Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/315

Rh SUMMARY.] AGRICULTURE 293 whilst among tho Greeks the names of their illustrious families are borrowed from the heroes and gods of their mythology, the most famous houses amongst the ancient Romans, such as the Pisones, Fabii, Lentuli, &c., have taken their names from their favourite crops and vegetables. Perhaps it is not too much to assert, that many of those qualities which fitted them for conquering the world, and perfecting their so celebrated jurisprudence, were acquired, or at all events nourished and matured, by the skill, fore sight, and persevering industry, so needful for the intelligent and successful cultivation of the soil. The words which Cicero puts into the mouth of Cato give a fine picture of the ancient Roman enthusiasm in agriculture. &quot; I come now to the pleasures of husbandry, in which I vastly delight. They are not interrupted by old age, and they seem to me to be pursuits in which a wise man s life should be spent. The earth does not rebel against authority ; it never gives back but with usury what it receives. The gains of hus bandry are not what exclusively commend it. I am charmed with the nature and productive virtues of the soil. Can those old men be called unhappy who delight in the culti vation of the soil ? In my opinion there can be no happier life, not only because the tillage of the earth is salutary to all, but from the pleasure it yields. The whole establish ment of a good and assiduous husbandman is stored with wealth ; it abounds in pigs, in kids, in lambs, in poultry, in milk, in cheese, in honey. Nothing can be more profitable, nothing more beautiful, than a well-cultivated farm.&quot; In ancient Rome each citizen received, at first, an allot ment of about two English acres. After the expulsion of the kings this allotment was increased to about six acres. These small inheritances must, of course, have been culti vated by hard labour. On the increase of the Roman territory the allotment was increased to fifty, and afterwards even to five hundred acres. Many glimpses into their methods of cultivation are found in those works of Roman authors which have survived the ravages of time. Cato speaks of irrigation, frequent tillage, and manuring, as means of fertilising the soil. Mr Hoskyn, from whose valuable contribution to the History of Agriculture we have drawn freely in this historic summary, quotes the following interesting passage from Pliny, commenting on Virgil : J &quot; Our poet is of opinion that alternate fallows should be made, and that the land should rest entirely every second year. And this is, indeed, both true and profitable, pro vided a man have land enough to give the soil this repose. But how, if his extent be not sufficient 1 Let him, in that case, help himself thus. Let him sow next year s wheat-crop on the field where he has just gathered his beans, vetches, or lupines, or such other crop as enriches the ground. For, indeed, it is worth notice that some crops are sown for no other purpose but as food for others, a poor practice in my estimation.&quot; In another place he tells us, &quot;Wheat, the liter it is reaped, the better it casts; but the sooner it is reaped, the fairer the sample. The best rule is to cut it down before the grain is got hard, when the ear begins to have a reddish-brown appearance. Better two days too soon than as many too late, is a good old maxim, and might pass for an oracle.&quot; The following quotation from the same author is excellent: &quot;Cato would have this point especially to be considered, that the soil of a farm be good and fertile ; also, that near it there be plenty of labourers, and that it be not far from a large town : moreover, that it have sufficient means for transporting its produce, either by water or land. Also, that the home be well Uiilt, and the land about it as well managed. But I observe a great 1 Siiort Inquiry into the History of Agriculture, pp. 49-51, by Clianclos Wren Hoskyn, Esq. error and self-deception which many men commit, who hold opinion that the negligence and ill-husbandry of the former owner is good for his successor or after-purchaser. Now, I say, there is nothing more dangerous and disadvantageous to the buyer than land so left waste and out of heart ; and therefore Cato counsels well to purchase land of one who has managed it well, and not rashly and hand-over-head to despise and make light of the skill and knowledge of another. He says, too, that as well land as men, which are of great charge and expense, how gainful soever they may seem to be, yield little profit in the end, when all reckonings are made. The same Cato being asked, what was the most assured profit rising out of land 1 made this answer, To feed stock well. Being asked again, What was the next 1 ? he answered, To feed with moderation! By which answer he would seem to conclude that the most certain and sure revenue was a low cost of production. To the same point is to be referred another speech of his, That a good husbandman ought to be a seller rather than a buyer ; also, that a man should stock his ground early and well, but take long time and leisure before he be a builder ; for it is the best thing in the world, according to the proverb, to make use, and derive profit, from other men s follies. Still when there is a good and convenient house on the farm, the master will be the closer occupier, and take the more pleasure in it ; and truly it is a good saying, that the master s eye is better than his heel. &quot; &quot; It is curious,&quot; says Mr Hoskyn, &quot; to read such passages as these, and to find the very same subjects still handled, week after week, in fresh and eager controversy in the agricultural writings and periodicals of the present day, eighteen centuries after those opinions were written.&quot; In the later ages of the empire agriculture was neglected, and those engaged in it regarded with contempt. Many fair regions once carefully cultivated, and highly productive, were abandoned to nature, and became a scene of desolation, the supplies of overgrown Rome being drawn from Egypt, Sicily, and other provinces, which became notable as the granaries of the empire. Under the Goths, Vandals, and other barbarian con- Middle querors, agriculture in Europe, during the middle ages, ages. seems to have sunk into the lowest condition of neglect and contempt. We owe its revival, like that of other arts and sciences, to the Saracens of Spain, who devoted themselves Spain. to the cultivation of that conquered territory, with heredi tary love for the occupation, and with the skilful application of the experience which they had gathered in other lands in which they had established their power. By them, and their successors, the Moors, agriculture was carried in Spain to a height which perhaps has not yet been surpassed in Europe. It is said, that so early as the tenth century the revenue of Saracenic Spain alone amounted to 6,000,000 sterling, probably as much as that of all the rest of Europe at that time. The ruins of their noble works for the irrigation of the soil still attest their skill and industry, and put to shame the ignorance and indolence of their successors. The same remark applies to the Spanish dominions in South America. In the ancient empire of Peru agriculture seems to have reached a high degree of perfection. The ruins of basins and canals, frequently carried through tunnels, prove their industry and skill in irrigation. One of their aqueducts is said by Mr Prescott 8 to have been traced by its ruins for nearly 500 milea. They cultivated the sides of mountains, by means of terraces, which retained forced soil, and were skilled in the application of manure. That on which they chiefly de pended was guano, and their Incas protected the penguins, by which it was deposited, by strict laws, which made it 5 History of the Conquest of Mexico.