icher flavor of the apricot, the peach, the
pomegranate, the citron, and the orange, they contented themselves
with applying to all these new fruits the common denomination of apple,
discriminating them from each other by the additional epithet of their
country. 2. In the time of Homer, the vine grew wild in the island of
Sicily, and most probably in the adjacent continent; but it was not
improved by the skill, nor did it afford a liquor grateful to the taste,
of the savage inhabitants. [94] A thousand years afterwards, Italy could
boast, that of the fourscore most generous and celebrated wines, more
than two thirds were produced from her soil. [95] The blessing was soon
communicated to the Narbonnese province of Gaul; but so intense was the
cold to the north of the Cevennes, that, in the time of Strabo, it was
thought impossible to ripen the grapes in those parts of Gaul. [96] This
difficulty, however, was gradually vanquished; and there is some reason
to believe, that the vineyards of Burgundy are as old as the age of the
Antonines. [97] 3. The olive, in the western world, followed the progress
of peace, of which it was considered as the symbol. Two centuries after
the foundation of Rome, both Italy and Africa were strangers to that
useful plant: it was naturalized in those countries; and at length
carried into the heart of Spain and Gaul. The timid errors of the
ancients, that it required a certain degree of heat, and could only
flourish in the neighborhood of the sea, were insensibly exploded by
industry and experience. [98] 4. The cultivation of flax was transported
from Egypt to Gaul, and enriched the whole country, however it might
impoverish the particular lands on which it was sown. [99] 5. The use of
artificial grasses became familiar to the farmers both of Italy and the
provinces, particularly the Lucerne, which derived its name and origin
from Media. [100] The assured supply of wholesome and plentiful food for
the cattle during winter, multiplied the number of the docks and herds,
which in their turn contributed to the fertility of the soil. To all
these improvements may be added an assiduous attention to mines and
fisheries, which, by employing a multitude of laborious hands, serve to
increase the pleasures of the rich and the subsistence of the poor.
The elegant treatise of Columella describes the advanced state of the
Spanish husbandry under the reign of Tiberius; and it may be observed,
that those famines,