No subject engaged the attention of the Ito. mansmore than agriculture, theoretically as well as practically. They divided their time between war and husbandry ; their greatest men, in the early ages of the republic, be. ing employed alternately in the 0110 and the other. Cincinnatus was taken from the plough to fill the office of dictator ; and Regulus be. sought the senate that he might return to his little farm for a short time, to prevent it from being ruined. Pliny observes, that the Romans ploughed their fields with the same diligence that they pitched their tents, and sowed their corn with as much care as they raised their ar mies. When riches had introduced luxury, and artificial manners and habits, the labours of the field were performed by their slaves ; but there remained many among them of the higher orders who directed their personal at. tention to the subject The writings of Cato the Censor, Varro, Pliny, Columella, and Palladius, as well as those of the poet Vir gil, abound with practical and useful obser vations on the whole round of farming bush.
Hess. At the same time they all agree in la meeting that agriculture was not pursued with' the same zeal as formerly. The great among fie Romans had town houses as well as villas, and living more in the former than in the latter, the management of their farms was left to their bailiffs or servants. The ox, which was the principal beast of burden among the the Jews, and Grecians, was also' highly esteemed among the Romans. Many directions for the breeding, breaking, feeding, and working this animal, are to be found in the writers abovementioned ; as also in regard to the management of bees, which were highly prized. As to the implements of husbandry ased among the Romans, the description of them not being illustrated by any representa tion, it is not easy to speak precisely of them ; but it is clear that they used the plough with and without wheels, with and without boards, with and without coulters, also with shares of different constructions. A reaping machine is likewise spoken of both by Pliny and Palla dins, which was driven by an ox ; but for the most part they cut their corn with the hand, either with the hook close to the ground, or only the ears with a curved stick and a saw attached to it, or otherwise they cut the stalks in the middle, leaving the stubble to be after wards mowed. They thrashed either with a
machine composed of rollers, or with rods or flails, or they trod it out with their feet. Hay making was performed among the Romans much in the same manner as at present. Har rowing the corn was particularly recommend ed by the Roman writers ; who also speak of hoeing, weeding, watering, draining, and fal lowing the ground, which was universal among them.
Agriculture shared the fate of all the other arts on the decline of the empire : from the time of Pliny to the fifteenth century, there is no work extant on the subject, except the Geoponics, which was published by Constan tine Pogonatus, and probably collected by the emperor himself Crescenzio, a writer of Bologna, was the first who called the attention of his countrymen to this subject after this long interval. His little work, which was collected from the Roman writers, 'was followed by some other Italian productions : but proba bly nothing contributed more to give an im portance to agricultural pursuits than the in troduction of the feudal system, which gave to every man a rank and distinction according to the quantity of land he either possessed or cc, copied; for not only the great lord, who was the owner of the soil, or reaped the fruits of it, but also his tenants, who cultivated it, were in vested with political privileges, that were en joyed by no other members of the community ; and altt4 es h the feudal burdens and restraints e have yet the privileges and advantages attached to the possession of landed still give it a paramount advantage. Hence tt I is, that since the revival of the arts, the science of agriculture has been zealously cultivated rby the higher orders. The writers likewise 'on this subject have within the last century 'been more numerous than at any former pe riod ; and every effort has been made by expe riments, inventions, and improvements, to rem. der the land productive. Nor have thews ;efforts been without effect, for, notwithstand ing the immense increase in the population, ;there has been no such scarcity as we read of in former times.