Cato on Agriculture: Main Body Text

Cato on Agriculture: Main Body Text: "If you ask me what would make a farm the first choice, I will say this: varied ground, a prime position and a hundred iugera; then, first the vineyard (or an abundance of wine), second an irrigated kitchen garden, third a willow wood, fourth an olive field, fifth a meadow, sixth a grain-field, seventh a plantation of trees, eighth an orchard, ninth an acorn wood. " - Cato.

This is the online version of the oldest surviving Latin book in the entire world dates from around 200 BC. Of all the books that were lost in the Great Library of Alexandria around 390 AD, this one was among the oldest and most widely published books in the Roman World, it's sheer popularity and practical value along with it's political neutrality saved this great record of agriculture in the Early Roman Empire. Until the invention of the internal combustion engine there was little change in agriculture for the following two millenia.
If you will excuse the references to slave labor * there is a wealth of knowledge about polyculture and even the scent of organic farming and certain teachings of early PermaCulture and tons of agricultural frugility. Notes on Construction & Maintanence of natural product Constructed facilities.