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Agriculture during the Roman Empire

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  Quote Cataln Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Agriculture during the Roman Empire
    Posted: 08-Jan-2008 at 19:57
As a pseudo-farmer in Spain, my uncle has a large number of olive trees in Castilla La-Mancha.  After buying Mommsen's book on the history of Rome and reading his little excerpt on agriculture in the Roman world, I became interested in how the Romans picked olives from the tree.  About two weeks ago we were collecting olives to take them to the press in another town, and we use a fiberglass pole to literally bang the branches of the olive tree creating vibrations.  These vibrations allow the olives to fall from the tree, and normally you organize a series of 'blankets' on the ground to make collection thereafter easier.  Next year, when most of the olives are fully grown, we'll probably use two methods - a vibrator (like the fiberglass pole, but instead of having to bang on the tree the vibrator creates the vibrations artificially) and a truck vibrator (the same idea, instead the vibrator is carried by the tractor and the vibrator shakes the entire tree; normally only for olive trees with only one or two trunks).
 
Obviously, electric vibrators weren't available to the Romans and so that's out of the question.  Consequently, the only two methods I can think of is by hitting the tree with a wooden (or metal) pole, or by picking olives by hand.  Hitting the tree tends to inspire the appearance of a disease which resembles arthritis and so I'm under the suspicion that the Romans would have been against this method to increase the lifespan of their trees (some trees in Spain are over two hundred years old).
 
Does anybody have a clearer idea?
 
Furthermore, in the area of Spain where my town is located (Cuenca, Castilla La-Mancha) 'upright' vineyards (don't know the technical term in English) were recently introduced using metal poles and metal wires.  There are examples of more wealthy land owners using wood, but with metal wires.  Nonetheless, most vineyards are still planted with zepas, or a lack of control of the direction of growth of the vine (instead of up, controled by a series of wires).
 
An example:
 
 
In housing the same effect is produced by creating a wooden mesh to control the growth pattern of the grape-bearing vine. Any idea on how the Romans planted their vineyards?
 
Thanks,
 
Jon 
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beorna View Drop Down
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  Quote beorna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Jan-2008 at 09:37
If you want to know something about agriculture read Marcus Terentius Varro, De Re Rustica and Lucius Iunius Moderatus Columella. There are also fragments of Marcus Porcius Cato, De agri cultura. There is some literature as well. In English e.g. you can read Tilly, B., Varro the Farmer, 1971 - Skydsgaard, J.E., Varro the Scholar - White, K.D., Roman Agricultural Writers I, in: Aufstieg und Niedegang der rmischen Welt (ANRW), 1,4, 1973, pages 439-497. In Italian: Noe, E, L'agronomo Tremellio Scrofa, NAC 6, 1977 or in German: Cichorius, C., Historische Studien zu Varro, in: Rmische Studie, 1922 - Flach, D., Marcus Terentius Varro, in: Texte zur Forschung, 65, 1996.
 
I would prefer Flach, but I don't know if you can understand German.
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  Quote gcle2003 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Jan-2008 at 11:09
Originally posted by Cataln

As a pseudo-farmer in Spain,
Obviously, electric vibrators weren't available to the Romans
My mind is boggling Embarrassed
'Pseudo-farmer' is good. Lots of those in Luxembourg.
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  Quote Cataln Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jan-2008 at 16:01
Originally posted by beorna

<snip>
 
Thanks!  I'll try to look for those sources around libraries.  It's not really a general interest; I'm just interested in the specific areas mentioned (vineyards and olive trees).
 
I would prefer Flach, but I don't know if you can understand German.
 
Nein.
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  Quote beorna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jan-2008 at 16:20
If I find some time I look what Varro says about the vineyards
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  Quote Cataln Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jan-2008 at 16:46
Thanks, I'd really appreciate it.  My uncle and I were talking, and he concluded that olives were most likely picked by hand to avoid damaging the tree.  Maybe I'll find some information from Roman or Greek mural paintings of the era.
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  Quote red clay Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Feb-2008 at 21:21
Historically  Olives were usually harvested by hand and by beating the branches with sticks after first covering the ground with tarps to collect the harvest.  This basically is how it's done today.  Any of the mechanical methods used on other tree crops would damage both the trees and the olives.
 
Olives in antiquity were usually gathered by beating the tree with rods, although ancient authors condemned this practice. Pliny repeatedly recommends: Do not shake and beat your trees. Gathering by hand each year ensures a good harvest.
 
 
                  
From everything I've been able to find this is how it's been done since the begining of olive culture.
 
 
 


Edited by red clay - 17-Feb-2008 at 21:28
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