Agricultural Science

Sources

Roman Farming. Early agriculture was a science whose techniques and lore were transmitted orally. The Romans were the first people to make agriculture a subject for technical discourse, systematically presented. “Cato first taught agriculture to speak Latin,” said Columella, himself a writer on agriculture. First through its legions, then through its ploughs, the Romans transformed the face of western Europe. Early Roman agriculture consisted of small farms whereon a family could sustain itself with few goods purchased at the markets. As Rome expanded, many developments in agriculture transformed the small farm into large, cash-crop corporate enterprises that were rationally run. The Mediterranean soils of Italy were thin in topsoil. Ploughs were scratch devices pulled by animals. Never producing the abundant yields of modern farms, Roman farms were increasingly specialized according to the area, the nature of the soil and climate, and market conditions. As Rome expanded by annexing contiguous areas, soldiers and urban landless were often granted agriculturally productive areas. The Romans fostered the notion that the strength of the Republic lay in its small farmers and landowners. The urbanization of Italy and internationalization of markets caused farms to grow in size, with smaller farmers marginalized and eventually virtually eliminated. Cereal crops were more competitively grown in Sicily and North Africa. Large areas of public land (ager publicus) became available to wealthy Romans who occupied tracts that left production during and just after the Second Punic War (218-201 b.c.e.). They were transformed into private land (agerprivatus) and made into large estates, called latifundia. Italian agricultural production turned primarily toward viticulture, olive orchards, animal husbandry (mostly cattle), and fresh vegetables for local markets. The Gracchi brothers (133-121 b.c.e.) were only partially successful when they attempted agricultural reforms to reinstate small farms. In the long run, they did not succeed in reducing the growth of large capital farming with slave and low-wage laborers. Rome’s expansion beyond Italy resulted in large markets for grain, wool, leather, and wine, especially through government contracts for military supply.

Farms West and East. Julius Caesar found Gaul, northern Europe, and Britain to be largely forest lands with small clearings, where on small plots grew vegetable and cereal supplements for the Celtic and Germanic diets. A century later, large farms in those same regions were run as businesses, and they pushed back the forest. Essentially, in western and northern Africa, the large units of agricultural production in the Roman Empire became the medieval manors with few changes. Were one to have flown over Gaul in the second century and then again in the eighth century, one might well have seen the same farms, little changed in the intervening years. In the Roman east, farming did not change much from the Hellenistic era that preceded it. The Romans treated agriculture as an area of science where reason and business were applied to production for maximum yields. They employed organic fertilizers, crop rotations, and systematic periods to allow fields to recover by allowing them to be fallow.

Agricultural Handbooks. The first surviving work on agriculture was by the famous Marcus Porcius Cato, the Censor (234-149 B.C.E.), who wanted his sons and all Romans of ambition to run good, productive, efficient farming estates. He described his own villa and what features are necessary for a good farm, with horticultural and viticultural advice, as well as practical business procedures, such as how to store wine and olive oil until the prices are high. Somewhat disjointed in presentation, this work interspersed recipes and extolled the virtues of cabbage. Gardens, he said, not only nourish but cure as well. Two later writers on agriculture helped establish agriculture as a science, worthy of study as well as application. Varro (116-27 B.C.E.) wrote a work called “On Cultivating the Land,” which dealt with agriculture in general and especially with animal husbandry, notably cattle, sheep, and small animals. Varro recognized the importance of bees in crop production and advised on how to keep hives. The most systematic agricultural treatise was written by Columella (flourishing mid first century C.E.), who was born in Gades in Spain but owned farms in Italy. He is known for his thoroughness, precision with detail, and systematic arrangement. Subjects covered include farm organization, viticulture, arboriculture, animal husbandry, fish farming, poultry and small animals, surveying, climatic factors, soil conditions, and how to employ various land formations. He recognized the existence of contagious diseases among animals. Viticulture received the most emphasis, partly because of its complexity and partly for its profitability.

Sources

W. E. Heitland, Agricola: A Study of Agriculture and Rustic Life in the Greco-Roman World from the Point of View of Labour (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1970).

K. D. White, A Bibliography of Roman Agriculture (Reading, U.K.: University of Reading, 1970).

White, Roman Farming (London: Thames & Hudson, 1970; Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970).