ΤΟ SIR WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER, K.H. D. C. L. OXON. F. R. S. &c. &c. DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS AT KEW, THIS WORK, INTENDED TO ILLUSTRATE THE STATE OF AGRICULTURE AND IS INSCRIBED, NOT ONLY AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MANY KIND ATTENTIONS, BUT ALSO AS A TESTIMONY OF RESPECT FROM THE AUTHOR, FOR ATTAINMENTS, WHICH HAVE PLACED THEIR POSSESSOR IN THE FIRST RANK OF EUROPEAN BOTANISTS, AND FOR SERVICES AFFORDED TO SCIENCE BY THE INTRODUCTION AND CULTURE OF EXOTIC PLANTS, WHICH HAVE RENDERED THE ESTABLISHMENT OVER WHICH HE PRESIDES, THE ADMIRATION OF FOREIGN NATIONS, AND THE BEST EVIDENCE OF THAT EXTENSIVE INTERCOURSE WITH EVERY PART OF THE GLOBE, WHICH BINDS GREAT BRITAIN IN FRIENDLY TIES TO THEM ALL. PREFACE. THE task of presenting to the English reader a detailed account of the System of Agriculture pursued by the Romans, has been already executed in a very creditable manner by a Scotch Clergyman of the last century, in his Work on the "Husbandry of the Ancients," published in the year 1788. The Author brought to his undertaking, great diligence of research, a clear and sound judgment, a familiarity, if not with classical literature generally, at least with the series of writers which came under his review, and a sufficient acquaintance with modern farming, to be enabled to institute a comparison between our practices and those of the ancients, as well as to explain difficulties in the writings of the latter, which had baffled previous commentators unprovided with this species of information. Nevertheless, in spite of these recommendations, experience has shewn that there was something unattractive in his mode of handling the subject, arising in a great degree from a want of due condensation; for the work in question has never reached a second edition, and is chiefly kept to be appealed to in cases of difficulty or doubt, rather than to be taken up as an agreeable companion to occupy a vacant hour. And yet the subject which he discusses is by no means devoid of interest, presenting to us, as it does, not merely the results of the sagacity, and practical experience of the Romans with reference to the most important of the practical arts of life, but also glimpses of the manners, sentiments, and social condition, of the most powerful and civilised people of the ancient world. Accordingly, the Lectures now offered to the Public have, on several occasions, attracted in the University a greater number of Auditors, than could be calculated upon, in the case of any not belonging to those classes of subjects, out of which the Undergraduates are compelled to make their selection, as a preliminary to |