From Cato, On Agriculture

De Agri Cultura (Latin pronunciation: [ˈdeː ˈaɡriː kʊlˈtuːraː], On Farming or On Agriculture), written by Cato the Elder, is the oldest surviving work of Latin prose. Alexander Hugh McDonald, in his article for the Oxford Classical Dictionary, dated this essay's composition to about 160 BC and noted that "for all of its lack of form, its details of old custom and superstition, and its archaic tone, it was an up-to-date directed from his own knowledge and experience to the new capitalistic farming." Cato was revered by many later authors for his practical attitudes, his stoicism and his tight and lucid prose. He is much quoted by Pliny the Elder, for example, in his Naturalis Historia.

See below for recipes.

Cato, De Agri Cultura

Table of Contents and Latin and English translation from https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cato/De_Agricultura/home.html

The Latin text is that of Goetz in the Teubner edition of 1922, with cosmetic changes as printed in the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1934. The English translation is by W. D. Hooper and H. B. Ash, printed in the same edition. Both text and translation are in the public domain.

 

Ancient Roman Agriculture

Agriculture in ancient Rome was not only a necessity, but was idealized among the social elite as a way of life. Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations. In his treatise On Duties, he declared that "of all the occupations by which gain is secured, none is better than agriculture, none more profitable, none more delightful, none more becoming to a free man." When one of his clients was derided in court for preferring a rural lifestyle, Cicero defended country life as "the teacher of economy, of industry, and of justice" (parsimonia, diligentia, iustitia). Cato, Columella, Varro and Palladius wrote handbooks on farming practices in Rome.

The staple crop grown was wheat, and bread was the mainstay of every Roman table. In his treatise De agricultura ("On Farming", 2nd century BC), Cato wrote that the best farm was a vineyard, followed by an irrigated garden, willow plantation, olive orchard, meadow, grain land, forest trees, vineyard trained on trees, and lastly acorn woodlands. Though Rome relied on resources from its many provinces acquired through conquest and warfare, wealthy Romans developed the land in Italy to produce a variety of crops. "The people living in the city of Rome constituted a huge market for the purchase of food produced on Italian farms."

Land ownership was a dominant factor in distinguishing the aristocracy from the common person, and the more land a Roman owned, the more important he would be in the city. Soldiers were often rewarded for their services in Rome with land from the commander they served. Though farms depended on slave labor, free men and citizens were hired at farms to oversee the slaves and ensure that the farms ran smoothly.

Farming practices

In the 5th century BC, farms in Rome were small and family-owned. The Greeks of this period, however, had started using methods of crop rotation and had large estates. Rome's contact with Carthage, Greece, and the Hellenistic East in the 3rd and 2nd centuries improved Rome's agricultural methods. Roman agriculture reached its height in productivity and efficiency during the late republic and early empire.

The farm sizes in Rome can be divided into three categories. Small farms were from 18-108 iugera. (One iugerum is equal to about 0.65 acres). Medium-sized farms were from 80-500 iugera. Large estates (called latifundia) were over 500 iugera.

In the late Republican era, the number of Latifundia increased. Wealthy Romans bought land from peasant farmers who could no longer make a living. Starting in 200 BC, the Punic Wars called peasant farmers away to fight for longer periods of time.

Cows provided milk, and oxen and mules did the heavy work on the farm. Sheep and goats were cheese producers, and were prized for their hides. Horses were not widely used in farming, but were raised by the rich for racing or war. Sugar production centered on beekeeping, and some Romans raised snails as luxury items.

The Romans had four systems of farm management: direct work by owner and his family; tenant farming or sharecropping in which the owner and a tenant divide up a farm's produce; slaves owned by aristocrats forced to do work and supervised by slave managers; and other situations in which a farm was leased to a tenant.

Cato the Elder (also known as "Cato the Censor") was a politician and statesman in the mid-to-late Roman Republic and described what a farm of 100 iugera (approx. 63 acres) should have, in his opinion. He claimed such a farm should have "a foreman, a foreman's wife, ten laborers, one ox driver, one donkey driver, one man in charge of the willow grove, one swineherd, in all sixteen persons; two oxen, two asses for wagon work, one ass for the mill work." As well, he stated that such a farm should have "three presses fully equipped, storage jars in which five vintages amounting to eight hundred cullei can be stored, twenty storage jars for wine-press refuse, twenty for grain, separate coverings for the jars, six fiber-covered half amphorae, four fiber-covered amphorae, two funnels, three basketwork strainers, [and] three strainers to dip up the flower, ten jars for [handling] the wine juice..."

Trade

There was much commerce between the provinces of the empire, and all regions of the empire were largely economically interdependent. Some provinces specialized in the production of grain, others in wine and others in olive oil, depending on the soil type. Columella writes in his Res Rustica, "Soil that is heavy, chalky, and wet is not unsuited to the growing for winter wheat and spelt. Barley tolerates no place except one that is loose and dry."

Pliny the Elder wrote extensively about agriculture in his Naturalis Historia from books XII to XIX, including chapter XVIII, The Natural History of Grain.

Some crops grown on Roman farms included artichoke, mustard, coriander, rocket, chives, leeks, celery, basil, parsnip, mint, rue, thyme 'from overseas', beets, poppy, dill, asparagus, radish, cucumber, gourd, fennel, capers, onions, saffron, parsley, marjoram, cabbage, lettuce, cumin, garlic, figs, grapes, 'Armenian' apricots, plums, mulberries, and peaches.

Greek geographer Strabo considered the Po Valley (northern Italy) to be the most important economically because "all cereals do well, but the yield from millet is exception, because the soil is so well watered. The province of Etruria had heavy soil good for wheat. Volcanic soil in Campania made it well-suited for wine production. In addition to knowledge of different soil categories, the Romans also took interest in what type of manure was best for the soil. The best was poultry manure, and cow manure one of the worst. Sheep and goat manure were also good. Donkey manure was best for immediate use, while horse manure wasn't good for grain crops, but according to Marcus Terentius Varro, it was very good for meadows because 'it promotes a heavy growth of grass plants like grass.'"

Economics

In the Roman Empire, a family of 6 persons would need to cultivate 12 iugera/ 3 hectares of land to meet minimum food requirements (without animals). If a family owned animals to help cultivate land, then 20 iugera was needed. The same amount would also be required to meet subsistence levels if the land was farmed using sharecropping, as in Africa Proconsularis in the 2nd century AD, in which case a third of the total crop goes to the landowner as rent (See Lex Manciana).

Such figures detail only the subsistence level. It is clear that large scale surplus production was undertaken in some provinces, such as to supply the annona with grain.

For yields of wheat, the number varies depending on the ancient source. Varro mentions 10:1 seed-yield ratio for wheat as normal for wealthy landowners. In some areas of Etruria, yield may have been as high as 15:1. Cicero indicates In Verrem a yield of 8:1 as normal, and 10:1 in exceptionally good harvest. Paul Erdkamp mentions in his book The Grain Market in the Roman Empire, that Columella was probably biased when he mentions a much lower yield of 4:1. According to Erdkamp, Columella wanted to make the point that "grain offers little profit compared to wine. His argument induces him to exaggerate the profitability of vineyards and at the same time to diminish the yields that were obtained in grain cultivation. At best Columella provides a trustworthy figure for poor soils; at worst, his estimate is not reliable at all."

Egypt was also important in providing wheat to Rome. Normally, shipments of Egyptian wheat may have amounted to 20 million modii or more annually. This number can be found in the Epitome de Caesaribus. Twenty million modii of wheat was enough for half or two thirds of Rome.

Pliny the Younger painted a picture that Rome was able to survive without Egyptian wheat in his speech the Panegyricus in 100 AD.[citation needed] In 99 there was an Egyptian crisis due to inadequate flooding.

Pliny the Younger stated that for "long it was generally believed that Rome could only be fed and maintained with Egyptian aid". However, he argued that "Now [that] we have returned the Nile its riches... her business is not to allow us food but to pay a proper tribute.

Mechanisation

The Romans improved crop growing by watering growing plants using aqueducts and there is an increasing amount of evidence that some parts of the industry were mechanised. For example, extensive sets of mills existed in Gaul and Rome at an early date to grind corn into flour. The most impressive extant remains occur at Barbegal in southern France, near Arles. Sixteen overshot water wheels arranged in two columns were fed by the main aqueduct to Arles, the outflow from one being the supply to the next one down in the series. The mills apparently operated from the end of the 1st century AD until about the end of the 3rd century. The capacity of the mills has been estimated at 4.5 tons of flour per day, sufficient to supply enough bread for the 12,500 inhabitants occupying the town of Arelate at that time.

Vertical water wheels were well known to the Romans, described by Vitruvius in his De Architectura of 25 BC, and mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia of AD 77. There are also later references to floating water mills from Byzantium and to sawmills on the river Moselle by the poet Ausonius. The use of multiple stacked sequences of reverse overshot water-wheels was widespread in Roman mines.

There is direct evidence from bas-reliefs that they also used a kind of automatic harvester or reaper when collecting in ripe crops. It is believed that either Romans or the Celts before them, invented the mechanical reaper that cut the ears without the straw and was pushed by oxen. Pliny the Elder mentions the device in the Naturalis Historia XVIII, 296. The machine was forgotten in the Dark Ages, during which period reapers reverted to using scythes and sickles to gather crops.

Acquiring a farm

Aristocrats and common people could acquire land for a farm in one of three ways. The most common way to gain land was to purchase the land. Though some lower class citizens did own small pieces of land, they often found it too difficult and expensive to maintain. Because of the many difficulties of owning land, they would sell it to someone in the aristocracy who had the financial backing to support a farm. Though there were some public lands available to the common person for use, aristocrats also tended to purchase those pieces of land, which caused a great deal of tension between the two classes. "Mass eviction of the poor by the rich underlay the political tensions and civil wars of the last century of the Roman Republic." Another way to acquire land was as a reward for going to war. High ranking soldiers returning from war would often be given small pieces of public land or land in provinces as a way of paying them for their services. The last way to obtain land was through inheritance. A father could leave his land to his family, usually to his son, in the event of his death. Wills were drawn out that specified who would receive the land as a way of ensuring that other citizens did not try to take the land from the family of the deceased.

Aristocracy and the land

Though some small farms were owned by lower class citizens and soldiers, much of the land was possessed by the noble class of Rome. Land ownership was just one of many distinctions that set the aristocracy apart from the lower classes. Aristocracy would "reorganize small holdings into larger more profitable farms in order to compete with other nobles." It was considered a point of pride to own not just the largest piece of land, but also to have land that grew high quality produce. As Marcus Cato wrote "when they would praise a worthy man their praise took this form: 'Good husband good farmer'; it is from the farming class that the bravest men and the sturdiest soldiers come." The land owners would produce a variety of crops depending on the season, and focused on trying to acquire the best possible farm under the best possible conditions. Cato discusses many of the primary focuses of the farmer and how to distinguish a great piece of land. He notes that a good farmer must take precious time to examine the land, looking over every detail. Not only did the land need to be perfect for purchase, but the neighbors must maintain their farms as well because "if the district was good, they should be well kept." Individuals looking to buy a piece of land had to also take into consideration the weather of the area, the condition of the soil, and how close the farm would be to a town or port. Careful planning went into every detail of owning and maintaining a farm in Roman culture.

Running a farm in Rome

While the aristocracy owned most of the land in Rome, they oftentimes were not present at the farms. With obligations as senators, generals, and soldiers at war, many of the actual landowners spent very little time working on their farms. The farms instead were maintained by slaves and freedmen paid to oversee those slaves. The overseer of the farm had many responsibilities that coincided with maintaining the land. He was responsible for ensuring that the slaves were kept busy and for resolving conflicts between them. An overseer had to be dependable and trustworthy in that the land owner had to know that the person they hired to run the farm was not going to try and steal any of the produce from the farm. Overseers were also responsible for ensuring that both servants and slaves were properly fed and housed, and that they were assigned work fairly and efficiently. They had to ensure that any orders given by the owner of the land were followed diligently and that everyone on the farm honored the gods completely and respectfully, which Romans believed was necessary to ensure a bountiful harvest. Good inscription evidence of how the system was organized is visible in the Lex Manciana.

The majority of the work was done by servants and slaves. Slaves were the main source of labor. In Roman society, there were three main ways to obtain a slave. The first and possibly most common way to gain a slave was to buy one on the market. Slaves were purchased at auctions and slaves markets from dealers or were traded between individual slave owners. Another way slaves were acquired was through conquest in warfare. As Keith Hopkins explains in his writings, many landowners would go to war and bring back captives. These captives were then taken back to Roman territory and either sold to another citizen or made to work on the capturer's farm. The final way a slave could be obtained was through birth: if a female slave gave birth to a child, that child became property of the slave's owner. Slaves were relatively cheap to use because they were property;[16] their treatment depended on the humanity of their owners, who met the needs of their slaves on what they cared to spend, not what they had to. Overseers motivated slaves by imposing punishments and by giving rewards. "If the overseer sets his face against wrongdoing, they will not do it; if he allows it, the master must not let him go unpunished." Although outright cruelty to slaves was considered a mark of bad character in Roman culture, there were few limits on the punishments an overseer or slave-owner could inflict.

Problems for farmers

Roman farmers faced many of the problems which have historically affected farmers up until modern times including the unpredictability of weather, rainfall, and pests. Farmers also had to be wary of purchasing land too far away from a city or port because of war and land conflicts. As Rome was a vast empire that conquered many lands, it created enemies with individuals whose land had been taken. They would often lose their farms to the invaders who would take over and try to run the farms themselves. Though Roman soldiers would oftentimes come to the aid of the farmers and try and regain the land, these fights often resulted in damaged or destroyed property. Land owners also faced problems with slave rebellions at times. "In addition to invasions by Carthaginians and Celtic tribes, slaves rebellions and civil wars which were repeatedly fought on Italian soil all contributed to the destruction of traditional agricultural holdings. (pg. 4) Also, as Rome's agriculture declined, people now judged others by their wealth rather than their character."

Excerpts from Cato On Agriculture: Recipes

In this book, Cato also explains how to plant asparagus, fertilize it and dig up and replant when the bed gets old. There is also a section on grafting trees.

From http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cato/De_Agricultura/E*.html. Also see http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010121cato/catofarmtext.htm

24. Directions for making Greek wine: Gather carefully well-ripened Apician grapes, and add to the culleus of must two quadrantals of old sea-water, or a modius of pure salt. If the latter is used, suspend it in a basket and let it dissolve in the must. If you wish to make a straw-coloured wine, take equal parts of yellow and Apician wine and add a thirtieth part of old boiled wine. Add a thirtieth part of concentrated must to any kind of blended wine.

74. Recipe for kneaded bread: Wash your hands and a bowl thoroughly. Pour meal into the bowl, add water gradually, and knead thoroughly. When it is well kneaded, roll out and bake under a crock.

The libum and the placenta (recipes below), especially, are important, as these cakes are employed in religious services. Horace, Epistles, I, 10, 10‑11, compares himself to the runaway slave of the priest, who refuses liba, as he needs plain bread, which is better than mellitis placentis. Varro, I.2.28, is amused at the idea of treating such subjects in a work on agriculture. It should, of course, be remembered that honey took the p83place of our sugar. But even so, these recipes cannot be considered alluring.

75. Recipe for libum: Bray 2 pounds of cheese thoroughly in a mortar; when it is thoroughly macerated, add 1 pound of wheat flour, or, if you wish the cake to be more dainty, 1/2 pound of fine flour, and mix thoroughly with the cheese. Add 1 egg, and work the whole well. Pat out a loaf, place on leaves, and bake slowly on a warm hearth under a crock.

76. Recipe for placenta: Materials, 2 pounds of wheat flour for the crust, 4 pounds of flour and 2 pounds of prime groats for the tracta [Seemingly bits of pastry]. Soak the groats in water, and when it becomes quite soft pour into a clean bowl, drain well, and knead with the hand; when it is thoroughly kneaded, work in the 4 pounds of flour gradually. From this dough make the tracta, and spread them out in a basket where they can dry; and when they are dry arrange them evenly. Treat each tractum as follows: After kneading, brush them with an oiled cloth, wipe them all over and coat with oil. When the tracta are moulded, heat thoroughly the hearth where you are to bake, and the crock. Then moisten the 2 pounds of flour, knead, and make of it a thin lower crust. Soak 14 pounds of sheep's cheese (sweet and quite fresh) in water and macerate, changing the water three times. Take out a small quantity at a time, squeeze out the water thoroughly with the hands, and when it is quite dry place it in a bowl. When you have dried out the cheese completely, knead it in a clean bowl by hand, and make it as smooth as possible. Then take a clean flour sifter and force the cheese through it into the bowl. Add 4 1/2 pounds of fine honey, and mix it thoroughly with the cheese. Spread the crust [The word solum seems to be used of the bottom crust, while the balteus (belt) is used of the crust folded over; but the directions are vague] on a clean board, one foot wide, on oiled bay leaves, and form the placenta as follows: Place a first layer of separate tracta over the whole crust, cover it with the mixture from the bowl, add the tracta one by one, covering each layer until you have used up all the cheese and honey. On the top place single tracta, and then fold over the crust and prepare the hearth . . . then place the placenta, cover with a hot crock, and heap coals on top and around. See that it bakes thoroughly and slowly, uncovering two or three times to examine it. When it is done, remove and spread with honey. This will make a half-modius cake.

77. Recipe for spira: For the quantity desired do everything in proportion just as for the placenta, except that you shape it differently. Cover the tracta on the crust thickly with honey; then draw out like a rope and so place it on the crust, filling it closely with plain tracta. Do everything else as in the case of the placenta, and so bake.

78. Recipe for scriblita: Follow the same directions with respect to crust, tracta, and cheese, as for the placenta, but without honey.

79. Recipe for globi: Mix the cheese and spelt in the same way, sufficient to make the number desired. Pour lard into a hot copper vessel, and fry one or two at a time, turning them frequently with two rods, and remove when done. Spread with honey, sprinkle with poppy-seed, and serve.

80. Make the enyctum [The word is the Greek ἔγχυτον, literally "cast in a mould." Compare Athenaeus 644C] the same way as the globus, except that you use a vessel with a hole in the bottom; press it through this hole into boiling lard, and shape it like the spira, coiling and keeping it in place with two rods. Spread with honey and glaze while moderately warm. Serve with honey or with mulsum [A mixture of boiled must and honey].

81. The erneum is made in the same way as the placenta, and has the same ingredients. Mix it in a trough, pour into an earthenware jar, plunge into a copper pot full of hot water, and boil over the fire. When it is done, break the jar and serve.

82. The spaerita [σφαιρίτης: a kind of round cake] is made in the same way as the spira, except that you shape it as follows: Mould balls as large as the fist, of tracta, cheese, and honey; arrange them on the crust as closely as in the spira, and bake in the same way.

83. Perform the vow for the health of the cattle as follows: Make an offering to Mars Silvanus [W. Warde Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People, identifies Silvanus with Mars (pp132‑3), and is supported by Burriss, Classical Journal, XXI, 3, p221] in the forest during the daytime for each head of cattle: 3 pounds of meal, 4 1/2 pounds of bacon, 4 1/2 pounds of meat, and 3 pints of wine. You may place the viands in one vessel, and the wine likewise in one vessel. Either a slave or a free man may make this offering. After the ceremony is over, consume the offering on the spot at once. A woman may not take part in this offering or see how it is performed. You may vow the vow every year if you wish.

Puddings and porridges

84. Recipe for the savillum [savillum — some kind of sweet cake (suavis), "a cheese-cake"]: Take 1/2 pound of flour, 2 1/2 pounds of cheese, and mix together as for the libum; add 1/4 pound of honey and 1 egg. Grease an earthenware dish with oil. When you have mixed thoroughly, pour into a dish and cover with a crock. See that you bake the centre thoroughly, for it is deepest there. When it is done, remove the dish, cover with honey, sprinkle with poppy-seed, place back under the crock for a while, then remove from the fire. Serve in the dish, with a spoon.

85. Recipe for Punic porridge: Soak a pound of groats in water until it is quite soft. Pour it into a clean bowl, add 3 pounds of fresh cheese, 1/2 pound of honey, and 1 egg, and mix the whole thoroughly; turn into a new pot.

86. Recipe for wheat pap: Pour 1/2 pound of clean wheat into a clean bowl, wash well, remove the husk thoroughly, and clean well. Pour into a pot with pure water and boil. When done, add milk slowly until it makes a thick cream.

87. Recipe for starch [ἄμυλον (sc. ἄλευρον) is a fine meal or "starch," so called because it was not ground in a mill in the ordinary course]: Clean hard wheat thoroughly, pour into a trough, and add water twice a day. On the tenth day drain off the water, squeeze thoroughly, mix well in a clean tray until it is of the consistency of wine-dregs. Place some of this in a new linen bag and squeeze out the creamy substance into a new pan or bowl. Treat the whole mass in the same way, and knead again. Place the pan in the sun and let it dry; then place in a new bowl and cook with milk.

88. Recipe for bleaching salt: Break off the neck of a clean amphora, fill with clear water, and place in the sun. Suspend in it a basket filled with common salt and shake and renew from time to time. Do this daily several times a day until the salt ceases to dissolve for two days. You can find when it is saturated by this test: place a small dried fish or an egg in it, and if it floats you have a brine strong enough to pickle meat or cheese or salted fish. Place this brine in flat vessels or in pans and expose it to sun. Keep it in the sun until it solidifies, and you will have a pure salt. In cloudy weather or at night put it under cover, but expose it to the sun every day when there is sunshine.

89. To cram hens or geese: Shut up young hens which are beginning to lay; make pellets of moist flour or barley-meal, soak in water, and push into the mouth. Increase the amount daily, judging from the appetite the amount that is sufficient. Cram twice a day, and give water at noon, but do not place water before them for more than one hour. Feed a goose the same way, except that you let it drink first, and give water and food twice a day.

90. To cram squabs: After catching the squab feed it first boiled and toasted beans, blowing them from your mouth into its mouth, and water the same way; do this for seven days. Then clean crushed beans and spelt; let one-third the quantity of beans come to a boil, then pour in the spelt, keeping it clean, and boil thoroughly. When you have turned it out of the pot, knead it thoroughly, after greasing the hand with oil — a small quantity first, then more — greasing and kneading until you can make pellets. Feed the food in moderate quantities, after soaking it.

Conserving Lentils and Olives

116. How you should preserve lentils. Dissolve silphium in vinegar, soak the lentils in the silphium-vinegar, and stand them in the sun. Then rub the lentils with oil, let them dry, and they will keep quite sound.

117. How green olives are conserved. Before they turn black, they are to be broken and put into water. The water is to be changed frequently. When they have soaked sufficiently they are drained, put into vinegar, and oil is added. lb. salt to 1 peck olives. Fennel and lentisk are put up separately in vinegar. When you decide to mix them in, use quickly. Pack in preserving-jars. When you wish to use, take with dry hands.

118. Conserve green olives that you wish to use after the vintage thus: add equal parts must and vinegar; otherwise, conserve as described.

119. Green, black or mixed olive relish to be made thus. Remove stones from green, black or mixed olives, then prepare as follows: chop them and add oil, vinegar, coriander, cumin, fennel, rue, mint. Put in a preserving-jar: the oil should cover them. Ready to use.

Must and Must Cakes

120. If you want to have grape juice all year, put must in an amphora and seal the cork with pitch. Submerge in the fish-pond. Take out after 30 days. It will remain unfermented all year.

121. Must cakes to be made thus: two gallons of bread-wheat flour to be moistened with must; add to this anise, cumin, 2 lb. lard, 1 lb. cheese, and grate in the bark of a bay twig; when you have shaped them, put bay leaves under them while you cook them.

Instructions for the Manager: the Manageress (of the farm)

143. ‘Take care that the manageress carries out her functions. . . [3 different translations below]

1. ‘She must have cooked food ready for yourself and the household. She must have plenty of hens and eggs. She must have dried pears, sorbs [a type of berry], figs, raisins: sorbs in sapa, pears, grapes and struthea quinces in vats, raisins in marc and in pots buried in the ground, scantia apples in vats, and other varieties that are conserved, and also crab-apples — all these she must be careful to have ready, conserved, every year. She must be able to make good flour and emmer groats.’ 

2. She must keep a supply of cooked food on hand for you and the servants. She must keep many hens and have plenty of eggs. She must have a large store of dried pears, sorbs, figs, raisins, sorbs in must, preserved pears and grapes and quinces. She must also keep preserved grapes in grape-pulp and in pots buried in the ground, as well as fresh Praenestine nuts kept in the same way, and Scantian quinces in jars, and other fruits that are usually preserved, as well as wild fruits. All these she must store away diligently every year. She must also know how to grind spelt fine.

3. She must keep a supply of cooked food on hand for you and the servants. She must keep many hens and have plenty of eggs. She must have a large store of dried pears, sorbs, figs, raisins, sorbs in must, preserved pears and grapes and quinces. She must also keep preserved grapes in grape-pulp [Cf. Chap. 7, Sec. 2, and Columella, XII, 45 ] and in pots buried in the ground, as well as fresh Praenestine nuts kept in the same way, and Scantian quinces in jars, and other fruits that are usually preserved, as well as wild fruits. All these she must store away diligently every year. She must also know how to make good flour and to grind spelt fine.

162. Method of curing hams and Puteolan ofella. [Supposed to be the same as the offulae carnis, lumps of salted pork, mentioned by Columella (XII, 55, 4) ] You should salt hams in the following manner, in a jar or large pot: When you have bought the hams cut off the hocks. Allow a half-modius of ground Roman salt to each ham. Spread salt on the bottom of the jar or pot; then lay a ham, with the skin facing downwards, and cover the whole with salt. Place another ham over it and cover in the same way, taking care that meat does not touch meat. Continue in the same way until all are covered. When you have arranged them all, spread salt above so that the meat shall not show, and level the whole. When they have remained five days in the salt remove them all with their own salt. Place at the bottom those which had been on top before, covering and arranging them as before. Twelve days later take them out finally, brush off all the salt, and hang them for two days in a draught. On the third day clean them thoroughly with a sponge and rub with oil. Hang them in smoke for two days, and the third day take them down, rub with a mixture of oil and vinegar, and hang in the meat-house. No moths or worms will touch them.