Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-01-02
SACRAMENTO DAILY MONDAY JANUARY O.

were fed on bread, wine and salt.fish, with |
sparing allowance Of olive oil, vinegar and |
salt, and such fruits as were to be had.
The OK was the principal beast of labor |
used By the Romans. Sometimes the ass was
used, but not often. The mule was the beast |
of burden, and the horse was reared almost
exclusively for the saddle, the chase, or war.
Next to the horse, the OK was held in the
highest repute, and it was criminal offense
to kill one of these useful animals. The
Roman authors spent great amount OF space
in treating of the manner IN which oxen
should be bred, broke, fed and worked the
explicit manner in which some of them
treated the subject reminds one very strongly
of the theorizing OF some of our modern
writers. Much care was taken in the work
| ing and feediJy Of the OK, and particular pains
were taken to have them well matched, both
as regards size and general appearance. LIZ
| was not allowable to work oxen without turn
| ing them very frequently, and for this reason
| the land was generally DIVIDED up into plots
| of 40 feet in length After turning it was
| customary to let them stand 6 bit, and for the
| driver to push their yoke forward 80 as to let
| their necks cool. Columella says: The plow-
man, when he has unyoked his oxen, must
| rub them after they are tied up, press their
backs with his hand, pull up their hides and
rot suffer them TO stick TO their bodies (; Tor
| this is disease that is very destructive to
working cattle. No food must
be given them until they have ceased from
sweating and high breathing, and then by
degrees, In portions as eaten and afterwards
they are TO be led to water and encouraged by
| whistling,"
THE ROMAN FARMERS
! Made use Of dogs to help them in herding
| their sheep, to hunt and to watch their prem
| ises. lust as we do in the present time. Inc
shepherd dogs were reared II the house on
| bread and milk and cooked meats, but were
never allowed any raw flesh for fear that they
would take to killing the sheep. They were
provided with collar, from which protruded
sharp spikes. This collar was valuable &C
eessoFy TO the dog when attacked by wolves
or other dogs. The agricultural implements
OF the Romans were rude, yet they were Ia
advance Of their contemporaries In t1is re-
specs. Pliny, speaking of plows, mentions
those with single and double mod-boards
with shares, caulters aad wheels. From tins
it is evident that the plows, at least, bad the
essential elements of success about them, sna
that they could not have been much inferior
4 TO plows used in some parts OF Europe at the
present time.
They made use Of harrows, cultivators,
rollers. rakes, hoes and other simple imple-
ments. not SO perfect to be sure as ours, but
perfect in comparison to the tools OF the antl-
auarians. After the Roman population had
become somewhat dense, the agricultural
operations were OF necessity conducted more
economically than had previously been the
case. When no manure was to be had the
ground was often tallowed alternate years,
and plowed al least three times between e9ch
planting They not only stirred the soil, but
turned it under, thus covering the weeds and
keeping the ground clear with comparatively
little labor. The relative value OF dlfferenf
manures was to a certain extent recognized
crops of pulse were turned under, stubbie
was burned in a receptacle provided for the
purpose, and the ashes spread over the
ground lime was also used to some extent as
FERTILIZER.
Provisions were made for saving all the ex-
crsmeuts, both solid and liquid, and recep-
taces were built for collecting them, and
shaded from the sun so as to prevent evapo-
ration MANY of the Romans had extern
sive apiaries, and were very partlcu'
lar to gather the guano. which was
held in very high esteem fertilizer, and
was used to spread over sickly crops. Mari
was known to the early Roman authors, but
seems not to have been used in Italy. Phny
says of il: st is certain richness OF earth,
like the kernels in animal bodies, that are H.
creased in fat" Although not using the
mari themselves, the Romans must have been
marched an army to the Rhine In trans
Alpine GauI, 1 passed through some coun-
tries where | saw the fields MANFRED with
white fossil clay" Speaking of gathering
corn, this same author mentions three
methods practiced: Cutting close to the
ground with hooks, handful at time ];
cutting off the ears with curved stick with
a saw attached; and cutting the stalks IN Gne
middle, leaving the lower part OF the stupple
to be cut later. When the corn was cut by
this last method, Columella says that 1t was
dried in the field and then thrashed but II
only the ears were pulled off, the corn was
hauled to the granaries and thrashed during
the winter. Pliny speaks of pulling the corn
up by the roots and using the stalks, after the
corn had been thrashed, for tbatching the
roofs, The Romans had rude sort OF
reaper which they used in harvesting the
small grain. This was square box pushed
by an OK, with row Of long teeth, similar to
the guards of mower. in front. The driver
walked behind the box and by the side OF the
OK, and it is supposed that as fast as the grain
caught in these teeth that he Topped 1t on
with sharp hoe which he held in his hand,
letting it fall into the box. That the imp)e-
ment was very rude will be seen when 1t is
said that it took a day and a half to reap
iueerum Ia little less than an acre) of wheat.
one day to reap the same amount OF barley or
clover, and three days to cut jugerum OF
fax.
THRAsHING
Was generally done on the thrashing floor, a
smooth clear space of from forty to sixty feet
in diameter. On this floor it was beaten out
j by driving horses or cattle over it, or mashed
out with huge wooden roller. The Romans
used an imperfect form of scythe with which
TO cut their hay. Columela says that good
mower will cut jWgorUm of meadow, and
will bind twelve hundred bundles in a day.
A second crop of hay was cut off of these
meadows, but it was considered of an inferior
quality, and this, with hay made from leary
twigs of poplar, elm and oak trees, were
stored up as fodder for the sheep, Wedding
and stirring the soil was done quite systemat-
ically with hoes, and horse cultlvators were
used to some extent for the same purpose.
PIiny ascribes the invention of cultivation by
means of horse cultivators to the following ::
The Labassi ravaging the land under the
Alps, tried to destroy the crop OF panic and
millet, which was just out of the ground, by
blowing it under, but the crop instead OF
being less was doubled, and the observation
of this led the Romans to pillow =" among the
corn" Irrigation was carried on to con,
siderable extent, both on the pasture and
arabic LANDS. Columella gives the Romans
good deal of advice both on the draining and
irrigation of lands. OF irrigation he says !:
"Land that is naturally rich and OF good
heart does not need to have water set over it,
because the hay produced in juicy soil Is
better than that produced by water; when
the poverty of the soil requires it, however,
the water may be set over it." Sod and turf
land was systematically broken up In much
the same way as it is done at the present
time. They were planted in corn for the first
three years, and if for pastures, were sown
the third year with vetch and grass seed.
FENCING
Was pracsiced, though not to a very consid-
cradle extent the boundaries were defined by
rows of trees, and the parks, meadows and
orchards were surrounded with hedges OF
thorny shrubs.
The Roman farmers were an industrious,
quiet people, opposed to ostentation and pro-
fuse culture, and as general thing kept
and treated their slaves and servants well.
They were. "a class, intelligent, and had a
pretty good idea of the adsptability of the
/ different seasons to different crops. Varro
advised them to experiment in agricultural
matters and not to be content to always i'm
| itate their predecessors. Agriculture among
the Romans began to decline in the time OF
| Varro The civil wars toward the end of
the second century. the tyraunical Emperors
of the third. and the renewal OF the seat cf
a,n,,;ra IN Constankiponla in the rniddia Of