-— iT

Parr Boox I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 23

1a sandy ‘arts, and Nt Noise, cap. 20.)

“ which xinds are of tender ‘al collars at first let y Carriage

monly of a brighter color; his ears, main, and tail like those of the horse. The mule is larger than the ass, but has more of the character of that animal in its parts than the hinnus. To breed mules, a young jack ass is put under a mare when he is foaled, and being reared with her is admitted to her the third year; nor does he despise the mare on ac- count of former habits. If you admit him younger he soon gets old, and his offspring is less valuable. Persons who have not an ass which they have brought up under a mare, and who wish to have an ass for admission, choose the largest and the handsomest they can find, from a good breed.”(Varro, lib. ii. cap. 8.) Mules are fed like the ass, on spray, leaves, herbage, hay, chaff, and corn.

107. The horse was scarcely, if at all, used in Roman agriculture, but was reared for the

afterwards saddle, and the army, by some farmers. Varro and Columella are particular in their direc.- 3 Joined to tions as to the choice of mares, and breeding and rearing their young; but as these contain nothing very remarkable, we shall pass over most of them,‘* When a horse,”’ says Nut, grape Varro,‘is admitted to a mare and is fastidious, they pound a squill with water to the and Lupine consistence of honey, they rub the mare with it; they then apply it to the nostrils of the eaves used horse.’’(Lib. ii. cap. 7.) The same author relates a case after Aristotle, and which is oplar,&e, also noticed by Pliny, of“a horse which could not be induced to cover his dam, and when there when the groom had brought him with his head covered, and compelled him to do it, 2 food pre- when he uncovered the horse’s eyes, he attacked and killed him.”(Jd.) He recom- and corn in mends large horses for admission, which is contrary to modern practice. The signs of iS, future merit in a colt are a small head, well formed limbs, and contending with other tood in the colts or horses for superiority in running, or any other thing. e carefully 108. The dog is a valuable animal in every unenclosed country, and was kept by the>» vere yoked Roman farmers for its use in assisting the shepherd, and also for watching. Varro men- tions two kinds; one for hunting, which belongs to fierce and savage beasts; and one for ritten on hus. the shepherd, and the watch box. The latter are not to be bought from hunters or as in the one butchers, because these are either lazy, or will follow a stag rather than a sheep. The

heva p...-.... eae best color is white, because it is most discernible in the dark. They must be fed in the

kitchen with bread and milk; or broth with bruised bones, but never with animal food,

ut turning; and never allowed to suffer from hunger, lest they attack the flock. That they may not this, it was be wounded by other beasts, they wear a collar made of strong leather set with nails, the A. Dickson inward extremity of which is covered with soft leather, and that the hardness of the iron 1 and pulse may not hurt their necks. If a wolf or any other beast is wounded by these, it makes }+ and there other dogs that have not the collar remain secure.(Var. lib. ii. cap. 9.)

ind Greeks,;

little at the Sunsecr. 4. Of the Agricultural Implements of the Romans.

tle forward, 109. The Romans used a great many instruments in their cultureand farm management; rly cooled,” but their particular forms and uses are so imperfectly described, that very little is known will arise,” concerning them.

ny mustrub 110. The plough, the most important instrument in agriculture, is mentioned by Cato as des, and not of two kinds, one for strong, and the other for light soils. Varro mentions one with two eto working mould boards, with which, he says,‘‘ when they plough after sowing the seed, they are said ng and high to ridge.”’ Pliny mentions a plough with one mould board for the same purpose, and to be led to others with a coulter, of which, he says, there are many kinds.__ It is probable indeed, as

the Rev. A. Dickson has remarked, that the ancients had many different kinds of ploughs,

cious horns, though, perhaps, not so scientifically constructed as those of modern times.‘ They had st, and thick ploughs,” he says,‘¢ with mould boards, and without mould boards; with and without coul- -of the body ters; with and without wheels; with broad and narrow pointed shares; and with shares not , hair should only with sharp sides and points, but also with high raised cutting tops.”’(Husb. of the seneral very An. ii. 388.) But amidst all this variety of ploughs, no one has been able to depict the The pat simplest form of that implement in use among the Romans. Professor John Martyn, in most part be his notes to Virgil s Georgics, gives a figure of a modern Italian plough to illustrate ‘erence be- Virgil s description. Rosier says, the Roman plough was the same as is still used in the commending south of France(fig. 11.). Some authors have made fanciful representations of it of the

stance often

jefly used to id that they p.6.) He , should not , male does

;; t -after being ‘el rudest construction; others have exhibited more refined pieces of mechanism, but most

‘h, provi sHaal66 Mules a mare and

improbable as portraits. Ill. From the different parts of the plough mentioned by the Roman authors, a

figure has been imagined and described by the author of the Husbandry of the body, com C4: