[1677]. Vid. Aristoph. Vesp. 262. The Scholiast entertains a somewhat different notion:—φασὶν ὅτι ὑετοῦ μέλλοντος γενέσθαι οἱ περὶ τὴν θρυαλλίδα τοῦ λύχνου σπινθῆρες ἀποπηδῶσιν, οὓς μύκητας νῦν λέγει, ὡς τοῦ λύχνου ἐναντιουμένου τῷ νοτερῷ ἀέρι· καὶ Ἄρατος “ἢ λύχνοιο μύκητες ἐγείρονται περὶ μύξαν, νύκτα κατὰ νοτίην.”

[1678]. Aristot. Meteorol. iii. 4. Seneca, Quæst. Nat. i. 2.

[1679]. Cf. Aristot. Problem. xxvi. 17.

CHAPTER V.
THE VARIOUS PROCESSES OF AGRICULTURE.

If we now pass to the actual labours of the farm, and the implements by which they were usually carried on, we shall find that the Grecian husbandman was no way deficient in invention, or in that ingenuity by which men have in all countries sought to diminish their toils. For the purpose of procuring at a cheap rate whatever was wanted for the use of the establishment,[[1680]] smiths, carpenters, and potters, were kept upon the land or in its immediate neighbourhood; by which means also the necessity was avoided of often sending the farm-servants to the neighbouring town, where it was observed they contracted bad habits, and were rendered more vicious and slothful.[[1681]] Waggons, therefore, and carts, and ploughs, and harrows, were constructed on the spot, though it was sometimes necessary perhaps to obtain from a distance the timber used for these implements, which was generally cut in winter-time. They exhibited much nicety in their choice of wood. Thus they would have the poplar or mulberry-tree for the felloes of their wheels; the ash, the ilex, and the oxya, for the axle-tree, and fine close-grained maple for the yokes of their oxen,[[1682]] sometimes carved in the form of serpents which seemed to wind round the necks of the animals, and project their heads on either side.[[1683]] Their harrows, it is probable, were formed like our own. The construction of the plough,[[1684]] always continued to be extremely simple. In the age of Hesiod[[1685]] it consisted of four parts, the handle, the socket, the coulter, and the beam; and very little alteration seems afterwards to have been made in its form or structure, till the introduction of the wheel-plough, which did not, it is believed, occur until after the age of Virgil. The more primitive instrument, however, would seem to have consisted originally of two parts only, one serving the purpose of handle, socket, and share, the other being the beam by which it was fastened to the yoke. In the antique implement[[1686]] the beam was sometimes made of laurel or elm, the socket of oak, and the handle of ilex.

Before mills were invented, the instrument by which they reduced corn into flour was a large mortar, scooped out of the trunk of a tree, furnished with a pestle upwards of four feet in length, exactly resembling that still in use among the Egyptian Arabs. To give the pestle greater effect it was fixed above in a cross-bar, seven feet long, and worked by two individuals.[[1687]] By this rude contrivance, it is possible to produce flour as fine as that proceeding from the most perfect boulting machine. In addition to these they possessed winnowing fans, scythes, sickles, pruning-hooks, fern or braken-scythes, saws and hand-saws, used in pruning and grafting, spades, shovels, rakes, pick-axes, hoes, mattocks,—one, two, and three pronged,—dibbles, fork-dibbles, and grubbing-axes.[[1688]] When rustics were clearing away underwood or cutting down brakes, they went clad in hooded skin-cloaks, leather gaiters, and long gloves.[[1689]]

On the subject of manure[[1690]] the Greeks appear to have entertained very just notions, and have left behind them numerous rules for using and preparing it. In lean lands which required most the help of art, they were still careful to avoid excess in the employment of manure, spreading it frequently rather than copiously; for as, left to themselves, they would have been too cold, so, when over enriched by art, their prolific virtue was thought to be consumed by heat. In applying it to plants, they were careful to interpose a layer of earth lest their roots should be scorched. Of all kinds of manure they considered that of birds the best,[[1691]] except the aquatic species, which, when mixed, however, was not rejected. Most husbandmen set a peculiar value on the sweepings of dovecotes,[[1692]] which, in small quantities, were frequently scattered over the fields with the seed.

On the preparation of manure-pits they bestowed much attention.[[1693]] Having sunk them sufficiently deep in places abundantly supplied with water, they cast therein large quantities of weeds, with all descriptions of manure, among which they reckoned even earth itself, when completely impregnated with humidity. When they had lain long enough to be entirely decayed, they were fit for use. To the above were sometimes added wood-ashes, the refuse of leather-dressers, the cleansing of stables, and cow-houses, with stubble, brambles, and thorns reduced to ashes. In maritime situations sea-weed,[[1694]] also, having been well washed in fresh water, was mingled in large proportion with other materials, and, where possible, a channel was made conducting the muck and puddle[[1695]] of the neighbouring road into the pit, which at once accelerated the putrescence of the manure and augmented it. The Attic husbandmen had a mode of enriching their lands[[1696]] somewhat expensive, and, as far as I know, peculiar to themselves; having sown a field, they allowed the corn to spring up and the blade to reach a considerable height, upon which they again ploughed it in as a kind of sacrifice to the earth. A practice, not altogether unlike, still prevails in the kingdom of Naples, where the husbandmen sometimes bury their beans and lupins, just before flowering, for manure.[[1697]]

In ploughing there was great variety of practice, and in small farms, where the soil was light, they had recourse to what may be denominated spade husbandry. Most lands were ploughed thrice; first, immediately after the removal of the preceding crop; secondly, at a convenient interval of time; and, thirdly,[[1698]] in the sowing season, when the ploughman scattered the grain in the furrows as they were laid open while a lad followed at his heels with a hoe breaking the clods and covering the seed that it might not be devoured by the birds.[[1699]] Occasionally, in very hot weather, and in certain situations, the farmer ploughed all night;[[1700]] first, out of consideration to the oxen, whose health would have suffered from the sun; secondly, to preserve the moisture and richness of the soil; and, thirdly, by the aid of the dew, to render it more pliable. On these occasions, it was customary to employ two pair of oxen and a heavier share in order to produce the deeper furrows, and turn up the hidden fat of the earth. In choosing a ploughman they took care that he should be tall and powerful,[[1701]] that he might be able to thrust the share deeper into the ground and wield it generally with facility: and yet they would not, if possible[possible], that he should be under forty years of age, lest, instead of attending to his duties, his eye should be glancing hither and thither, and his mind be roving after his companions.[[1702]] When in particular haste to complete his task, the ploughman often carried a long loaf under his arm, which, like the French peasants, he ate as he went along.[[1703]] In this department of rural labour it may be observed, mules were sometimes employed as well as oxen.[[1704]] Both were directed and kept in order by a sharp goad.[[1705]]