Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1884-11-15
AGRICULTURAL.


AGRICULTURE In HUMEh'S TIME.
Many Of our agricultural readers,
in these winter evenings, devoted to
books aud study, viii relish the allu-
sions to farming in ancient times, as
gathered out of the writings of
Homer, and published in an article
BY Isaacs B. Choatc, in the Arical-
tural RcUiesc.
A knowledge of agriculture was so
far advanced in Homer's day thar
men had noted what soils and what
exposures were best suited to the
various crops. Who ever reads the
Catalogue of the Ships in the second
book of the Had. cannot fail to OBJ
serve with what particularly the
poet describes the places he mentions
with some expressive epithet having
reference to the soil, the situation or
the productions of the region. Hal
iartos is grassy, and Arne abounds
in the purple clusters of the grape.
The site of Gon9ssa is lofty, and
Lakedaimon is encircled by noun
tains. Orchomenos is rich in its
ffocks of sheep. Enispe is exposed
to the winds. Lykastos is white
with its chalky cliffs or soil. The
poet speaks of Howery Pyrssos, a
place sacred to Ceres; of Itona, the
mother of sheep; Antrona, that
stands by the sea, and of Pteleus, of
the thickmattedturf Larissa has a
fruitful soil and Argos is good for
the pasturing of horses.
Farther evidence of the advanced
stage of agriculture at this time is
found in the fact that lands were no
longer held in common as among q
people leading only pastoral life,
but each mans possessions were de.
termined by permanent metes and
bounds. In the conflict which ragged
along the banks of the Hanthus, and
in which were engaged the powers
of heaven and ofearth, of the waters
and the air; Ares, despatched with
blood, hurled with his long javelin
against the fringe-bordered shield of
Athena:
Terrible, one that not Zeus with his
thunder-bolt could have riven.
Drawing backward, stone in her mighty
hand she uplifted.
Laying there on the plain, twas black
one jagged and heavy,
This had men aforetime set up in field
for its limit.
Ill.,, xxi, 403-405.)
The partition of lands is directly
mentioned where Homer describes
how the Lydians and the Danains
contended at the breastwork in front
of the ships; for, though the pail.
sades was broken down, neither
party could force the other back
from the entrenchment
But as two persons contend, about their
limits disputing,
Measuring rods in their hands they hold
in field that is common,
Each of them claiming his rights in a
parcel of land very narrow,
So the works kept these apart VS.
ILL.,, xii, 42t-424.)
The practice of holding lands,
separate by fixed boundaries, is re-
ferred to in the interview between
Achillens and Aeneas on the field of
battle. The former taunts his ad-
versary with having entertained the
thought that Priam will make him
his successor if he shall but STAY
Achilleus. Then, after showing how
vain such hope would be, he asks;
Have now the Trojans indeed set off q
spot better than others,
Fit for the planting of vines, for the
plough, that you may enjoy it,
If me you happen to kill, but trow this
is hard to accomplish.
IT,, Xxx, 1S4-186.)
The ploughing of the land was
most commonly done with the labor
of oxen. In the fight before the
Grecian ships and their possession,
the two Ajaxes led the left wing of
the Grecian against the Trojan right
where Hektor stood, and the poet
shows by a familiar comparison how
these two heroes toiled through all
that day:
As in q field fresh plouged, a pair of dark
colored oxen,
Well in their temper matched draw the
plough with joints closely fastened,
And from the base of their horns forth
oozes the sweat in abundance.
Only the well-polished yoke holds off
from each other the oxen,
Walking the furrow along, and the plough
cleaves the acre tiilaQe