Roman Farm Management

Roman Farm Management

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Title: Roman Farm Management The Treatises Of Cato And Varro
Author: Marcus Porcius Cato
Release Date: April 25, 2004 [EBook #12140]
Language: English
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[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.