698. ON AGRICULTURE BY CATO THE ELDER

698.  De Agricultura by Cato the Elder.  This is a very interesting work.  It appears to have numerous problems in transmission.  The Loeb commentator seems to think it is a manual for a farmer.  As an amateur farmer it does not sound that way to me.  It sometimes addresses the manager of a farm and sometimes the owner.  The two are not always distinguished.  It may be addressed to those who want to become a farmer or have been out of it for sometime and wish to return to it.  Do not be afraid to learn from others, he says.  He also suggests that it would be wise to locate near a town for a ready market.

It also does not seem to me to support the common remark that farms became monster farms and the small farmer was out of the picture.  The reason I say this is because he mentions farms of 60 acres in size or 120.  I did not detect any reference to big operators.  As I recall he mentions the need for 13 people for a 60 acre farm.  That number I suggest would maximize ability to get the work done in a degree of comfort and provide employment and make a reasonable profit.  (The same observation has been made in modern times with reference to industrial farming by Gene Logsdon and others.)

The commentator also mentioned that he places grain farming down the list of important activities.  Here is the list:  first vineyard, then watered garden, osier bed, olive yard, meadow, grain, wood lot, arbustum, mast grove.  Cato precedes this with the advice that a farm of 60 acres should contain a variety of soils and good placement.  I wonder if some scribe, who was unfamiliar with Roman practice or in ignorance, made some alterations.  It just seems that Cato is advocating a farm which is diversified.  For most of the rest of the book covers how to plant grains within rows of olive groves or vineyards, how to preserve olives, the different grains to plant, use of legumes to improve soil, manuring, constant manuring.  Of course where would the manure come from?  Sheep, goats, oxen, mules, donkeys, pigs.  None of these would have been in large numbers on 60 acres.  It also seems that he advocates rotation of these animals with crop preparation and maintenance.

The list of tools needed is extensive almost too extensive, at least for someone who already knew anything about farming.  I have a small piece of property of three acres and two large gardens.  I do not need a list of how many shovels I need or pruning hooks or feet of rope.  These lists are for someone who is almost completely unfamiliar with farming.  He give detailed information on how to select a farm- look for number of vats, presses and evidence of productivity.  I suspect that this work is a compilation of different works, perhaps from different periods.

Then, too, this work is in strong contrast to the piece by Cicero which has Cato discuss how to deal with old age with a group of friends.  It seems unlikely that Cicero would present a Cato in his work who had no connection with Cato's writings which survived in large numbers in his own day.