialect Society in +1882.] + +[Footnote 29: Cato is careful not to undertake to say how this may be +assured; 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 is +in 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 warm +and the weeds are developing, so that none of their seed may mature: +but it should be ploughed with such close furrows that one can with +difficulty distinguish where the plough share has been, for in that +way all the weeds are uprooted and destroyed. + +"The spring ploughing should be followed up with frequent stirring +of the soil until it is reduced to dust, so that there may be no +necessity, or very little, of harrowing after the land is seeded: for +the ancient Romans said that a field was badly ploughed which had to +be harrowed after the seed had been sown. + +"A farmer should himself make sure that his ploughing has been well +done, not alone by inspection, for the eye is often amused by a smooth +surface which in fact conceals clods, but also by experiment, which is +less likely to be deceived, as by driving a stout stick through the +furrows: if it penetrates the soil readily and without obstruction, it +will be evident that all the land there about is in good order: but if +some part harder than the rest resists the pressure, it will be clear +that the ploughing has been badly done. When the ploughmen see this +done from time to time they are not guilty of clod hopping. + +"Hence wet land should be broken up after the Ides of April, and, when +it has been ploughed at that season, it should be worked again, after +an interval of twenty days, about the time of the solstice, which is +the eighth or ninth day before the Kalends of July, and again the +third time about the Kalends of September, for it is not the practice +of experienced farmers to till the land in the interval after the +summer solstice, unless the ground shall have been soaked with a heavy +down-pour of sudden rain, like those of winter, as does some times +happen at this season. In that event there is no reason why the fallow +should not be cultivated during the month of July. But when you do +till 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 condition +which the country people call _varia_ and _cariosa_, that is to say, +when, after a long drought, a light rain has moistened the surface of +the upturned sod but has not soaked to the bottom of the furrow. + +"Those plough lands which are cultivated when they are miry are +rendered useless for an entire year--they can be neither seeded nor +harrowed nor hoed--but those which are worked when they are in the +state which has been described as varia, remain sterile for three +years on end. We should, therefore, follow a medium course and plough +when the land neither lacks moisture nor yet is deep in marsh."] + +[Footnote 31: Columella (II, 13) justly says about manure, "Wherefore +if it is, as it would seem to be, the thing of the greatest value to +the farmer, I consider that it should be studied with the greatest +care, especially since the ancient authors, while they have not +altogether neglected it, have nevertheless discussed it with too +little elaboration." He goes on (II, 14) to lay down rules about the +compost heap which should be written in letters of gold in every farm +house. + +"I appreciate that there are certain kinds of farms on which it is +impossible to keep either live stock or birds, yet even in such places +it is a lazy farmer who lacks manure: for he can collect leaves, +rubbish from the hedge rows, and droppings from the high ways: without +giving offence, and indeed earning gratitude, he can cut ferns from +his neighbour's land: and all these things he can mingle with the +sweepings of the courtyard: he can dig a pit, like that we have +counselled for the protection of stable manure, and there mix together +ashes, sewage, and straw, and indeed every waste thing which is swept +up on the place. But it is wise to bury a piece of oak wood in the +midst of this compost, for that will prevent venomous snakes from +lurking in it. This will suffice for a farm without live stock." + +One can see in Flanders today the happy land smiling its appreciation +of farm management such as this, but what American farmer has yet +learned this kind of conservation of his natural resources.] + +[Footnote 32: The occupants of the motor cars which now roll so swiftly +and so comfortably along the French national highway from Paris to +Tours, through the pleasant _pays de Beauce_, can see this admirable +and economical method of manuring still in practice. The sheep are +folded and fed at night, under the watchful eye of the shepherd +stretched at ease in his wheeled cabin, on the land which was ploughed +the day before.] + +[Footnote 33: These of course are all legumes. The intelligent farmer +today sits under his shade tree and meditates comfortably upon the +least expensive and most profitable labour on his farm, the countless +millions of beneficent bacteria who, his willing slaves, are +ceaselessly at work during hot weather forming root tubercles on his +legumes, be it clover or cow peas, and so fixing for their lord the +free atmospheric nitrogen contained in the soil. As Macaulay would +say, "every school boy knows" now that leguminous root nodules are +endotrophic mycorrhiza,--but the Romans did not! Nevertheless their +empirical practice of soil improvement with legumes was quite as good +as ours. Varro (I, 23) explains the Roman method of green manuring +more fully than Cato. Columella (II, 13) insists further that if the +hay is saved the stubble of legumes should be promptly ploughed for he +says the roots will evaporate their own moisture and continue to pump +the land of its fertility unless they are at once turned over. + +If the Romans followed this wise advice they were better farmers than +most of us today, for we are usually content to let the stubble dry +out before ploughing.] + +[Footnote 34: Was this ensilage? The ancients had their silo pits, but +they 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 learned +to feed the leaves of trees, but in older and more economical +civilizations the practice is still observed.] + +[Footnote 36: Amurca was the dregs of olive oil. Cato recommends its +use for many purposes in the economy of the farm, for a moth proof +(XCVIII), as a relish for cattle (CIII), as a fertilizer (CXXX), and +as an anointment for the threshing floor to kill weevil (XCI).] + +[Footnote 37: There is a similar remedy for scratches in horses, which +is traditional in the cavalry service today, and is extraordinarily +efficacious.] + +[Footnote 38: Cf. Pliny _H.N._ XVII, 267 and Fraser, _The Golden +Bough_, XI, 177. The principle is one of magical homeopathy: as the +split reed, when bound together, may cohere and heal by the medicine +of the incantation, so may the broken bone.] + +[Footnote 39: These examples will serve to illustrate how far Cato's +veterinary science was behind his agriculture, and what a curious +confusion of native good sense and traditional superstition there was +in his method of caring for his live stock. On questions of preventing +malady he had the wisdom of experience, but malady once arrived he was +a simple pagan. There was a notable advance in the Roman knowledge of +how to treat sick cattle in the century after Cato. Cf. Varro, II, 5. + +The words of the incantations themselves are mere sound and fury +signifying nothing, like the "counting out" rhythms used by children +at their games.] + +[Footnote 40: Cato gives many recipes of household as well as +agricultural economy. Out of respect for the pure food law most of +them have been here suppressed, but these samples are ventured because +Varro mentions them and the editor is advised that some enterprising +young ladies in Wisconsin have recently had the courage to put them to +the test, and vow that they ate their handiwork! As they live to tell +the tale, it is assumed that the recipes are harmless.] + +[Footnote 41: Cf. the following traditional formula as practised in +Virginia: + +A VIRGINIA RECIPE FOR CURING HAMS + +"Rub each ham separately with ½ teaspoonful of saltpetre (use a small +spoon); then rub each ham with a large tablespoonfulof best black +pepper; then rub each ham with a gill of molasses (black strap is +best). + + 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 this +mixture, and, in packing, spread some of it on each layer of ham. Use +no more salt than has been mixed. Pack skin down and let stand for +five weeks, then hang in the smoke house for five or six weeks, and +smoke in damp weather, using hickory wood. + +"As a ham, however well cured, is of no use to civilized man until it +is cooked, and as this crowning mystery is seldom revealed out of +Virginia, 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 a +small brush to remove all the pepper, saltpetre, etc., left from the +curing process. + +Put on to boil next morning in tepid water, skin downwards, letting +it simmer on back of stove, never to boil hard. This takes about four +hours (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 large +enough). Set aside over another night in the water it has boiled in. + +The _following_ day, skin and bake in the oven, having covered the ham +well with brown sugar, basting at intervals with cider. When it is +well baked, take it out of the oven and baste another ten to twenty +minutes in the pan on top of the stove. The sugar crust should be +quite brown and crisp when done. + +To be thoroughly appreciated a ham should be carved on the table, by a +pretty 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 treatise +on Husbandry among the many monuments of his industry and learning. +Petrarch in his _Epistle to Varro_ in that first delightful book of +Letters to Dead Authors (_de rebus familiaribus_ XXIV, 6) rehearses +the loss of Varro's books and, adapting the thought here expressed in +the text, regrets for that reason that Varro cannot be included in +that company of men "whom we love even after their death owing to +the good and righteous deeds that live after them, men who mold our +character by their teaching and comfort us by their example, when +the rest of mankind offends both our eyes and our nostrils; men who, +though they have gone hence to the common abode of all (as Plautus +says in Casina), nevertheless continue to be of service to the +living." If Petrarch had been a farmer he might have saved some of his +regret, for Varro is surely, by virtue of the _Rerum Rusticarum_, a +member of the fellowship Petrarch describes.] + +[Footnote 43: Varro was essentially an antiquary and it is amusing +to observe that he is unable to suppress his learning even in his +prayers. One is reminded of the anecdote of the New England minister, +who, in the course of an unctuous prayer, proclaimed, with magisterial +authority, "Paradoxical as it may appear, O Lord, it is nevertheless +true, etc."] + +[Footnote 44: Following Plato and Xenophon and Cicero, Varro cast his +books into the form of dialogues to make them entertaining ("and what +is the use of a book," thought Alice in Wonderland, "without pictures +or conversations."): for the same reason he was careful about his +local colour. Thus the scene of this first book, which relates to +agriculture proper, is laid at Rome in the temple of Earth on the +festival of the Seed Sowing, and the characters bear names of punning +reference to the tilling of the soil. Varro was strong on puns, +avowing (Cicero _Acad_. I, 2) that that form of humour made it easier +for people of small intelligence to swallow his learning.] + +[Footnote 45: The story is that when Scipio captured Carthage he +distributed the Punic libraries among the native allies, reserving +only the agricultural works of Mago, which the Roman Senate +subsequently ordered to be translated into Latin, so highly were they +esteemed. Probably more real wealth was brought to Rome in the pages +of these precious volumes than was represented by all the other +plunder of Carthage. "The improving a kingdom in matter of husbandry +is better than conquering a new kingdom," says old Samuel Hartlib, +Milton's friend, in his _Legacie_. It is a curious fact that as the +Romans derived agricultural wisdom from their ancient enemies, so did +the English. Cf. Thorold Rogers' _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_. +"We owe the improvements in English agriculture to Holland. From this +country we borrowed, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, +the cultivation of winter roots, and, at that of the eighteenth, the +artificial grasses. The Dutch had practised agriculture with the +patient and minute industry of market gardeners. They had tried +successfully to cultivate every thing to the uttermost, which could be +used for human food, or could give innocent gratification to a refined +taste. They taught agriculture and they taught gardening. They were +the first people to surround their homesteads with flower beds, with +groves, with trim parterres, with the finest turf, to improve fruit +trees, to seek out and perfect edible roots and herbs at once for man +and cattle. We owe to the Dutch that scurvy and leprosy have been +banished from England, that continuous crops have taken the place of +barren fallows, that the true rotation of crops has been discovered +and perfected, that the population of these islands has been increased +and that the cattle and sheep in England are ten times what they were +in numbers and three times what they were in size and quality."] + +[Footnote 46: The Roman proverb which Agrius had in mind reminds one of +the witty French woman's comment upon the achievement of St. Denis in +walking several miles to Montmartre, after his head had been cut off, +(as all the world can still see him doing in the verrières of Notre +Dame de Chartres): "en pareil cas, ce n'est que le premier pas qui +coûte."] + +[Footnote 47: To this glowing description of agricultural Italy in +the Augustan age may be annexed that of Machiavelli on the state of +Tuscany in his youth: "Ridotta tutta in somma pace e tranquillità, +coltivata non meno ne' luoghi più montuosi e più sterili che nelle +pianure e regioni più fertili...." It is our privilege to see the +image of this fruitful cultivation of the mountain tops not only in +Machiavelli's prose, but on the walls of the Palazzo Riccardi in +Gozzoli'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 careful +and sympathetic student of the agricultural Italy of the age of +King Umberto: "To return to the question of the natural richness of +agricultural Italy," says Dr. W.N. Beauclerk in his _Rural Italy_ +(1888), "we may compare the words of the German ballad: 'In Italy +macaroni ready cooked rains from the sky, and the vines are festooned +with sausages,' with the words today rife throughout the Kingdom, +'Rural Italy is poor and miserable, and has no future in store for +her.' The fact is that Italy is rich in capabilities of production, +but exhausted in spontaneous fertility. Her vast forests have been cut +down, giving place to sterile and malarious ground: the plains and +shores formerly covered with wealthy and populous cities are now +deserted marshes: Sardinia and other ancient granaries of the Roman +Empire are empty and unproductive: two-thirds of the Kingdom are +occupied by mountains impossible of cultivation, and the remainder is +to 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 which +Fundanius boasts were the largest of which Varro had information in +the Italy of his time, it is interesting to compare them with the +largest yields of the most productive wine country of France today. +Fifteen cullei, or three hundred amphorae per jugerum, is the +equivalent of 2700 gallons per acre: while according to P. Joigneaux, +in the _Livre de la Ferme_, the largest yields in modern France are +in the Midi (specifically Herault), where in exceptional cases they +amount to as much as 250 hectolitres to the hectare, or say 2672 +gallons per acre. It may be noted that the yields of the best modern +wines, like Burgundy, are less than half of this, and it is probable +that the same was true of the _vinum Setinum_ of Augustus, if not of +the Horatian Massic.] + +[Footnote 49: The modern Italian opinion of farming in a fertile but +unhealthy situation is expressed with a grim humour in the Tuscan +proverb: "in Maremma s'arricchisce in un anno, si muore in sei mesi."] + +[Footnote 50: This is Keil's ingenious interpretation of an obscure +passage. We may compare the English designation of a church yard as +"God's acre." What Licinius Crassus actually did was, while haranguing +from the rostra, to turn his back upon the Comitium, where the +Senators gathered, and address himself directly to the people +assembled in the Forum. The act was significant as indicating that the +sovereignty had changed place.] + +[Footnote 51: Tremelius Scrofa was the author of a treatise on +agriculture, which Columella cites, but which has not otherwise +survived.] + +[Footnote 52: "It was a received opinion amongst the antients that a +large, busy, well peopled village, situated in a country thoroughly +cultivated, was a more magnificent sight than the palaces of noblemen +and princes in the midst of neglected lands." Harte's _Essays on +Husbandry_, p. 11. This is a delightful book, the ripe product of a +gentleman and a scholar. In the middle of the eighteenth century it +advocated what we are still advocating--that agriculture, as the basis +of national wealth, deserves the study and attention of the highest +intelligence; specifically it proposed the introduction of new grasses +and forage crops (alfalfa above all others) to enable the land to +support more live stock. It was published in 1764, just after France +had ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris all of her possessions in +America east of the Mississippi River; and not the least interesting +passages of Harte's book are those proposing an agricultural +development of the newly acquired territory between Lake Illinois +(Michigan) and the Mississippi, which he suggests may be readily +brought under cultivation with the aid of the buffaloes of the +country. He shrewdly says: "Maize may be raised in this part of Canada +to what quantity we please, for it grows there naturally in great +abundance." It happened, however, that a few years later, in 1778, +Col. George Rogers Clark of Virginia made a certain expedition through +the wilderness to the British outpost at Vincennes, which saved +England the trouble of taking Harte's advice, but that it has not been +neglected may be evident from the fact that less than a century and +a half later, or in 1910, the State of Illinois produced 415 million +bushels of maize, besides twice as much oats and half as much wheat as +did old England herself in the same year of grace. + +Harte was the travelling governor of that young Mr. Stanhope, to whom +my lord Chesterfield wrote his famous worldly wise letters. He was the +author also of a _Life of Gustavus Adolphus_, which was a failure. Dr. +Johnson, who liked Harte, said: "It was unlucky in coming out on the +same 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' farm +there was less ground for ploughing than of floor for sweeping.] + +[Footnote 54: Eggs were the first course, as apples were the last, at a +Roman 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, as +Theophrastus points out (C.P.V. II, 2), was because it craves a thin +soil, 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 a +remedy for a similar evil, which, in all fairness, should be credited +to Saserna. In any event, it is what the newspapers used to call +"important, if true," viz: "If ever you come into a place where fleas +abound, cry Och! Och! ([Greek: och, och]) and they will not touch +you."] + +[Footnote 57: The editor of an Iowa farm journal, who has been making +a study of agricultural Europe, has recently reported an interesting +comparison between the results of extensive farming as practised in +Iowa and intensive farming as practised in Bavaria. He begins with +the thesis that the object of agriculture is to put the energy of the +sun's rays into forms which animals and human beings can use, and, +reducing the crop production of each country to thermal units, he +finds "that for every man, woman and child connected with farming in +Iowa 14,200 therms of sun's energy were imprisoned, while for every +man, woman and child connected with farming in Bavaria only 2,600 +therms were stored up. In other words, the average Iowa farmer is six +times as successful in his efforts to capture the power of the sun's +rays as the average Bavarian farmer. On the other hand, the average +acre of Iowa land is only about one-seventh as successful as the +average acre of Bavarian land in supporting those who live on it. If +we look on land as the unit, then the Bavarians get better results +than we in Iowa, but if we look on human labor as the unit, then the +Iowa farmers are far ahead of those of Bavaria." + +It may be remarked that if the Iowa farmer, who gets his results by +the use of machinery, was to adopt also the intensive practice of the +Bavarian farmer, he would secure at once the greatest efficiency per +acre and per man, and that is the true purpose of agriculture.] + +[Footnote 58: It is one of the charms of Varro's treatise that he +always insists cheerfully on the pleasure to be derived from the land. +It is the same spirit which Conington has remarked cropping out in +many places in Virgil's _Georgics_--the joy of the husbandman in his +work, 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 of +the modern city knows nothing: but, as the practical Roman indicates, +it will not support life of its own mere motion. Cf. Dr. Johnson's +picture of Shenstone: "He began from this time to entangle his walks +and to wind his waters: which he did with such judgment and such fancy +as made his little domain the envy of the great and the admiration of +the skillful. His house was mean, and he did not improve it: his care +was of his grounds.... In time his expences brought clamours about +him, that overpowered the lambs' bleat and the linnets' song; and his +groves were haunted by beings very different from fawns and fairies."] + +[Footnote 59: Walter of Henley, in thirteenth century England, drove +home a shrewd comment on the country gentleman who farms without +keeping accounts and thinks he is engaged in a profitable industry. +"You know surely," he says, "that an acre sown with wheat takes three +ploughings, except lands which are sown yearly, and that one with +another each ploughing is worth six pence, and harrowing a penny, +and on the acre it is necessary to sow at least two bushels. Now two +bushels at Michaelmas are worth at least twelve pence, and weeding a +half penny and reaping five pence, and carrying in August a penny: the +straw will pay for the threshing. At three times your sowing you ought +to have six bushels, worth three shillings; and the cost amounts to +three shillings and three half pence, and the ground is yours and not +reckoned." + +Of Walter of Henley little is known, but it is conjectured that he was +the bailiff of the manors near Henley which belonged to the Abbey of +Canterbury. His curious and valuable _Dite de Hosebondrie_, which is +as original in its way as Cato's treatise, being entirely free from +mere literary tradition, is now available to the modern reader in +a translation, from the original barbarous English law French, by +Elizabeth Lamond, made for the Royal Historical Society in 1890.] + +[Footnote 60: This was just before Pharsalia, and the army was that of +Pompey which Varro had joined after surrendering to Caesar in Spain.] + +[Footnote 61: In this enumeration of trees Varro does not include the +chestnut which is now one of the features of the Italian mountain +landscape and furnishes support for a considerable part of the Italian +population, who subsist on _necci_, those indigestible chestnut flour +cakes, just as the Irish peasants do on potatoes. The chestnut was +late 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 article +of human food in Italy. Pietro Crescenzi (1230-1307) describes two +varieties, the cultivated and the wild, and quotes the Arabian +physician Avicenna to the effect that chestnuts are "di tarda +digestione ma di buono nuttimento." It is perhaps for this very reason +that chestnut bread is acceptable to those engaged in heavy labor. +Fynes Moryson says in his _Itinerary_ (1617) that maslin bread made +of a mixture of rye and wheat flour was used by labourers in England +because it "abode longer in the stomach and was not so soon digested +with their labour." + +Crescenzi, who was a lawyer and a judge, says in his preface that he +had left his native Bologna because of the civil strifes, had taken +foreign service in several parts of Italy, and so had opportunity to +see 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 a +bondevole, niuna piu dolce, et niuna piu degna de l'huomo libero," a +sentiment which Socrates had expressed sixteen hundred years earlier +and which was echoed six hundred years later by another far-sighted +Italian, the statesman Cavour.] + +[Footnote 62: The white chalk which Scrofa saw used as manure in +Transalpine Gaul, when he was serving in the army under Julius Caesar, +was undoubtedly marl, the use of which in that region as in Britain +was subsequently noted by Pliny (H.N. XVII, 4). + +There were no deposits of marl in Italy, and so the Romans knew +nothing of its use, from experience, but Pliny's treatment of the +subject shows a sound source of information. In England, where several +kinds of marl are found in quantities, its use was probably never +discontinued after the Roman times. Walter of Henley discusses its use +in the thirteenth century, and Sir Anthony Fitzherbert continues the +discussion in the sixteenth century. In connection with the history of +the use of marl in agriculture may be cited the tender tribute which +Arthur Young recorded on the tombstone of his wife in Bradfield +Church. The lady's chief virtue appears to have been, in the memory +of her husband, that she was "the great-grand-daughter of John +Allen, esq. of Lyng House in the County of Norfolk, the first person +according to the Comte de Boulainvilliers, who there used marl." + +The Romans did not have the fight against sour land which is the +heritage of the modern farmer after years of continuous application +to his land of phosphoric and sulphuric acid in the form of mineral +fertilizers. What sour land the Romans had they corrected with humus +making barnyard manure, or the rich compost which Cato and Columella +recommend. They had, however, a test for sourness of land which is +still practised even where the convenient litmus paper is available. +Virgil (_Georgic_ II, 241) gives the formula: "Fill a basket with +soil, and strain fresh water through it. The taste of water strained +through sour soil will twist awry the taster's face."] + +[Footnote 63: This sounds like the boast of the modern proprietor of an +old blue grass sod in Northern Virginia or Kentucky. On the general +question of pasture vs. arable land, cf. Hartlib's _Legacie_: "It is a +misfortune that pasture lands are not more improved. England abounds +in 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 get +more in England by standing still (alluding to our meadows) than the +French do by working (that is, cultivating their vineyards and corn +lands)." + +We may permit Montesquieu (_Esprit des Lois_ II, 23, 14) to voice the +French side of this question. "Les pais de pâturage sont pen peuplês. +Les terres à bled occupent plus d'hommes et les vignobles infiniment +d'avantage. En Angleterre on s'est souvent plaint que l'augmentation +des pâturage diminuoit les habitans." + +In the introduction to his Book Two (_post_, p. 179) Varro states the +sound conclusion, that the two kinds of husbandry should be combined +on the same land. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert knew this: "An housbande can +not well thryue by his corne without he haue other cattell, nor by his +cattell without corne. For els he shall be a byer, a borrower or a +beggar."] + +[Footnote 64: This is the explanation of why Aesop's fox found the +grapes to be sour which grew on a trellis, for he had expected to find +them of easy access on the ground. Aesop was a Phrygian, and, while +Bentley has proved that Aesop never wrote the existing fables which go +by that name, yet it is recognized that they are of Oriental origin +and it is evident that that of the Fox and the Grapes came out of +Asia, where, as Varro says, the grapes were usually allowed to grow on +the ground.] + +[Footnote 65: One is tempted to include here Pliny's observations upon +the tests of good soil if only for the sake of his description of one +of the sweetest sensations of the farmer every where, the aroma of new +ploughed 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 the +purpose to express himself by the word taste than smell. And such is +the fact no doubt, that soil is the best which has the savour of a +perfume. If the question should be put to us, what is this odour of +the earth that is held in such estimation; our answer is that it +is the same that is often to be recognized at the moment of sunset +without the necessity even of turning up the ground, at the spots +where the extremities of the rainbow have been observed to meet the +earth: as also, when after long continued drought, the rain has soaked +the ground. Then it is that the earth exhales the divine odour that is +so peculiarly its own, and to which, imparted to it by the sun, there +is no perfume however sweet that can possibly be compared. It is this +odour which the earth, when turned up, ought to emit, and which, when +once found, can never deceive any person: and this will be found the +best criterion for judging of the quality of the soil. Such, too, is +the odour that is usually perceived in land newly cleared when an +ancient forest has been just cut down; its excellence is a thing that +is universally admitted.] + +[Footnote 66: The _actus_ was the head land or as much land as a yoke +of oxen could plough at a single spell without stopping, and measured +120 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 land +measure. With the derivation of the _actus_ may be compared that of +the English furlong (furrow-long) and the French _arpent_ (literally, +head land).] + +[Footnote 67: On the socialistic principle of Strepsiades in +Aristophanes' _Clouds_ that the use of geometry is to divide the land +into _equal_ parts.] + +[Footnote 68: As it is difficult to appreciate that the Roman Campagna +was formerly populous with villas, when one contemplates its green +solitudes today, so when one faces the dread malaria which there +breeds, one wonders how the Romans of the Republic maintained so long +their hardy constitutions. It is now agreed that there was no malaria +in the Land of Saturn so long as the volcanos in the Alban hills +were active, because their gases purified the air and kept down the +mosquitoes, and geology tells us that Monte Pila was in eruption for +two or three centuries after the foundation of Rome. By the beginning +of the second century B.C. the fever seems to have become endemic. +Plautus and Terence both mention it and Cato (CLVII) describes its +symptoms unmistakably. In his book on the effect of malaria in +history, W.H. Jones expresses the opinion that the malady was brought +into Italy from Africa by Hannibal's soldiers, but it is more probable +that it was always there. See the discussion in Lanciani's _Wanderings +in the Roman Campagna_. In Varro's time the Roman fever had begun to +sap the vitality of the Roman people, and the "animalia minuta" in +this passage suggests that Varro had a curious appreciation of what +we call the modern science of the subject. Columella (I, 5, 6) indeed +specifically mentions mosquitoes (infestis aculeis armata animalia) as +one 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, which +has preserved for us not only the wisdom of the Moorish practice in +agriculture and gardening which made Spain an enchanted paradise, but +also the tradition of the Arabs in such matters, purporting to go +back, through the Nabataeans to the Chaldaean books, which recorded +the agricultural methods that obtained "by the waters of Babylon." +Ibn-al-Awam's book has, therefore, a double interest for us, and +we are fortunate in having it available in an admirable French +translation from the Arabic by J.J. Clement-Mullet (Paris, Librairie +A. Franck, 1864). Not the least profitable chapters in this book are +those devoted to the preparation of manure in composts, to be ripened +in pits as Varro advises in the text. They show a thoroughness, a care +and an art in the mixing of the various animal dungs, with straw, +woodsearth and cinders, which few modern gardeners could equal. German +scholarship has questioned the Chaldaean origin of the authorities +quoted, but there is internal evidence which smacks of an oriental +despotism that might well be Babylonian. In a recipe for a rich +compost 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 sheep +if necessary--_but human blood is to be preferred!_] + +[Footnote 70: What Varro describes as the military fence of ditch and +bank was doubtless the typical Herefordshire fence of modern England +which Arthur Young, in _The Farmers' Letters_, recommends so highly as +at once most effective and most economical. The bank is topped with a +plashed hedge of white thorn in which sallow, ash, hazel and beech are +planted for "firing." The fencing practice of the American farmer has +followed the line of least resistance and is founded on the lowest +first cost: the original "snake" fences of split rails, upon the +making of which a former generation of pioneer American boys qualified +themselves for Presidential campaigns, being followed by woven wire +"made by a trust" and not the most enduring achievement of Big +Business. The practical farmer, as well as the lover of rural scenery, +has cause for regret that American agricultural practice has not yet +had the patience to enclose the land within live hedges and ditches.] + +[Footnote 71: The kind of fence which Varro here describes as "ex terra +et lapillis compositis in formis" is also described by Pliny (H.N. +XXXV, 169), as formaceos or moulded, and he adds, "aevis durant." It +would thus clearly appear to have been of gravel concrete, the use of +which the manufacturers of cement are now telling us, is the badge of +the modern progressive farmer. Cato (XXXVIII) told how to burn lime on +the farm, and these concrete fences were, of course, formed with lime +as the matrix. When only a few years ago, Portland cement was first +produced in America at a cost and in a quantity to stimulate the +development of concrete construction, engineers began with rough +broken stone and sand as the constituents of what they call the +aggregate, but some one soon "discovered" that the use of smooth +natural gravel made more compact concrete and "gravel concrete" became +the last word in engineering practice. But it was older even than +Varro. A Chicago business man visiting Mycenae picked up and brought +home a bit of rubbish from Schliemann's excavations of the ancient +masonry: lying on his office desk it attracted the attention of an +engineering friend who exclaimed, "That is one of the best samples of +the new gravel concrete I have seen. Did it come out of the Illinois +tunnel?" "No," replied the returned traveller, "it came out of the +tomb of Agamemnon!"] + +[Footnote 72: Varro here seems to forget the unities. He speaks in his +own person, when Scrofa has the floor.] + +[Footnote 73: It will be recalled that Aristotle described slaves as +living 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 of +whom we know is that Ofellus whom Horace (Satire II, 2) tells us +was working with cheerful philosophy as a hired hand upon his +own ancestral property from which he had been turned out in the +confiscations following the battle of Philippi. This might have been +the 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 sentiments +que la nature a partout fondés sur un libre choix: lorsque l'amour a +commencé a unir ces couples captifs, alors leur esclavage, devenu pour +eux aussi doux que la douce liberté, leur fait oublier peu à peu +leur droits de franchise naturelle et les prérogatives de leur état +sauvage; et ces lieux des premiers plaisirs, des premières amours, +ces lieux si chers à tout être sensible, deviennent leur demeure de +prédilection et leur habitation de choix: l'éducation de la famille +rend encore cette affection plus profonde et la communique en même +temps aux petits, qui s'étant trouvés citoyens par naissance d'un +séjour adopté par leur parents, ne cherchent point à en changer: car +ne pouvant avoir que pen ou point d'idée d'un état different ni d'un +autre séjour ils s'attachent au lieu ou ils sont nés comme à leur +patrie; et l'on sait que la terre natale est chère a ceux même qui +l'habitent en esclaves." + +One might assume that this eloquent and comfortable essay on +contentment in slavery had been written to illustrate Varro's text +at 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 to +every five acres cultivated. With slave labour, certainly with negro +slave labour, the experience of American cotton planters in the +nineteenth century very nearly confirmed this requirement, but one of +the economic advantages of the abolition of slavery is illustrated by +this very point. In Latimer's _First Sermon before King Edward VI_, +animadverting on the advance in farm rents in his day, he says that +his father, a typical substantial English yeoman of the time of the +discovery of America, was able to employ profitably six labourers in +cultivating 120 acres, or, say, one hand for each twenty acres, which +was precisely what Arthur Young recommended as necessary for high +farming at the end of the eighteenth century. At the beginning of the +twentieth century the American farmer seldom employs more than one +hand for every eighty acres cultivated, but this is partly due to the +use of improved machinery and partly to the fact that his land is not +thoroughly cultivated.] + +[Footnote 77: This example of Roman cost accounting is matched by +Walter of Henley in thirteenth century England. + +"Some men will tell you that a plough cannot work eight score or nine +score acres yearly, but I will show you that it can. You know well +that a furlong ought to be forty perches long and four wide, and the +King's perch is sixteen feet and a half: then an acre is sixty-six +feet in width. Now in ploughing go thirty-six times round to make +the ridge narrower, and when the acre is ploughed then you have made +seventy-two furlongs, which are six leagues, for be it known that +twelve furlongs are a league. And the horse or ox must be very poor +that cannot from the morning go easily in pace three leagues in length +from his starting place and return by three o'clock. And I will show +you by another reason that it can do as much. You know that there are +in the year fifty-two weeks. Now take away eight weeks for holy days +and other hindrances, then are there forty-four working weeks left. +And in all that time the plough shall only have to plough for fallow +or for spring or winter sowing three roods and a half daily, and for +second fallowing an acre. Now see if a plough were properly kept and +followed, if it could not do as much daily."] + +[Footnote 78: Stolo is quibbling. Cato's unit of 240 jugera was based +on the duodecimal system of weights and measures which the Romans had +originally derived from Babylon but afterwards modified by the use +of a decimal system. The enlightened and progressive nations of the +modern world who have followed the Romans in adopting a decimal system +may perhaps approve Stolo's remarks, but it behooves those of us who +still cling to the duodecimal system to defend Cato, if only to keep +up our own courage.] + +[Footnote 79: Here, in a few words, is the whole doctrine of +intelligent agriculture. Cf. Donaldson's _Agricultural Biography, +tit_. Jethro Tull. "The name of Tull will ever descend to posterity as +one of the greatest luminaries, if not the very greatest benefactor, +that British agriculture has the pride to acknowledge. His example +furnishes the vast advantages of educated men directing their +attention to the cultivation of the soil, as they bring enlightened +minds to bear upon its practice and look at the object in a naked +point of view, being divested of the dogmas and trammels of the craft +with which the practitioners of routine are inexpugnably provided and +entrenched."] + +[Footnote 80: Pliny quotes Cato: "What ever can be done by the help +of the ass costs the least money," which is the philosophy of modern +power machinery on the farm, as elsewhere. It is largely a question of +the cost of fuel, as Varro says.] + +[Footnote 81: Green manuring is one of the oldest, as it is one of +the best, of agricultural practices. Long before Varro, Theophrastus +(II.P. 9, I) had recorded what the agricultural colleges teach +today--that beans are valuable for this purpose because they rot +readily, and, he adds, in Macedonia and Thessaly it has always been +the 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 ploughing +of stiff and heavy clay. Theophrastus, who died in B.C. 287, advises +it "that the earth may feel the cold." Indeed, he was fully alive to +the reasons urged by the modern professors of agronomy for intensive +cultivation. "For the soil," he says (C.P. III, 25), "often inverted +becomes free, light and clear of weeds, so that it can most easily +afford nourishment." + +King Solomon gives the same advice, "The sluggard will not plough +by reason of the winter, therefore shall he begin harvest and have +nothing." _Proverbs_, XX, 4.] + +[Footnote 83: The Romans understood the advantages of thorough +cultivation of the soil. As appears from the text, they habitually +broke up a sod in the spring, ploughed it again at midsummer, and once +more in September before seeding. Pliny prescribes that the first +ploughing should be nine inches deep, and says that the Etruscans some +times ploughed their stiff clay as many as nine times. The accepted +Roman reason for this was the eradication of weeds, but it also +accomplished in some measure the purpose of "dry farming"--the +conservation of the moisture content of the soil, as that had +been practised for countless generations in the sandy Valley of +Mesopotamia. Varro makes no exception to this rule, but Virgil was +here, as in other instances, induced to depart from Varro's wisdom, +with the result that he imposed upon Roman agriculture several +thoroughly bad practices. Thus, while he applies Varro ploughing rules +to rich land and bids the farmer "exercetque frequens tellurem atque +imperat arvis," he says (Geo. I, 62) that it will suffice to give +sandy land a single shallow ploughing in September immediately before +seeding, for fear, forsooth, that the summer suns will evaporate +whatever moisture there is in it! Again, Virgil recommends, what Varro +does not, cross-ploughing and burning the stubble and Virgil's advice +was generally followed. + +In William Benson's edition (1725) of the _Georgics_ "with notes +critical and rustick," it is stated that "the husbandry of England +in general is Virgilian, which is shown by paring and burning the +surface: by raftering and cross-ploughing, and that in those parts of +England where the Romans principally inhabited all along the Southern +coast Latin words remain to this hour among shepherds and ploughmen in +their rustick affairs: and what will seem more strange at first sight +to affirm though in fact really true, there is more of Virgil's +husbandry put in practice in England at this instant than in Italy +itself." That this was the fact in the thirteenth century is clear +from the quotations we have made from Walter of Henley's _Dite de +Hosebondrie_. Cf. also Sir Anthony Fitzherbert and the account of the +manorial system of farming in England in Prothero's _English Farming +Past and Present_. + +It remained for Jethro Tull of the _Horseshoeing Husbandry_ to unloose +in England the long spell of the magic of Virgil's poetry upon +practical 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 the +enumeration of the days in this succession of seasons, but Keil +justly observes: "As we do not know what principle Varro followed in +establishing these divisions of the year, it is safer to set them +down as they are written in the codex than to be tempted by uncertain +emendation." I have accordingly followed Keil here.] + +[Footnote 86: The practice of ridging land seeded to grain was +necessary before the invention of the modern drill. Dickson, in his +_Husbandry of the Ancients_, XXIV, argues that, while wasteful of +land, it had the advantage of preventing the grain from lodging. +Walter of Henley, who followed the Roman methods by tradition without +knowing it, advises with them that to be successful in this kind of +seeding the furrow at the last ploughing of the fallow should be so +narrow as to be indistinguishable. "At sowing do not plough large +furrows," he says, "but little and well laid together that the seed +may fall evenly: if you plough a large furrow to be quick you will do +harm. How? I will tell you. When, the ground is sown then the harrow +will come and pull the corn into the hollow which is between the two +ridges and the large ridge shall be uncovered, then no corn shall grow +there. And will you see this? When the corn is above ground go to the +end of the ridge and you will see that I tell you truly. And if the +land must be sown below the ridge see that it is ploughed with small +furrows and the earth raised as much as you are able. And see that the +ridge 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 the +plough, be over-turned, and then shall the furrow be narrow enough."] + +[Footnote 87: Farrago was a mixture of refuse _far_, or spelt, with +vetch, sown thick and cut green to be fed to cattle in the process +now called soiling. The English word "forage" comes from this Latin +original.] + +[Footnote 88: Spanish American engineers today insert in their +specifications for lumber the stipulation that it be cut on the wane +of the moon. The rural confidence in the influence of the moon upon +the 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 on +the wane, so it will be found that the moon is consulted before a colt +is 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 the +almanack, 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 the +other of the signs Pisces, Capricornus or Aquarius: but never at a +time of day when the moon is in its "Southing."] + +[Footnote 89: Modern agricultural chemistry has contradicted this +judgment of Cassius, for the manure of sea birds, especially that +brought from the South American islands in the Pacific, known +commercially as Peruvian guano, is found on analysis to be high in the +elements which are most beneficial to plant life.] + +[Footnote 90: Seed selection, which is now preached so earnestly by +the Agricultural Department of the United States as one of the things +necessary to increase the yield of wheat and corn, has ever been good +practice. Following Varro Virgil (_Georgic_ I, 197) insists upon it: +"I have seen those seeds on whose selection much time and labour +had been spent, nevertheless degenerate if men did not every year +rigorously separate by hand all the largest specimens."] + +[Footnote 91: Cicero (de Div. II, 24) records a _mot_ of Cato's that +he wondered that an haruspex did not laugh when he saw another--"qui +mirari 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 a +limb of its own tree, back of a specimen fruit, thus pushing its +development by means of the supplemental feeding so provided. Cf. Cyc. +Am. Hort. II, 664.] + +[Footnote 93: _Alfalfa_ is the Moorish name which the Spaniards brought +to America with the forage plant _Medicago Sativa_, Linn., which all +over Southern Europe is known by the French name _lucerne_. It is +proper to honour the Moors by continuing in use their name for this +interesting plant, because undoubtedly they preserved it for the use +of the modern world, just as undoubtedly they bequeathed to us that +fine sentiment known as personal honour. + +Alfalfa was one of the standbys of ancient agriculture. According to +Pliny, it was introduced into Italy from Greece, whence it had been +brought from Asia during the Persian wars, and so derived its Greek +and Roman name _Medica_. As Cato does not mention it with the other +legumes he used, it is probable that the Romans had not yet adopted +it in Cato's day, but by the time of Varro and Virgil it was well +established in Italy. In Columella's day it was already a feature of +the agriculture of Andalousia, and there the Moors, who loved plants, +kept it alive, as it were a Vestal fire, while it died out of Italy +during the Dark Ages: from Spain it spread again all over Southern +Europe, and with America it was a fair exchange for tobacco. Alfalfa +has always been the subject of high praise wherever it has been known. +The Greek Amphilochus devoted a whole book to it, as have the English +Walter Harte in the middle of the eighteenth century and the American +Coburn at the beginning of the twentieth century, but none of them is +more instructive on the subject of its culture than is Columella in a +few paragraphs. Because of the difficulty of getting a stand of it in +many soils, it is important to realize the pains which the Romans took +with the seed bed, for it is on this point that most American farmers +fail. Says Columella (II, 10): + +"But of all the legumes, alfalfa is the best, because, when once it is +sown, it lasts ten years: because it can be mowed four times, and even +six times, a year: because it improves the soil: because all lean +cattle grow fat by feeding upon it: because it is a remedy for sick +beasts: because a jugerum (two-thirds of an acre) of it will feed +three horses plentifully for a year. We will teach you the manner of +cultivating it, as follows: The land which you wish to set in alfalfa +the following spring should be broken up about the Kalends of October, +so that it may mellow through the entire winter. About the Kalends of +February harrow it thoroughly, remove all the stones and break up the +clods. 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 the +manner of a garden, in beds ten feet wide and fifty feet long, so that +it may be possible to let in water by the paths, and access on every +side may be had by the weeders. Then cover the beds with well rotted +manure. At last, about the end of April, sow plentifully so that a +single measure (cyanthus) of seed will cover a space ten feet long +and five wide. When you have done this brush in the seed with wooden +rakes: this is most important for otherwise the sprouts will be +withered by the sun. After the sowing no iron tool should touch the +beds; but, as I have said, they should be cultivated with wooden +rakes, and in the same manner they should be weeded so that no foreign +grass can choke out the young alfalfa. The first cutting should be +late, when the seed begins to fall: afterwards, when it is well +rooted, you can cut it as young as you wish to feed to the stock. Feed +it at first sparingly, until the stock becomes accustomed to it, for +it causes bloat and excess of blood. After cutting, irrigate the beds +frequently, and after a few days, when the roots begin to sprout, weed +out all other kinds of grass. Cultivated in this way alfalfa can be +mowed six times a year, and it will last for ten years."] + +[Footnote 94: See the explanation of what the Romans meant by _terra +varia_ in the note on Cato V. _ante_, p. 40.] + +[Footnote 95: It is interesting to note from the statements in the text +that in Varro's time the Roman farmer in Italy both sowed and reaped +substantially the same amount of wheat as does the American farmer +today. Varro says that the Romans sowed five modii of wheat to the +jugerum and reaped on the maximum fifteen for one. As the modius was +nearly the equivalent of our peck, the Roman allowance for sowing +corresponds to the present American practice of sowing seven pecks +of wheat to the acre: and on this basis a yield of 26 bushels to the +acre, which is not uncommon in the United States, is the equivalent of +the Roman harvest of fifteen for one. + +It is fair to the average Italian farmer of the present day who is +held up by the economists to scorn because he does not produce +more than eleven bushels of wheat to the acre, to record that in +Columella's time, when agriculture had declined as compared with +Varro's experience, the average yield of grain in many parts of Italy +did not exceed four for one (_Columella_, III, 3), or say seven and a +half bushels to the acre. + +Varro's statement that at Byzacium in Africa wheat yielded 100 for +one, which Pliny (_II.N._ XVIII, 23) increases to 150 for one, means +from 175 to 260 bushels per acre, seems incredible to us, but is +confirmed by the testimony of agricultural practice in Palestine. +Isaac claimed to reap an hundred fold, and the parable of the Sower +alludes to yields of 30, 60 and 100 fold. + +Harte _Essays on Husbandry_, 91, says that the average yield in +England in the middle of the eighteenth century was seven for one, +though he records the case of an award by the Dublin Society in 1763 +to an Irish gentleman who raised 50 bushels of wheat from a single +peck of seed! Harte was a parson, but apparently he did not bring the +same unction into his agriculture as did the Rev. Robert Herrick to +the 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 the +direct ancestor of our modern marvellous self-binding harvester, it is +of 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 frame +armed with teeth and supported on two wheels is driven through the +standing corn, the beasts being yoked behind it, the result being that +the 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 of +harvesting quickly and with a minimum of human labour, for thereby a +single ox is made to bear the burden of the entire harvest. A cart is +constructed on two low wheels and is furnished with a square body, of +which the side boards are adjusted to slope upward and outward to make +greater capacity. The front of the body is left open and there across +the width of the cart are set a series of lance shaped teeth spaced to +the distance between the grain stalks and curved upward. Behind the +cart two short shafts are fashioned, like those of a litter, where the +ox is yoked and harnessed with his head towards the cart: for this +purpose it is well to use a well broken and sensible ox, which will +not push ahead of his driver. When this machine is driven through the +standing grain all the heads are stripped by the teeth and are thrown +back and collected in the body of the cart, the straw being left +standing. The machine is so contrived that the driver can adjust its +height to that of the grain. Thus with little going and coming and in +a few short hours the entire harvest is made. This method is available +in level or prairie countries and to those who do not need to save the +straw." + +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 which +served Izaak Walton as the model for his _Compleat Angler_): "This +tricke might be used in levell and champion countries, but with us it +would make but ill-favoured worke." + +Dondlinger, in his excellent _Book of Wheat_ (1908), which should be +in the hands of every grain farmer, gives a picture reproducing the +Gallic header and says: + +"After being used during hundreds of years the Gallic header +disappeared, and it seems to have been completely forgotten for +several centuries. Only through literature did it escape the fate of +permanent oblivion and become a heritage for the modern world. The +published description of the machine by Pliny and Palladius furnished +the impulse in which modern harvesting inventions originated. Its +distinctive features are retained in several modern inventions of this +class, machines which have a practical use and value under conditions +similar to those which existed on the plains of Gaul. Toward the close +of the eighteenth century, the social, economic and agricultural +conditions in England, on account of increasing competition and the +higher value of labour, were ripe for the movement of invention that +was heralded by the printed account of the Gallic header. The first +header was constructed by William Pitt in 1786. It was an attempted +improvement on the ancient machine in that the stripping teeth were +placed in a cylinder which was revolved by power transmitted from the +wheels. This 'rippling cylinder' carried the heads of the wheat into +the box of the machine, and gradually evolved into the present day +reel." + +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 in +England to shear wheat and rye and to leave the straw standing after +the third method described by Varro, the purpose being to preserve the +straw to be cut later for thatching, as threshing it would necessarily +destroy 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 the +circumference of a threshing floor of this description be saved for +seed because it is evidently the heaviest.] + +[Footnote 99: In the Apennines today the threshing floor, or _aja_, is +anointed with cow dung smeared smooth with water, doubtless for the +same reason that the Romans so used amurca.] + +[Footnote 100: Between harvests the winnowing basket is quite generally +used in Italy today for a cradle, as it was from the beginning of +time, for there is an ancient gem representing the infant Bacchus +asleep in a winnowing basket.] + +[Footnote 101: What the French call, from the same practice, _vin de +rognure_.] + +[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 was +winter. 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 intense +blue-green colour. It is always flanked by an array of vast storage +jars (Cato's _dolii_ now called _orci_), which make one realize the +story of _Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves_.] + +[Footnote 103: The Roman waste of amurca, through ignorance of its +value, was like the American waste of the cotton seed, which for many +years was thrown out from the gin to rot upon the ground, even its +fertilizing use being neglected. Now cotton seed has a market value +equivalent to nearly 20 per cent of that of the staple. It is used for +cattle feed and also is made into lard and "pure olive oil," being +exported 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 property +of all, rich or poor, are adequately protected by a sound system of +police and by courts of first instance which are sitting every day. +Assault and murder, theft and burglary are exceptional. It might be +going too far to say that at Rome they were the rule: but it is the +fact that in what we may call the slums of Rome there was no machinery +for checking them.... It is the great merit of Augustus that he made +Rome not only a city of marble but one in which the persons and +property of all citizens were fairly secure." + +There are several contemporary references to the crowded and dangerous +condition of the streets of Rome at the end of the Republic. Cicero +(_Plancius_, 7) tells how he was pushed against the arch of Fabius +while struggling through the press of the Via Sacra, and exonerates +from blame the man who was the immediate cause of his inconvenience, +holding that the one next beyond was more responsible: in which +judgment Cicero was of the opinion of Mr. Justice Blackstone in the +famous leading case of Scott _v_. Shepherd (1 _Smith's L.C._, 480), +where the question was who was liable for the damage eventually done +by the burning squib which was passed about the market house by +successive hands. The majority of the court held, however, against +Blackstone and Cicero, and established the doctrine of proximate +cause.] + +[Footnote 105: The Roman week (_nundinum_, or more properly _inter +nundinum_) was of eight days, the last being the market day on which +the citizens rested from agricultural labour and came into town to +sell and buy and talk politics. Cf. Pliny, XVIII, 3. This custom which +Varro regrets had fallen into desuetude so far as Rome was concerned +was in his day still practised in the provinces. Thus the five tenants +on Horace's Sabine farm were wont to go every _nundinum_ to the market +town of Varia (the modern Vicovaro) to transact public business +(_Epist_. I, 14, 2).] + +[Footnote 106: Varro here refers to the great economic change which was +coming over Italian husbandry in the last days of the Republic, the +disappearance of the small farms, the "septem jugera" which nurtured +the early Roman heroes like Cincinnatus and Dentatus, and even the +larger, but still comparatively small, farms which Cato describes, and +the development of the _latifundia_ given over to grazing.] + +[Footnote 107: The tradition is, says Pliny, that King Augeas was the +first in Greece to use manure, and that Hercules introduced the +practice into Italy. To the wise farmer the myth of the Augean stables +is 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. It +will be recalled that Pompey divided the Mediterranean into thirteen +districts for the war with the Pirates and put a responsible +lieutenant in command of each, thus enabling him by concurrent action +in all the districts to clear the seas in three months. Appian gives +the list of officers and the limits of their commands, saying: "The +coasts of Sicily and the Ionian sea as far as Acarnania were entrusted +to Plotius and Varro." It is difficult to understand Varro's own +reference to Delos, but Appian makes clear how it happened that Varro +was stationed on the coast of Epirus and so fell in with the company +of "half Greek shepherds" who are the _dramatis personae_ of the +second book. As the scene of the first book was laid in a temple of +Tellus, so this relating to live stock is cast in a temple of Pales, +the goddess of shepherds, on the occasion of the festival of the +Parilia, and the names of the characters have a punning reference to +live 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 the +commentators on Varro, have all agreed. It is a pleasure to record the +agreement on this point, because it is believed to be unique: but +many precedents for plunging the reader _in medias res_, as does the +surviving text, might be found in the modern short story of the +artist in style. As M. Boissier points out Varro might have cited the +beginning of the Odyssey as a precedent for this.] + +[Footnote 110: This is a paraphase of a favorite locution of Homer's +heroes, whose characteristic modesty does not, however, permit them +to apply it to themselves, as Varro does. Thus in _Iliad_, VII, 114, +Agamemnon advises Menelaos not to venture against Hector, whom "even +Achilles 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 this +tradition, endowing the sturdy race of Fauns and Nymphs who inhabited +the land of Saturn before the Golden Age, with the qualities of the +trees on whose fruit they subsisted, "gensque virum truncis et duro +robore nata."] + +[Footnote 112: In the registers of the censors every thing from which +the public revenues were derived was set down under the head of +_pascua_, or "pasture lands," because for a long time the pasture +lands were the only source of such revenue. Cf. Pliny, _H.N._ XVIII, +3.] + +[Footnote 113: Olisippo is the modern Lisbon. This tradition about the +mares of the region is repeated by Virgil (Geo. III, 272) by Columella +(VI, 27) and by Pliny (VIII, 67). Professor Ridgeway in _The Origin +and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse_ describes it as "an +aetiological myth to explain the swiftness of horses" for the fleetest +horses came out of the West; thus Pegasus was born at the springs of +the ocean, and there is the passage in Homer (_Iliad_, XVI, 149) about +the horses "that flew as swift as the winds, the horses that the +harpy Podarge (Swift Foot) bare to the West Wind as she grazed on the +meadows by the stream of the Ocean." Hence we may conclude that there +was a race of swift horses in Portugal in the earliest times, which +Professor Ridgeway would doubtless like very much to prove, in support +of his interesting thesis, were derived from Libya.] + +[Footnote 114: _Hypenemia_, or barren eggs, are described intelligently +by Aristotle (H.A.V. 1, 4, VI. 2, 5), and, with Varro's confidence in +the country traditions, by Pliny, H.N. X, 80. + +If he had known it, Varro might have here cited the fact that the +unfertilized queen bee is parthenogenetic, though producing only male +bees; 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 two +Menaechmi is, on his arrival at Epidamnus, mistaken for his brother, +of whose existence he does not know, and much to his amazement is +introduced into the brother's life and possessions. At first he +expostulates, accusing the slave of the brother, who has mistaken his +identity, of being crazy and offers to exorcise him by a sacrifice +of 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 and +has survived in many forms on the modern stage all over Europe. From +it Shakespeare derived the plot of the _Comedy of Errors_.] + +[Footnote 116: It is interesting to compare these sane therapeutics with +Cato's practice less than two hundred years previous (_ante_, p. 47), +which was characteristic of the superstitious peasant who in Italy +still seeks the priest to bless his ailing live stock.] + +[Footnote 117: This Atticus was Cicero's intimate friend to whom he +addressed so many of his charming letters. He changed his name as +stated in the text, the new name being that of an uncle who adopted +him, as we learn from his life by Nepos. As is well known to all +students of Cicero, Atticus had dwelt in Athens many years and derived +his income from estates in Epirus, which is the point of Scrofa's +jest.] + +[Footnote 118: This requirement of short legs is the more remarkable +because of the long journeys which Varro says the Roman sheep were +required to make between their summer and winter pastures. A similar +necessity and bad roads created in England, before the eighteenth +century, a demand for long legged sheep. Prothero (_English Farming +Past and Present_) quotes a description of the "true old Warwickshire +ram" in 1789: "His frame large and remarkably loose. His bone +throughout heavy. His legs long and thick, terminating in large splaw +feet." + +One of the things which Bakewell accomplished was to shorten the legs +as well as to increase the mutton on his New Leicesters. Of Bakewell, +Mr. Prothero justly says, "By providing meat for the million he +contributed as much to the wealth of the country as Arkwright or +Watt."] + +[Footnote 119: Shepherds still look for the black or spotted tongue in +the mouth of the ram, for the reason given by Varro, but the warning +is no longer put in the shepherds' manual.] + +[Footnote 120: Varro would still feel at home in Apulia, for there the +sheep industry is carried on much as it was in his time, and thence +the _calles publicae_, to which he refers, still lead to the summer +pastures in the Apennines. Cf. Beauclerk _Rural Italy_, chap. V. "The +extensive pasturages of the 'Tavoliere di Puglia' (Apulia) are of +great importance and have a history of their own. This vast domain +covers 750,000 acres: its origin belongs to the time of the Roman +Conquests and the protracted wars of the Republic, which were fought +out in the plains, whence they became deserted and uncultivated, fit +only for public pastures in winter time ... the periodical emigrations +of the flocks continue as in the past times: they descend from the +mountains into the plains by a network of wide grassy roads which +traverse the region in every direction and are called _tratturi_. +These lanes are over 100 yards in width and cover a total length +of 940 miles.... Not less than 50,000 animals are pastured on the +Tavoliere, requiring over 1,500 square miles of land for their +subsistence.... Five thousand persons are employed as shepherds."] + +[Footnote 121: Varro quite uniformly uses words which indicate that he +was accustomed to see sheep driven (_abigere, propellere, adpellere_) +but we can see the flocks _led_ in Italy today, as they were in +Palestine soon after Varro's death, according to the testimony of that +beautiful figure of the Good Shepherd (_St. John_, X, 4): "And when he +putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them, and the sheep follow +him, for they know his voice." R. Child, in his "Large Letter" in +Hartlib's _Legacie_, gives the explanation of the difference in the +custom: + +"Our sheep do not follow their shepherds as they do in all other +countries: for the shepherd goeth before and the sheep follow like a +pack of dogs. This disobedience of our sheep doth not happen to us, +as the Papist Priests tell their simple flocks, because we have left +their great shepherd the Pope; but because we let our sheep range +night and day in our fields without a shepherd: which other countries +dare not for fear of wolves and other ravenous beasts, but are +compelled to guard them all day with great dogs and to bring them home +at 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 a +beggar, was making his way to his house in company with the faithful +swineherd Eumaeus, they met the goatherd Melanthius "leading his goats +to feast the wooers, the best goats that were in all the herds." +(_Odyssey_, XVII, 216), and that subsequently he suffered a terrible +punishment for this unfaithfulness to his master's interests.] + +[Footnote 124: Pliny (VIII, 76) calls these excrescences _lanciniae_, or +folds, and attributes them exclusively to the she goat, as Varro seems +to do also, but Columella (VII, 6) attributes them to the buck.] + +[Footnote 125: Aristotle (H.A. I, 9.1) refers to this opinion and +denounces it as erroneous.] + +[Footnote 126: The Roman _denarius_, which has been here and later +translated _denier_, may be considered for the purpose of comparing +values as, roughly, the equivalent of the modern franc, or lira, say +20 cents United States money.] + +[Footnote 127: Macrobius (_Saturn_. I, 6) tells another story of the +origin of this cognomen, which, if not so heroic as that in the text, +is entertaining. It is related that a neighbour's sow strayed on +Tremelius' land and was caught and killed as a vagrant. When the +owner came to claim it and asserted the right to search the premises +Tremelius hid the carcass in the bed in which his wife was lying and +then took a solemn oath that there was no sow in his house except that +in 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 learned +language"; but it may be noted that the _locus classicus_ for the +play on the word is the incident of the Megarian "mystery pigs" in +Aristophanes' _Acharnians_, 728 ff. Cf. also Athenaeus, IX, 17, 18.] + +[Footnote 129: Cf. Pliny (_H.N._ VIII, 77): "There is no animal that +affords a greater variety to the palate of the epicure: all the others +have their own peculiar flavour, but the flesh of the hog has nearly +fifty different flavours."] + +[Footnote 130: In his stimulating book, _Comment la route crée le type +Social_, Edmond Desmolins submits an ingenious hypothesis to explain +the pre-eminence of the Gauls in the growing and making of pork, +and how that pre-eminence was itself the explanation of their early +success in cultivating the cereals. He describes their migrating +ancestors, the Celts, pushing their way up the Danube as hordes of +nomad shepherds with their vast flocks and herds of horses and cattle, +on the milk of which they had hitherto subsisted. So long as they +journeyed through prairie steppes, the last of which was Hungary, they +maintained their shepherd character, but when they once passed the +site of the present city of Vienna and entered the plateau of Bavaria, +they found new physical conditions which caused them to reduce and to +separate their herds of large cattle--an unbroken forest affording +little pasture of grass. Here they found the wild boar subsisting upon +the mast of the forest, and him they domesticated out of an economic +necessity, to take the place of their larger cattle as a basis of food +supply. Until then they had not been meat eaters, and so had known no +necessity for cereals, for milk is a balanced ration in itself. But +this change of diet required them also to take to agriculture and so +to abandon their nomad life. + +'By reason of the habits of the animal, swine husbandry has a tendency +in itself to confine those engaged in it to a more or less sedentary +life, but we are about to see how the Celts were compelled to +accomplish this important evolution by an even more powerful force. +Meat cannot be eaten habitually except in conjunction with a +cereal ... and of all the meats pork is the one which demands this +association most insistently, because it is the least easily digested +and the most heating of all the meats.... So that is how the adoption +of swine husbandry and a diet of pork compelled our nomad Celts to +take 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 speaking +consumers as "Bologna" sausage.] + +[Footnote 132: The Gaul of which Cato was here writing is the modern +Lombardy, one of the most densely populated and richest agricultural +districts in the world. Here are found today those truly marvellous +"marchite" or irrigated meadows which owe the initiative for their +existence to the Cistercian monks of the Chiaravalle Abbey, who began +their fruitful agricultural labours in the country near Milan in the +twelfth century. There is a recorded instance of one of these meadows +which yielded in a single season 140 tons of grass per hectare, equal +to 75 tons of hay, or 30 tons per acre! The meadows are mowed six +times a year, and the grass is fed green to Swiss cows, which are kept +in great numbers for the manufacture of "frommaggio di grana," or +Parmesan cheese. This system of green soiling maintains the fertility +of the meadows, while the by-product of the dairies is the feeding of +hogs, which are kept in such quantity that they are today exported as +they were in the times of Cato and Varro. There is no region of the +earth, unless it be Flanders, of which the aspect so rejoices the +heart 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 of +this tradition of the founding of Lavinium, the sacred city of the +Romans where the Penates dwelt and whither solemn processions were +wont to proceed from Rome until Christianity became the State +religion. The site has been identified as that of the modern village +of Practica, where a few miserable shepherds collect during the winter +months, fleeing to the hills at the approach of summer and the dread +_malaria_.] + +[Footnote 134: Cf. Polybius, XII, 4: 'For in Italy the swineherds manage +the feeding of their pigs in the same way. They do not follow close +behind the beasts, as in Greece, but keep some distance in front of +them, sounding their horn every now and then: and the animals follow +behind and run together at the sound. Indeed, the complete familiarity +which the animals show with the particular horn to which they belong +seems at first astonishing and almost incredible. For, owing to the +populousness and wealth of the country, the droves of swine in Italy +are exceedingly large, especially along the sea coast of the Tuscans +and Gauls: for one sow will bring up a thousand pigs, or some times +even more. They, therefore, drive them out from their night styes to +feed according to their litters and ages. When if several droves are +taken to the same place they cannot preserve these distinctions of +litters: but they, of course, get mixed up with each other both as +they are being driven out and as they feed, and as they are being +brought home. Accordingly, the device of the horn blowing has been +invented to separate them when they have got mixed up together, +without labour or trouble. For as they feed one swineherd goes in +one direction sounding his horn, and another in another and thus the +animals sort themselves of their own accord and follow their own horn +with such eagerness that it is impossible by any means to stop or +hinder them. But in Greece when the swine get mixed up in the oak +forests in their search for the mast, the swineherd who has most +assistants and the best help at his disposal, when collecting his own +animals drives off his neighbours' also. Some times, too, a thief lies +in wait and drives them off without the swineherd knowing how he has +lost them, because the beasts straggle a long way from their drivers +in their eagerness to find acorns, when they are just beginning to +fall.' + +Bishop Latimer in one of his sermons quotes the phrase used in his +youth, at the time of the discovery of America, in calling hogs: 'Come +to thy minglemangle, come pur, come pur.' It would be impossible to +transcribe the traditional call used in Virginia. One some times +thinks that it was the original of the celebrated 'rebel yell' of +General Lee's army.] + +[Footnote 135: The use of the Greek salutation was esteemed by the more +austere Romans of the age of Scipio an evidence of preciosity, to be +laughed at: and so Lucienus' jesting apology for the use of it here +doubtless was in reference to Lucilius' epigram which Cicero has +preserved, _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 a +fellow labourer. Valerius Maximus (VIII, 8 _ad fin_.) cites a case of +a Roman citizen who was put to death, because, to satisfy the craving +of 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 agrees +that pigs and goats are fit subjects for sacrifice, but protests +against 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 discover +nothing about either this Plautius or this Hirrius, but it appears +that Archelaus wrote a book under the title Bugonia, of which nothing +survives. It may be conjectured, however, on the analogy of Samson's +riddle to the Philistines, "Out of the eater came forth meat, and +out of the strong came forth sweetness," (_Judges_, XIV, 14), that +Plautius meant to imply that some good might be the consequence of the +evil Hirrius had done: and that Vaccius cited the allusion to suggest +to Varro that, while he might know nothing much about cattle, +his attempt to deal with the subject might provoke some useful +discussion.] + +[Footnote 138: Darwin, _Animals and Plants_, II, 20, cites this passage +and says that "at the present day the natives of Java some times drive +their cattle into the forests to cross with the wild Banteng." The +crossing of wild blood on domestic animals is not, however, always +successful. A recent visitor to the German agricultural experiment +station at Halle describes "a curious hairy beast with great horns, +a wild look in his eye, a white streak down his back and a bumpy +forehead, which had in it blood from cattle which had lived on the +plains of Thibet, which had grazed on the lowland pastures of Holland, +which had roamed the forests of northeast India and of the Malay +Peninsular, and had wandered through the forests of Germany. We +Americans had sympathy for this beast. He was some thing like +ourselves, with the blood of many different races flowing through his +veins."] + +[Footnote 139: Pliny (VIII, 66) cites the fact that the Scythians always +preferred mares to stallions for war, and gives an ingenious reason +for the preference. Aristotle (_H.A._ VI, 22) says that the Scythians +rode their pregnant mares until the very last, saying that the +exercise rendered parturition more easy. Every breeder of heavy draft +horses has seen a mare taken from the plough and have her foal in the +field, with no detriment to either: and the story of the mare Keheilet +Ajuz, who founded the best of the Arab families, is well known, but +bears 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 to +mares, they will not ride a stallion in war. The said mare was at the +time far along toward parturition: indeed she became a mother when the +flying horseman stopped for rest at noonday, the new comer being a +filly. Being hard pressed the Sheik was compelled to remount his mare +and again seek safety in flight, abandoning the newborn filly to her +fate. Finally reaching safety among his own people, great was the +surprise of all when, shortly after the arrival of the Sheik on his +faithful mare, the little filly less than a day old came into camp +also, having followed her mother across miles of desert. She was +immediately given into the care of an old woman of the tribe (Ajuz += an old woman), hence her name Keheilet Ajuz, 'the mare of the old +woman,' and grew to be the most famous of all the animals in the +history of the breed."] + +[Footnote 140: Varro does not describe the livery of the horses of his +day, as he does of cattle, but Virgil (_Georg_. III, 81) supplies the +deficiency, asserting that the best horses were bay (_spadices_) and +roan (_glauci_) while the least esteemed were white (_albi_) and dun +(_gilvi_), which is very interesting testimony in support of the most +recent theory of the origin of the thoroughbred horse. Professor +Ridgeway who, opposing Darwin's conclusion, contends for a multiple +origin of the historic and recent races of horses, has collected a +mass of information about the marking of famous horses of all ages in +his _Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse_. He maintains +that a bay livery, with a white star and stockings, the development +of protective coloration from an originally striped coat, such as has +gone on more recently in the case of the quaggas, is absolute evidence +of the North African origin of a horse, and he shows that all the +swiftest horses mentioned in history are of that race, while the +heavier and less mettlesome horses of Northern origin have been, when +pure bred, dun coloured or white. + +Of the Italian breeds mentioned by Varro, Professor Ridgeway +conjectures that the Etruscan (or Rosean) was probably an improved +Northern 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 good +advice, saying that a mare "produces better foals at the end of four +or five years. It is quite necessary that she should wait one year +and should pass through a fallow, as it were--[Greek: poiein osper +neion]."] + +[Footnote 142: Mules were employed in antiquity from the earliest times. +In Homer they were used for drawing wagons: thus Nausicaa drove a mule +team to haul out the family wash, and Priam made his visit to Achilles +in a mule litter. Homer professes to prefer mules to oxen for +ploughing. There were mule races at the Greek games. Aristotle +(_Rhetoric_, III, 2) tells an amusing story of Simonides, who, when +the victor in the mule race offered him only a poor fee, refused to +compose an ode, pretending to be shocked at the idea of writing about +"semi-asses," but, on receipt of a proper fee, he wrote the ode +beginning: "Hail, daughters of storm-footed mares," although they were +equally daughters of the asses.] + +[Footnote 143: The breed of Maremma sheep dogs, still preferred in +Italy, 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 maintains +eloquently that the dog alone among the domestic animals has given his +confidence and friendship to man. "We are alone, absolutely alone, on +this chance planet: and amid all the forms of life that surround us +not one excepting the dog has made alliance with us. A few creatures +fear us, most are unaware of us, and not one loves us. In the world of +plants, we have dumb and motionless slaves: but they serve us in spite +of themselves.... The rose and the corn, had they wings, would fly at +our approach, like birds. Among the animals, we number a few servants +who have submitted only through indifference, cowardice or stupidity: +the uncertain and craven horse, who responds only to pain and is +attached to nothing ... the cow and the ox happy so long as they are +eating and docile because for centuries they have not had a thought of +their own.... I do not speak of the cat, to whom we are nothing more +than a too large and uneatable prey: the ferocious cat whose side long +contempt tolerates us only as encumbering parasites in our own homes. +She at least curses us in her mysterious heart: but all the others +live 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 the +domestic animals in the Blue Bird will be remembered.] + +[Footnote 145: This method of securing the faithful affection of a dog +is solemnly recommended, without acknowledgment to Saserna, in the +seventeenth century editions of the _Maison Rustique_ (I, 27).] + +[Footnote 146: Keil happily points out that in his book on the Latin +language (VII, 31), Varro quotes the "ancient proverb" to which he +here refers, viz.: "canis caninam non est" dog doesn't eat dog.] + +[Footnote 147: Aristotle (_H.A._ VI, 20) says that puppies are blind +from twelve to seventeen days, depending upon the season of the year +at which they are born. Pliny (_H N._ VIII, 62) says from seven to +twenty days, depending upon the supply of the mother's milk.] + +[Footnote 148: It was among these hardy shepherd slaves that Spartacus +recruited 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 Italy +even in the nineteenth century.] + +[Footnote 149: Gaius, I, 119, II, 24, 41, describes in detail the +processes here referred to by which a slave was acquired under the +Roman law.] + +[Footnote 150: Dennis, in his _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, draws +a picture of modern Italy which may serve to illustrate Varro's sketch +of 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_ scattered +over the downs. These are tall conical thatched huts which the +shepherds make their winter abode. For in Italy, the lowlands being +generally unhealthy in summer, the flocks are driven to the mountains +about May, and as soon as the great heats are past are brought back to +the rich pastures of the plains. It is a curious sight, the interior +of a _capanna_, and affords an agreeable diversity to the antiquity +hunter. A little boldness is requisite to pass through the pack of +dogs, white as new dropt lambs, but large and fierce as wolves, which, +were the shepherd not at hand, would tear in pieces whoever might +venture to approach the hut: but with one of the _pecoraj_ for a +Teucer, nothing is to be feared. The _capanne_ are of various sizes. +One I entered not far from Veii was thirty or forty feet in diameter +and fully as high, propped in the centre by two rough masts, between +which a hole was left in the roof for the escape of smoke. Within the +door lay a large pile of lambs, there might be a hundred, killed that +morning and already flayed, and a number of shepherds were busied +in operating on the carcases of others: all of which were to be +dispatched forthwith to the Roman market. Though a fierce May sun +blazed without, a huge fire roared in the middle of the hut: but this +was for the sake of the _ricotta_, which was being made in another +part of the _capanna_. Here stood a huge cauldron, full of boiling +ewes' milk. In a warm state this curd is a delicious jelly and has +often tempted me to enter a _capanna_ in quest of it, to the amazement +of the _pecoraj_, to whom it is _vilior alga_. Lord of the cauldron, +stood a man dispensing ladlefuls of the rich simmering mess to his +fellows, as they brought their bowls for their morning allowance: +and he varied his occupation by pouring the same into certain small +baskets, the serous part running off through the wicker and the +residue 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 to +tease, 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 they +dwell all the year round, flaying lambs or shearing sheep, living +on bread, _ricotta_ and water, very rarely tasting meat or wine and +sleeping on shelves ranged round the hut, like berths in a ship's +cabin. Thus are the dreams of Arcadia dispelled by realities."] + +[Footnote 151: In modern Italy the shepherds do not take their women +with 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 are +still seen at work in the harvest and rice fields with their babes in +their bosoms: but the most amazing modern spectacle of this kind +is that of women coaling ships in the East, carrying their unhappy +youngsters up and down the coal ladders throughout the work.] + +[Footnote 153: The author of _Maison Rustique_ did not agree with Varro +in this opinion. I quote from Surflet's translation of 1606 (I, 7): + +"And for writing and reading it skilleth not whether he be able to +doe it or no, or that he should have any other charge to looke unto +besides that of yours, or else that he should use another to set downe +in writing such expences as he hath laid out: for paper will admit any +thing."] + +[Footnote 154: This temple and fig tree stood in Rome at the foot of the +Palatine hill, in the neighbourhood of the Lupercal. It was under this +fig tree that Romulus and Remus were supposed to have been suckled by +the wolf.] + +[Footnote 155: 'That is the beste grease that is to a shepe, to grease +hym in the mouthe with good meate,' says Sir Anthony Fitzherbert.] + +[Footnote 156: Pliny (VII, 59) says that most nations learn the use of +barbers next after that of letters, but that the Romans were late in +this respect. Varro himself wore a beard, as appears on the coin he +struck 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 is +happy in the way of translation of Varro's text, "divina natura dedit +agros, ars humana aedificavit urbes": but Cowley's "God the first +garden made, and the first city Cain" was probably Cowper's source. +Cowley was a reader of Varro, as his pleasant and sane essay _Of +Agriculture_ shows.] + +[Footnote 158: Following the precedent of the first and second books in +the matter of local colour, the scene of this third book, relating to +villas and the "small deer," which were there reared, is laid in +the _villa publica_ at Rome, and the characters of the dialogue are +selected for the suggestion which their names may make of the denizens +of the aviary, the barn yard and the bee-stand.] + +[Footnote 159: This Appius Claudius Pulcher served in Asia under his +brother-in-law Lucullus, was Augur in B.C. 59, Consul in 54 and Censor +in 50. He wrote a book on augural law and the habits of birds at which +Cicero poked some rather mean fun. He fixes the date of the dialogue.] + +[Footnote 160: In Varro's time, as today, the river Velinus drained the +fresh pastures of the Umbrian prairie of Rosea, "the nurse of Italy," +which lay below the town of Reate (the modern Rieti), and was +originally the bed of a lake. Its waters are so strongly impregnated +with carbonate of lime that by their deposit of travertine they tend +to 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 several +successful artificial canals (the last dating from the sixteenth +century, A.D.), which still serve to lead the Velinus into the Nar at +the renowned Cascate delle Marmore. For two hundred years the people +of Interamna (the modern Terni) had complained that their situation +below the falls was endangered by Curius' canal, and finally in B.C. +54 the Roman Senate appointed the commission to which Appius Claudius +refers in the text, to hear the controversy. Cicero was retained as +counsel for the people of Reate, and during the hearing stopped, as +Appius Claudius did, with our friend Axius at his Reatine villa, and +wrote about the visit to the same Atticus whom we met in Varro's +second book, as follows (_ad Atticum_, IV, 15): "After this was over +the people of Reate summoned me to their Tempe to plead their +cause against the people of Interamna, before the Consul and ten +commissioners, 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 been +reclaimed from the swamp, though still fairly moist. I stopped with +Axius, who took me also to visit the Seven Waters." What was once +deemed a danger is a double source of profit to the modern folk of +Interamna. Tourists today crowd to see the same waterfall which Cicero +visited, taking a tram from the busy little industrial town of Terni: +and the waters which flow from Velinus now serve to generate power +with which armour plates are manufactured for the Italian navy on the +site of the ancient Interamna.] + +[Footnote 161: Sicilian honey was famous for its flavour because of +the bee pasture of thyme which there abounded, especially at Hybla. +Theophrastus (H.P. III, 15, 5) explains that the honey of Corsica had +an acrid taste, because the bees pastured there largely on box trees.] + +[Footnote 162: These denizens of the Roman villa are all enumerated by +Martial in his delightful verses (III, 38) upon Faustinus' villa at +Baiae. 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 the +farmer'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_, as +we say "nickel." The ordinary unit used by the Romans in reckoning +considerable sums of money was 1,000 sesterces, which may accordingly +be translated as the equivalent of (say) $50. Axius' jackass thus cost +$2,000, while Seius' income from his villa was $2,500 per annum, that +of Varro's aunt from her aviary was $3,000, and that of Axius from +his farm $1,500. Cicero records that Axius was a money lender, which +explains 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 since +Varro's time that it no longer required an extraordinary occasion, +like a triumph, to bring the price of thrushes to three _denarii_ a +piece, but that that had become a current quotation.] + +[Footnote 165: A minerval was the fee (of Minerva) paid to a school +teacher.] + +[Footnote 166: The inventor of the auspices _ex tripudiis_ or the +feeding of chickens was evidently an ingenious poultry fancier who +succeeded in securing the care of his favourites at the public +charge.] + +[Footnote 167: This was L. Marcius Philippus, the orator mentioned +by Horace (_Epist_. I, 7, 46), who was Consul in B.C. 91, and was +celebrated for his luxurious habits, which his wealth enabled him to +gratify. His son married the widow of C. Octavius and so became the +step-father of the Emperor Augustus.] + +[Footnote 168: This was _turdus pilaris_, the variety of thrush which is +called field fare.] + +[Footnote 169: The traveller by railway from Rome to Naples passes near +Varro's estate of Casinum, and if he stops at the mediaeval town of +San Germano to visit the neighbouring Badia di Monte Cassino, where +the "angelic doctor" Thomas Aquinas was educated, he will find Varro's +memory 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 be +pointed out to him the river Rapido, on the banks of which Varro's +aviary stood, and nearby what is reputed to be the site of the +old polymath's villa which Antony polluted with the orgies Cicero +described in the second Philippic. Antony's destruction of his library +was a great blow to Varro, but one likes to think that his ghost can +take satisfaction in the maintenance, so near the haunts of his flesh, +of such a noble collection of books as is the continuing pride of the +Abbey on the mountain above.] + +[Footnote 170: Varro's Museum, or study where he wooed the Muses, on his +estate 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 the +cold and clear Fibrenus just above its confluence with the more +important river Liris, where, like a plebeian marrying into a +patrician family, it lost its name but contributed its freshness. The +younger Pliny built a study in the garden of his Laurentine villa near +Ostia, which he describes (II, 17) with enthusiasm: "horti diaeta est, +amores mei, re vera amores": and here he found refuge from the tumult +of his household during the festivities of the Saturnalia, which +corresponded with our Christmas. In the ante bellum days every +Virginia gentleman had such an "office" in his house yard where he +pretended to transact his farm business, but where actually he +was wont to escape from the obligations of family and continuous +hospitality.] + +[Footnote 171: The commentators on this interesting but obscure +description of Varro's aviary have at this point usually endeavoured +to explain the arrangements of the chamber under the lantern of +the _tholus_ with respect to its use as a dining room which Varro +frequented himself, and hence have been amused into all kinds of +difficulties of interpretation. The references to the _convivae_ are +what lead them astray, and it remained for Keil to suggest that this +was a playful allusion to the birds themselves, a conclusion which is +strengthened 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 at +Athens an octagonal marble tower, on the sides of which were carved +images of the eight winds, each on the side opposite that from which +it blew. On the pyramidal roof of this tower he placed a bronze Triton +holding 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 wind +that was blowing at the moment." The ruins of this Tower of the Winds +may still be seen in Athens. There is a picture of it in Harper's +Dictionary 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 intention +of the pun, contained in the _ducere serram_ of the text, by the +locution, _une prise de bec_.] + +[Footnote 176: It probably will not comfort the ultimate consumer who +holds in such odium the celebrated "Schedule K" of the Payne-Aldrich +tariff, to realize that the American wool grower puts no higher +value on his sheep than did his Roman ancestor, as revealed by this +quotation from the stock yards of Varro's time. It is interesting, +however, to the breeder to know that a good price for wool has always +stimulated the production of the best stock. Strabo says that the wool +of Turdetania in Spain was so celebrated in the generation after Varro +that a ram of the breed (the ancestors of the modern Merino) fetched +a talent, say $1,200; a price which may be compared with that of the +prize ram recently sold in England for export to the Argentine for as +much as a thousand pounds sterling, and considered a good commercial +investment at that. Doubtless the market for Rosean mules comforted +Axius in his investment of the equivalent of £400 in a breeding jack.] + +[Footnote 177: In feudal times the right to maintain a dove cote was +the exclusive privilege of the lord of the manor. According to their +immemorial custom, which Varro notices, the pigeons preyed on the +neighbourhood crops and were detested by the community in consequence. +During the French revolution they were one of the counts in the +indictment of the land-owning aristocracy, and in the event the +pigeons as well as their owners had the sins of their forefathers +justly visited upon them. The American farmer who has a pigeon-keeping +neighbour and is restrained by the pettiness of the annoyance from +making a point on their trespasses, feels something of the blind and +impotent wrath of the French peasant against the whole pigeon family.] + +[Footnote 178: It appears that the Romans actually hired men to chew the +food intended for cramming birds, so as to relieve the unhappy victims +even of such exercise as they might get from assimilating their diet. +Columella (VII, 10) in discussing the diet of thrushes deprecates +this practice, sagely saying that the wages of the chewers are out +of proportion to the benefit obtained, and that any way the chewers +swallow a good part of what they are given to macerate. + +The typical tramp of the comic papers who is forever looking for +occupation without work might well envy these Roman professional +chewers. Not even Dr. Wiley's "poison squad" employed to test food +products could compare with them.] + +[Footnote 179: These prices of $10 and $50 and even $80 a pair for +pigeons, large as they seem, were surpassed under the Empire. +Columella says (VIII, 8): "That excellent author, M. Varro, tells us +that in his more austere time it was not unusual for a pair of pigeons +to sell for a thousand sesterces, a price at which the present day +should blush, if we may believe the report that men have been found to +pay for a pair as much as four thousand _nummi_." ($200.)] + +[Footnote 180: The market for chickens and eggs in the United States +would doubtless astonish the people of Delos as much as the statistics +do us (ipsa suas mirantur Gargara messes!). It is solemnly recorded +that the American hen produces a billion and a quarter dozen eggs per +annum, of a value greater than that of either the wheat or cotton +crops, and yet there are many of us who cannot get our hens to lay +more than a hundred eggs a year!] + +[Footnote 181: Reading _ad infirma crura_. This practice is explained +more 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 he +had made "une espece de greffe animale": after trimming the comb of +a growing cockerel his budding spurs were cut out and grafted on the +roots of the comb, where they took root and flourished, growing to a +length of two and a half inches, in some cases curving forward like +the 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 the +open, but Columella (VIII, 3) advises what modern poultry farmers +pride themselves upon having recently discovered,--a covered +scratching pen strewn with litter to afford exercise for the hens in +rough weather. It will be observed that, so far as ventilation is +concerned, Varro recommends a hen house open to the weather: this is +another standard of modern practice which has had a hard struggle +against prejudice. Columella adds two more interesting bits of advice, +that for the comfort of the hens the roosts should be cut square, and +for cleanliness their water trough should be enclosed leaving +only openings large enough to receive a hen's head. With so much +enlightenment and sanitation one would expect one or the other of +these 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 Biddy +who, in the year of grace 1912, achieved the championship of America +with a record of 266 eggs in ten months and nineteen days, and was +sold for $800: but Varro is content to suggest that a hen will lay +more eggs in a season than she can hatch, and the conservative +Columella (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 into +guinea hens. Pliny (_H.N._ X, 38) says that they fight every year on +Meleager's tomb. It is a fact that they are a pugnacious fowl. Buffon +says that guinea fowl disappeared from Europe in the Dark Ages and +were not known again until the route to the Indies via the Cape of +Good Hope was opened when they were imported anew from the west coast +of 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 turkey +heavily on bread soaked in wine or liquor just before he is killed, +the result being that as the turkey gets into that condition which +used to put our ancestors under the table, he relaxes all his tendons +and so is sweeter and more tender when he comes above the table. There +is a humanitarian side to the practice which should recommend it even +to the W.C.T.U. as well as to the epicure.] + +[Footnote 186: Many thousands of geese used to be driven every year to +Rome from the land of the Morini in Northern Gaul, but the Germans are +the modern consumers. A British consular report says that in addition +to the domestic supply a special "goose train" of from fifteen to +forty cars is received daily in Berlin from Russia. It would seem that +the goose that lays the golden egg has emigrated to Muscovy. Buffon +says that the introduction of the Virginia turkey into Europe drove +the 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 gives +a Gallic touch, "ces oiseaux preludent aux actes de l'amour en allant +d'abord s'egayer dans l'eau."] + +[Footnote 188: Reading _seris_. It is the _Cichorium endivia_ of +Linnaeus. 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 that +they 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 the +oil of poppies, fed through a tin funnel, which is introduced into the +esophagus of the unhappy bird. At the end of a month the stertorous +breathing of the victim proclaims the time of sacrifice to Apicius. +The liver is expected to weigh a kilogram, (say two pounds), while +at least two kilograms of fat are saved in addition, to garnish the +family _plat_ of vegetables during the remainder of the year.] + +[Footnote 190: Reading _foeles_, which Keller, in his account of the +fauna of ancient Italy in the Cambridge _Companion to Latin Studies_, +identifies with _Martes vulgaris_. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert calls them +fullymartes. It does not appear that the Romans had in Varro's time +brought from Egypt our household cat, _F. maniculata_. They used +weasels and tame snakes for catching mice.] + +[Footnote 191: Darwin (_Animals and Plants_, I, 8) cites this passage +and argues that Varro's advice to cover the duck yard with netting to +keep the ducks from flying out is evidence that in Varro's time ducks +were not entirely domesticated, and hence that the modern domestic +duck 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 of +time.] + +[Footnote 192: The ancient Etruscan city of Tarquinii is now known +as Corneto. The wild sheep which Lippinus there kept in his game +preserves were probably the _mouflon_ which are still hunted in +Sardinia and Corsica, though they may have been the Phrygian wild +sheep (_Aegoceros argali_) which Varro mentions in Book II. Pliny +(_H.N._ VIII, 211) says that this Lippinus was the first of the Romans +to keep wild animals enclosed; that he established his preserves +shortly 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 digit +8 rotated horizontally)]_passum_. The Roman mile, _mille passuum_, was +142 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 which +Horace vaunts as a delicacy: the Alpine hare was _L. variabilis_, +which grows white on the approach of winter: and the _cuniculus_ was +the common rabbit known to our English ancestors as the coney. Strabo +records (Casaub, 144) that the inhabitants of the Gymnesian (Balearic) +Islands in Spain sent a deputation to Augustus to request a military +force to exterminate the pest of rabbits, for such was their multitude +that the people were being crowded out of their homes by them, in +which their plight was that of modern Australia. They were usually +hunted in Spain with muzzled ferrets imported from Africa.] + +[Footnote 195: The edible snail, _helix pomatia_, L., is still an +article of commerce in France and Italy. They prey upon vines and +give evidence of their appreciation of the best by abounding in the +vineyards of the _Cote d'or_, the ancient Burgundy. There at the end +of summer they are gathered for the double purpose of protecting the +vines and delighting the epicure: are then stored in a safe place +until cold weather, when they considerately seal up their own shells +with a calcareous secretion and so are shipped to market. + +Here is the recipe for 'escargots à la bourguignonne,' which despite +the prejudice engendered by _Leviticus_ (XI, 30.) may be recommended +to the American palate jaded by beefsteak and potatoes and the high +cost of living: "Mettre les escargots a bouillir pendant 5 a 10 +minutes dans de l'eau salée, les retirer de leur coquille, les laver +a l'eau froide pour les debarrasser du limon, les cuire dans un +court-bouillon fortement assaisonné. Apres cuisson les replacer dans +le coquille bien nettoyee, en les garnissant au fond et par dessus +d'une farce de beurre frais manipule avec un fin hachis de persil, +cerfeuil, ail, echalote, sel et poivre. Avant de servir, faire +chauffer au four."] + +[Footnote 196: Reading LXXX _quadrantes_. A comparison may be made of +this capacity with that of the ordinary snail known to the Romans, +for their smallest unit of liquid measure was called a _cochlear_, or +snail 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 the +European dormouse (_Myoxus glis_. Fr. _loir_. Ger. _siebenschlafer_) +is rather a squirrel than a mouse, and that he is still esteemed a +dainty edible, as he was by the Romans: indeed when fat, just before +he retires to hibernate, he might be preferred to 'possum and other +strange dishes on which some hospitable Americans regale themselves +and the patient palates of touring Presidents. In his treatise _De re +culinaria_ Apicius gives a recipe for a ragout of dormice which sounds +appetizing.] + +[Footnote 198: Darwin (_Animals and Plants_, XVIII) says: "I have never +heard of the dormouse breeding in captivity."] + +[Footnote 199: Varro makes no mention of tea and bread and butter as +part of the diet of a dormouse; so we are better able to understand +his abstinence at the mad tea party in _Alice in Wonderland_. As +Martial (III, 58) calls him _somniculosus_, it is probable that his +table manners on that occasion were nothing new and that his English +and German names were always justified.] + +[Footnote 200: This is one of Varro's puns which requires a surgical +operation to get it into one's head. Appius is selected to talk about +bees because his name has some echo of the sound of _apis_, the word +for bee.] + +[Footnote 201: The study of bees was as interesting to the ancients as +it is to us. There have survived from among many others the treatises +of Aristotle, Varro, Virgil, Columella and Pliny, but they are all +made up, as Maeterlinck has remarked, of "erreurs charmantes," and for +that reason the antique lore of bees is read perhaps to best advantage +in the mellifluous verses of the fourth _Georgic_, which follow Varro +closely.] + +[Footnote 202: He might have said also that the hexagonal form of +construction employed by bees produces the largest possible result +with the least labour and material. Maeterlinck rehearses (_La Vie des +Abeilles_, 138) the result of the study of this problem in the highest +mathematics: + +"Réaumur avait proposé au célèbre mathematicien Koenig le problem +suivant: 'Entre toutes les cellules hexagonales a fond pyramidal +compose de trois rhombes semblables et égaux, determiner celle qui +peut être construite avec le moins de matière?' Koenig trouva qu'une +telle cellule avait son fond fait de trois rhombes dont chaque grand +angle était de 109 degrés, 26 minutes et chaque petit de 70 degrés, 34 +minutes. Or, un autre savant, Maraldi, ayant mesuré aussi exactement +que possible les angles des rhombes construits par les abeilles fixa +les grands à 109 degrés, 28 minutes, et les petits a 70 degrés, 32 +minutes. Il n'y avait done, entre les deux solutions qu'une difference +de 2 minutes. II est probable que l'erreur, s'il y en a une, doit être +imputee a Maraldi plutot qu'aux abeilles, car aucun instrument ne +permet de mesurer avec une precision infaìllible les angles des +cellules qui ne sont pas assez nettlement definis." + +Maclaurin, a Scotch physicist, checked Koenig's computations and +reported to the Royal Society in London in 1743 that he found a +solution in exact accord with Maraldi's measurements, thereby +completely justifying the mathematics of the bee architect.] + +[Footnote 203: The Romans were as curious and as constant in the use of +perfumes as we are of tobacco. It is perhaps well to remember that +they might find our smoke as offensive as we would their unguents.] + +[Footnote 204: Indeed one of the marvels of nature is the service +which certain bees perform for certain plants in transferring their +fertilizing pollen which has no other means of transportation. Darwin +is most interesting on this subject.] + +[Footnote 205: The ancients, even Aristotle, did not know that the queen +bee is the common mother of the hive. They called her the king, and it +remained for Swammerdam in the seventeenth century to determine with +the microscope this important fact. From that discovery has developed +our modern knowledge of the bee; that the drones are the males and are +suffered by the (normally) sterile workers to live only until one of +them has performed his office of fertilizing once for all the new +queen in that nuptial flight, so dramatically fatal to the successful +swain, which Maeterlinck has described with wonderful rhetoric, +whereupon the workers massacre the surviving males without mercy. This +is the "driving out" which Varro mentions.] + +[Footnote 206: This picture of the queen bee is hardly in accord with +modern observations. It seems that while the queen is treated with +the utmost respect, she is rather a royal prisoner than a ruler, and, +after her nuptial flight, is confined to her function of laying eggs +incessantly unless she may be unwillingly dragged forth to lead a +swarm. Maeterlinck thus pictures (_La Vie des Abeilles_, 174) her +existence with a Gallic pencil: + +"Elle n'aura aucune des habitudes, aucunes des passions que nous +croyons inherentes à l'abeille. Elle n'eprouvera ni le desir du +soleil, ni le besoin de l'espace et mourra sans avoir visite une +fleur. Elle passera son existence dans l'ombre et l'agitation de la +foule 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 annual +consumption of honey in the United States today is from 100 to 125 +million pounds and that the crop has a money value of at least ten +million dollars. To match Seius, we might put forward a bee farmer in +California who produces annually 150,000 pounds of honey from 2,000 +hives.] + +[Footnote 208: Maeterlinck has made a charming picture of this habit of +propinquity of the bee-stand to the human habitation. He describes +(_La Vie des Abeilles_, 14) the old man who taught him to love bees +when he was a boy in Flanders, an old man whose entire happiness +"consistait aux beautés d'un jardin et parmi ces beautés la mieux +aimee et la plus visitées etait un roucher, composé de douze cloches +de paille qu'il avait peint, les unes de rose vif, les autres de jaune +clair, la plupart d'un bleu tendre, car il avail observé, bien avant +les experiences de Sir John Lubbock, que le bleu est la couleur +preferée des abeilles. Il avait installé ce roucher centre le mur +blanchi de la maison, dans l'angle que formait une des ces savoureuses +et fraiches cuisines hollondaises aux dressoirs de faience ou +étincalaient les etains et les cuivres qui, par la porte ouverte, +se reflétaient dans un canal paisible. Et l'eau chargés d'images +familières, sous un rideau de peupliers, guidait les regards jusqu'au +répos d'un horizon de moulins et de prés."] + +[Footnote 209: Reading _Apiastro_. This is the _Melissa officinalis_ of +Linnaeus. Cf. Pliny, XX, 45 and XXI, 86.] + +[Footnote 210: Bee keepers attribute to Reaumur the invention of the +modern glass observation hive, which has made possible so much of our +knowledge of the bee, but it may be noted that Pliny (_H.N._ XXI, 47) +mentions hives of "lapis specularis," some sort of talc, contrived for +the purpose of observing bees at work. The great advance in bee hives +is, however, the sectional construction attributed to Langstroth and +developed in America by Root.] + +[Footnote 211: Columella, (IX, 14) referring to the myth of the +generation of bees in the carcase of an ox (out of which Virgil made +the fable of the pastor Aristaeus in the Fourth Georgic), explains +the practice mentioned in the text with the statement "hic enim quasi +quadam cognatione generis maxime est apibus aptus." The plastering +of wicker hives with ox dung persisted and is recommended in the +seventeenth century editions of the _Maison Rustique_.] + +[Footnote 212: Reading _seditiosum_.] + +[Footnote 213: This is a mistake upon which Aristotle could have +corrected Varro.] + +[Footnote 214: After studying the commentators on this obscure passage, +I have elected to follow the emendation of Ursinus, which, although +Keil 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 human +principle which Varro attributes to them. The hive does not send forth +its "youth" to found a colony, but, on the contrary, abandons its home +and its accumulated store of wealth to its youth and itself ventures +forth under the leadership of the old queen to face the uncertainties +of the future, leaving only a small band of old bees to guard the +hive and rear the young until the new queen shall have supplied a new +population.] + +[Footnote 218: Reading _imbecilliores_.] + +[Footnote 219: Pliny (_H.N_. IX, 81) relates that this loan was made to +supply the banquet on the occasion of one of the triumphs of Caesar +the 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 have +at his command _doux_ and _amer_.] + +[Footnote 221: Cf. Pliny (_H.N_. II, 96): "In Lydia the islands called +Calaminae are not only driven about by the wind, but may even be +pushed at pleasure from place to place, by which means many people +saved themselves in the Mithridatic war. There are some small islands +in 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_ of +service in a sauce and bringing to justice.] + + + + + +INDEX + +_Actus (actus guadratus)_, unit of area in land measurement +Aegean Sea, derivation of name +Aesop's fable of the fox +Agriculture, 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 soil +Albutius, L. +Alfalfa, advice concerning +Alfius, Roman farmer banker +Alpine hares +Amurca, farm uses of + used for anointing threshing floors + waste of, by Romans + method of preserving + condensing +Apiaries, location of + _See_ Bees. +Apicius, recipe for ragout of dormice by, +Appian, quoted +Appius Claudius Pulcher +Apples, storing +Apulian breed of horses +Aquinas, Thomas +_Arbusta_, the Italian +_Arista_, etymology of word +Aristotle, 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 of +Asparagus planting, +Asses, use of, as compared with other draught animals + manure of + certain choice breeds of + buying, breeding, care of, etc. + milk of +Atticus, T. Pomponius + +Augeas, King, tradition concerning +Augustine, St., on Varro + indebtedness of, to works of Varro +Aviaries, profits from + two classes of + those kept for profit + those kept for pleasure +Aviary, Varro's, at Casinum + +B + +Bakewell, breeding of sheep by +Barbers, the first, in Italy +Barn yards, arrangement of +Barrows, hogs called +Bavaria, agriculture in Iowa contrasted with that in +Beans, use of, for green manuring + storing +Beauclerk, W.N., on agriculture in modern Italy + quoted +Bees, 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 of +Benson, William, edition of _Georgics_ by, quoted +Birds, manure of +Blackbirds, houses for keeping +Blackstone, opinion by, cited +Bleat, etymology of word +Blood, use of, in composts +Boars, advice concerning + altering; wild +Boissier, Gaston + quoted and cited +_Boke of Husbandry_, Fitzherbert's +Bologna sausages +Bones, remedy for injuries to +Borden, Spencer, _The Arab Horse_ by, quoted +Boundaries, protection of farm +Buffon, quotations from + cited +Bugs, recipe for exterminating +Buildings on farm + +C + +Cabbage, Cato's advocacy of the + planting + seeding +Cakes, recipes for +Calendar of agricultural operations +Capons, chickens called + method of caponizing cocks +_Caprae_, goats, derivation of word +_Capreolus_, a spiral tendril +Cascate delle Marmore +Casinum, Varro's estate of +Cassius, quoted +Cassius Dionysius +Cat, the modern household, unknown to Varro +Cato, Marcus Porcius + the _De re rustica_ of + literary style of, compared with Varro +Cats, contrasted with dogs in relations with man +Cattle, 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_, defined +Chaff, derivation of word +Cheese, varieties and qualities of +Cheese cake +Chestnuts as food in Italy +Child, R., quoted +Cicero, quoted concerning Varro + verse from +Cleaning grain +Clement-Mullet, J.J., translation by +Climate, choice of, in buying a farm + connection between conformation of land and +Clover, advice on seeding +Coburn, book on alfalfa by +Colours of horses, significance of +Columella + cited + on ploughing + rules about the compost heap + on soil improvement with legumes + on dangers from mosquitoes + on alfalfa + quoted +_Comedy of Errors_, origin of +Compost heap, rules concerning the +Concrete, fences of +Conformation of land, effect of, on agriculture +Constellations, names of cattle given to +Coots +Corn, structure of plant + storing + _See_ Grain +Corn land as distinguished from plough land +Corsican honey +Cotton seed, utilization of +Country life, antiquity of +Cowper and Cowley, lines by +Crescenzi, Pietro, cited +Cultivating time +Curing hams +Cuttage of plants +Cyrrhestes, Tower of the Winds built by + +D + +Dante, quotation from +Darwin, Charles, _Animals and Plants_ by + quoted + on dormice +Dates, eating preserved +_Denarius_, value of the +Dennis, _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_ by, quoted +_De re rustica_, Cato's +Desmolins, Edmond, cited +Dickson, Andrew, quoted + cited +Diophanes of Bithynia +Disease in cattle, and remedies +Dislocations of bones, remedy for +Dogs, watch + herd +Donaldson's _Agricultural Biography_, quoted +Dondlinger, _Book of Wheat_ by, quoted +Dormice, enclosures for, feeding, etc. +Draining + period for +Draught animals on farm + number and choice of +Dry farming +Ducks, housing, care of, etc. +Dunghill fowl +Dusting yard for poultry + +E + +Eggs, the first course in Roman dinners + barren + number for setting + preserving +Elm trees, planting of + for marking boundaries +Endive, as food for geese +Ensilage, question of use of, by ancients +Equipment of a farm + +F + +Fallow, as managed by the Romans +Farm, 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 soil +Farm hands, allowances for + selection, treatment, number of, etc., +_Farrago_, mixed fodder + as food for geese +Feast days, observance of +Feed racks, construction of +Fences +Ferrero, cited +Field crops, planting of +Figs, season for propagating + eating preserved +Fining the soil +Fishes, feeding and care of +Fish ponds + fresh-water and salt-water + number of, on one estate +Fitzherbert, Sir Anthony + quoted; cited + on combining two kinds of husbandry + on greasing of sheep +Flock masters, duties of +Forage, derivation from _farrago_ +Forage crops +Foremen of farm hands, qualifications of +Fowl. _See_ Poultry +Fowler, _Social Life at Rome_ by, quoted +France, yields of wine in +Freemen as agricultural labourers +Fruits, preserving + time for using stored +Furlong, derivation of + +G + +Game preserves +Gauls, pre-eminence of, in + growing and making of pork + high qualities as shepherds +Geese, selection of, breeding, care, etc. +Geldings, horses called +_Geoponica_, the; cited +_Georgics_, Virgil's, passages based on information from Varro +Gestation, periods of +Gleaning of grain fields +_Gluma_, etymology of word +Goats, as foes of agriculture + characteristics, breeding and handling + milk of; use of hair and skins of; shearing of +Googe, Barnaby, translation of Heresbach by +Graftage of plants +Grain, advice on seeding + storing of + cleaning, when taken out of storage + time for marketing +Granaries, varieties of +_Granum_, etymology of word +Grapes, harvesting of + advice on storing +Grapevines, trellises and props for +Grazing, to be distinguished from agriculture +Greek writers on agriculture +Green manuring +Guano +Guinea fowl + +H + +_Haeredium_, defined +Hair, removal of superfluous +Hams, recipes for curing and cooking +Hares, varieties of + _See_ Rabbits +Harte, Walter, _Essays on Husbandry_ by + on alfalfa + quoted +Hartlib, Samuel + quoted + on pasture _vs._ arable land +Harvester, ancient forerunners of the modern +Harvest time +Hay, harvesting the + storing of +Haymaking +Health, location of farm steading with regard to +Healthfulness of farms, importance of +Hedges, myrtle +Heliotrope, habits of the +Hens +Herd dogs +Heresbach, Conrad, cited +Herrick, Robert, quoted +Hesiod + quoted and cited +Hinnies +Hives for bees, location and structure + inventors of modern devices +Hogs +Homer, quoted + on use of mules +Honey, Sicilian and Corsican + profits from + removal of, from hive +Honeycomb, structure of the +Horace, cited + quoted +Horses, oxen _vs._ + manure of + breeding, feeding, care of, etc. +House for residence on farm +Housekeeper, duties of the + +I + +Ibn-al-Awam, book of agriculture by +Implements, farming +Inarching, propagation by +Incantations as cures +Interamna, town of +Iowa, farming in Bavaria and +Italy, agriculture in modern + +J + +Johnson, Samuel, on Harte's _Husbandry_ + quoted on Shenstone +Joigneaux, P., on yields of wine in France +Jones, W.H., on malaria in the Roman Campagna +_Jugerum_, defined +_Jugum_, defined +Jungle fowl + +K + +Kames, Lord, quoted +Keil, quoted + cited +Keller, cited +_Kitab al-felahah_ of Ibn-al-Awam + +L + +Labourers, agricultural +Lanciani, cited +Land, effect of conformation of, on agriculture +Leaves as fodder for cattle +Legumes, soil improvement with + storing +_Leporaria_ +Library, public, at Rome +Literature of farm management, ancient +Live stock, feeding + care of + origin and importance of husbandry of + _See_ Cattle +Lombardy, agriculture in ancient and modern + +M + +Machiavelli, quoted +Maeterlinck, 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-house +Mago the Carthagenian, treatise on farm management by + quoted + Varro's account of +_Maison Rustique_, cited and quoted +Malaria in Roman Campagna +Manure, preparation of + best kinds of +Manure pits, arrangement of +Manuring, importance of + green +Maremma sheep dogs +Mares, use of, for war horses + milk of +Market day among the Romans +Marl, use of, as manure +Marrying the vine +Martial, quotation from +Meadows, protection of + irrigated, of Lombardy +Measurement of land, units of area used in +Mile, the Roman +Military fences +Milk and milking, advice on +Minerval, a +Mitchell, Donald G. +Mommsen, quoted +Montesquieu, quoted +Moon, influence of, on agriculture +Moryson, Fynes, quoted +Mosquitoes, perception by Varro of damages from +Mules, remarks on foaling by + uses, care of, etc. +Murray, Gilbert, translation of Euripides by +Must cake +Myers, F.W.H., cited + +N + +Neat cattle, buying, breeding, feeding, etc. +Neighbourhood, considerations of, in locating farm +Neighbours, treatment of one's +_Nummus_, a "nickel," +_Nundinum_, the Roman week +Nurseries, protection of +Nuts, eating preserved + +O + +Oaks, effect of, on olive trees +_Oboerati_, class of bondservants called +_Ocinum_, basil +Oil, manufacture of, from olives +Oil-making implements +Olive farm, number of hands for working an +Olives, 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 preserved +Olive salad +Onager, wild ass +Orchards + laying out and planting of + olive +_Ornithones_ + _See_ Aviaries +Ortolans, houses for keeping +Overseer + duties of the + location of room of +Ovid, quoted +Oxen + 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_, palm +Partridges +Pastures + care of + _vs_. arable land +Pâté de foie gras, known and prized by Romans +Peacocks, discussion of +Perfumes among the Romans +Persius, cited +Petrarch + on Varro + on the loss of Varro's books +Philippus, L. Marcius +Pigeon houses +Pigeons + manure of + kinds and care of +Pigs, weanling, called "sacred" +Planting + field crops + olives + vines + time of +Plants + four methods of propagating + transplanting + cuttage + graftage + inarching + time for using different methods of propagation + mechanical action of +Plautus + _Menaechmi_ of + quoted +Plautius +Pleasure as a main purpose of agriculture +Pliny + quoted + use of marl as manure noted by + on the Gallic harvester + cited +Pliny the Younger, study in garden of +Ploughing, importance of thorough + of rotten land +Plough land, as distinguished from corn land +Polecats +Pollio, Asinius, library at Rome founded by +Polybius, quoted +Pome fruits, storing +Pomegranates, preserving +Poultry, kinds, feeding, and care of +Poultry houses +Protection of nurseries and meadows +Prothero, quoted +Punning, Varro's use of +Pythagoras + +Q + +Quail, houses for keeping + migrations of +Queen bees, recency of knowledge about +Quinces, storing +Quintilian, on Varro + +R + +Rabbits, warrens for + breeding and feeding of + derivation of Latin name for +Racking wine +Reate, asses from +Recipes +_Rerum Rusticarum_ of Varro + Virgil's indebtedness to +Rest room for farm hands +Ridgeway, quoted + on markings of horses +Ridging land, custom of +Rogers, Thorold, quoted +Roman fever +Rome, insecurity of life in ancient +Rosea, drainage of, by artificial canals +Rosean breed of horses +Rotten land, precautions regarding + +S + +Sacred pigs +Salad, olive +Salt, allowance of, for farm hands +_Saltus_, defined +Salutations, Greek, as used by Romans +Saserna, as a writer on agriculture + quoted + on number of farm hands necessary + on securing allegiance of dogs +Sausages +Scab among sheep and cattle +Scratches in horses, remedy for +Scratching pen for hens +_Scripulum_, defined +Scrofa, Tremelius + origin of name +Sea birds, manure of +Seasons, agricultural +Seed, selection of +Seed bed, preparing the +Sellar, cited +Seneca, on Virgil's farming +_Sestertius_, value of the +Sheep, value of, for their manure + buying of + feeding, breeding, and care of + shearing of +Sheep dogs +Shepherds, distinguished from farmers + number and kind of, requisite + purchase of slaves for + life of +Sicilian honey +Silos +Size of farm +Slaves, 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 shepherds +Snails, recipe for preparing cooked + method of keeping in enclosures + varieties of + fattening of +Snakebite, remedy for +Soil, improvement of + effect of character of, on agriculture + different kinds of + fining the +Solar measure of year +Solomon, quotation on ploughing from +Sour land, treatment of +Sowing, period for +Spring ploughing +Squabs +Stables for live stock +Steading, building a + husbandry of the + development of the industries of the +Stamen, etymology of +Stocking a farm +Storing crops +Strabo, inventor of aviaries + cited +Straw, derivation of word +Swine, selecting, feeding, breeding, etc. + +T + +Tarquinii, ancient Etruscan city +Taylor, John, _Arator_ by, quoted +Teals +Teeth, telling age of animals by the +_Terra_, different senses of word +Thales of Miletus +Thebes, derivation of name +Theophrastus, works by + cited + quoted + on honey of Corsica +Thessalian horses +Thinning vines +Threshing +Threshing floor, the +Thrushes, profits from + houses for keeping +Tillage, advice on +Time, standards of + the Roman week +Tools, farming +Toulouse, production of pâté de foie gras in +Transplanting +Transportation, importance of ease of +Trellises in vineyards +Trumpet, training hogs to obey sound of + assembling wild boars and roebucks by the +Tull, Jethro +Turkeys, fattening + effect of introduction into Europe, on geese +Turtle 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 of +Vegetable gardens +_Versus_, the, defined +Vetch, derivation of name +Veterinary science of ancient Romans +Villa, discussion of the Roman +Vines, for marking farm boundaries + advice on planting + thinning +Vineyards, the maintenance of + implements for +Vintage, work of the +Virgil + indebtedness of, to Varro + formula for testing sour land by + advice on ploughing + cited + on colours of horses +Vitruvius, quoted on Cyrrhestes' Tower of the Winds + +W + +Walnut trees, effect of, on surrounding land +Walter of Henley + quoted + on use of marl as manure +Warrens, defined +Watch dogs, 116 +Water for cattle +Water supply for a steading +Weaning, of young cattle + of lambs +Weanling pigs +Week, the Roman +Wheat, seeding + yields of + structure of plant + harvesting of +Wild asses +Wild boars, keeping of, in game preserves +Wind, impregnating of mares by the +Wind breaks for olive orchards +Wine, cabbage as an offset to effects of + allowances of, for farm hands + yields of, in ancient Italy + racking, 173 + used in cramming fowls +Winnowing +Winnowing basket, use of, for a cradle +Winter ploughing +Wood pigeons, cramming and fattening +Wool, shearing sheep for + +X + +Xenophon, as a writer on agriculture + quoted + +Y + +Year, solar measure of the +Young, Arthur + inscription on tombstone of wife + fences recommended by + on necessary number of farm labourers + +Z + +Zeno of Citium +Zodiacal signs, honour paid to cattle in + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Roman Farm Management, by Marcus Porcius Cato + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN FARM MANAGEMENT *** + +***** This file should be named 12140-8.txt or 12140-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/4/12140/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + |