AGRICULTURE.
The peasants use the shadoof for the purpose, which is
a simple contrivance, used in drawing water, over a
large portion of the Fast. The Persian wheel, driven
by oxen, is largely employed ; so much so, that about
50,000 of these machines are at present in use in the
valley of the Nile. Besides these crops, cotton, indigo,
and sugar-cane are now cultivated to a small extent.
When the waters rest long on the land, it answers all
the ends of a fallow, by extirpating the land-weeds
and disintegrating the soil. ~The ground, in such
cases, requires no further culture than treading in
the seed by animals, or slightly scratching the sur-
face with bushes. On the other hand, the summer
crops require a great deal of tending, both in
cultivating and watering the soil. The diminution
of the population in Egypt has in some measure
deprived the country of the means of its former
advanced state of A.; mor is its present political
condition at all likely to lead to much improvement.
Few historical records of the state of Babylonian
A. have come down to us. We can only judge of its
productiveness by the dense population that was
supported in the plains bordering the Euphrates,
where the summer climate is almost as arid as that of
Egypt. That river also was subject to overflow,
when the snows melted on the mountains of Armenia
in summer. Further than this, however, we have
no knowledge of the systems pursued or crops
cultivated.
The Secriptures are full of allusions to the opera-
tions of the husbandman in Palestine as well as in
Egypt. The operations in the two countries neces-
sarily formed striking contrasts—the crops in the
former being chiefly dependent on the rains for
growth ; in the latter, on the inundations of the Nile.
In the Holy Land, there are extensive plains of
fertile soil which yielded the finest wheat. The
hillsides were covered with vines and olives, oftex
planted on terraces formed with much labour, to
afford a larger mass of soil, in which the plants
might flourish in the almost rainless summers. The
valleys were well watered, and afforded pasture
for numerous flocks. Of the smaller cultivated
plants, millet was the chief summer crop, but it
was only cultivated to alimited extent, being confined
to those spots that could be artificially watered.
‘Wheat and barley were the chief cereals, as the winter
-ains were sufficient to bring them to maturity. The
large number of inhabitants that Palestine supported
under the Jews is the wonder of all modern travel-
lers, who are struck with the ruins of ancient cities
and the desolation of the country. The means of
cultivation, however, disappeared with the inhabit-
ants ; and the destruction of the wood has added to
the aridity of the climate. Concurring testimony
indicates that the systems of cultivation were some-
what similar in all the countries bordering on the
Mediterranean, which are characterised by arid
summers, and autumn and winter rains. Irrigati
therefore, was had recourse to where
practicable.
The A. of Italy in the present day exhibits great
contrasts in its condition ; for while a garden-like
cultivation is seen in Lombardy, the utmost rude-
ess and backwardness prevail in the southern parts
of the peninsula. Into the social causes that have
led to these results our limits forbid us to enter. The
literature of the A. of the ancient Romans, throws
much light on the systems that then existed in the
countries bordering on the Mediterrancan. As is
well known, the wide-spread dominion of Rome
rose out of a diminutive colony planted on the banks
of the Tiber. In the time of the early kings, its
original territory did not extend above five miles
towards the Alban Hills, and still less in other direc-
tions. Romulus is said to have divided a portion of
his small territory among his subjects, at the rate of
little more than an acre to each. This allotment,
granted in perpetuity, was not liable to be taxed,
and could be sold by its owner. The whole territory
was not assigned to the citizens, but the larger pars
was kept as domain lands, which yielded a revenue
to the state, by being let to the wealthy classes.
These domain lands were either cultivated or
allowed to remain in pasture. The common conditions
were, that the occupants of the corn-land paid one-
tenth of the produce asrent ; of vines and fruit-trees,
one-fifth ; ‘and a moderate rate a head for sheep or
cattle pastured. The occupants were merely tenants-
at-will, and the state could resume and sell their lands
at any time. A similar policy seems to have been
pursued by the numerous states of ancient Italy. As
these were all conquered in succession by the
Yomans, their lands became the property of the
Roman state. Sometimes the inhabitants were
wholly extirpated, or sold into slavery, and their
lands were partly assigned to the poorer citizens
engaged in the war; the remainder, which was
always the much larger part, became domain lands.
In other instances, only a portion of the lands was
taken from the conquered nations; the former
owners were allowed to retain them as tenants, pay-
ing the ordinary rent. Thus, from the earliest times,
two classes of cultivators were in existence—the
small proprietors, and the wealthy tenants, holding
the lands of the state. Betwixt the two, there was
almost a perpetual strife—the one demanded the
distribution of the state domains, while the others
constantly resisted it. Even after the Romans
became masters of the whole of Italy, the citizens
had little more than four acres of land assigned to
each ; and the domain lands increased enormously.
Attempts were constantly made to restrict the
extent of domain held by the patricians, but gener-
ally without effect. See AGRARIAN LAws. The
great extent of domain lands gave rise to the
employment of slave-labour in their cultivation
by the wealthy citizens. This led to the discourage-
ment of small proprietors, so that the free population
engaged in A. diminished throughout Italy. The
evil was further aggravated by the policy that
the Romans pursued towards the inhabitants of
the conquered provinces: there, none of the land.
was held as freehold, but it was solely vested in the
Roman people, being all let out for the benefit of the
state. On the conquest of Sicily, the wealthy
Romans flocked over, and farmed the rents, as well
as cultivated the lands by means of slave-labour.
Indeed, the chief supplies of grain sent to Rome from
Sicily, Sardinia, and Carthage, were raised by means
f slaves. A. was long the only source of wealth
open to the patricians ; and it was deemed the most
honourable of occupations. Its operations were
then directed by men of wealth and learning; and
no wonder that its literature was so copious, and
held in so high estimation. i
Cato, the first and
most celebrated agricultural writer (who died aged
88, 150 B.c.), was in the middle period of life at the
end of the second Punic war. The large farming
system had then been fully established ; and he gives
us, not only the most minute particulars regarding
the management of the slaves on his Sabine farm, but
all the details of husbandry, from the ploughing of
the fallows to the reaping and threshing of the crop.
The chief grain cultivated by the Romans was
wheat, but barley was also cultivated to a consider-
able extent. Land devoted to grain was fallowed for
a whole year every alternate year; in other words,
the rotation consisted of 1st, wheat, 2d, fallow. One-
third of the fallow was thanured and sown with
some green crop as cattle-food. Fallow received from
four to five furrows before the wheat was sown in
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