"Yet then this little spot of earth well till’d, A num’rous family with plenty fill’d, The good old man and thrifty housewife spent Their days in peace and fatten’d with content; Enjoy’d the dregs of life, and lived to see A long descending healthful progeny."

"T’ unload the branches, or the leaves to thin That suck the vital moisture of the vine."

"Uneasy still within these narrow bounds, Thy next design is on thy neighbour’s grounds: His crop invites, to full perfection grown; Thy own seems thin, because it is thy own."

"Rocks lie cover’d with eternal snow; Thin herbage in the plains, and fruitless fields."

"Your farm requites your pains, Though rushes overspread the neighb’ring plains."

"Where the tender rinds of trees disclose Their shooting germs, a swelling knot there grows; Just in that place a narrow slit we make, Then other buds from bearing trees we take; Inserted thus, the wounded rind we close."

"The peaceful peasant to the wars is prest, The fields lie fallow in inglorious rest."

"Their morning milk the peasants press at night; Their evening milk before the rising light."

"All was common, and the fruitful earth Was free to give her unexacted birth."

"Give me, ye gods, the product of one field, That so I neither may be rich nor poor; And haying just enough, not covet more."

"To dress the vines new labour is required, Nor must the painful husbandman be tired."

"Ev’n when they sing at ease in full content, Insulting o’er the toil they underwent, Yet still they find a future task remain, To turn the soil."

"Suffering not the yellow beards to rear, He tramples down the spikes, and intercepts the ear."

"Let Araby extol her happy coast, Her fragrant flow’rs, her trees with precious tears, Her second harvests."

"Apollo check’d my pride, and bade me feed My fatt’ning flocks, nor dare beyond the reed."

"Thou hop’st with sacrifice of oxen slain To compass wealth, and bribe the god of gain To give thee flocks and herds, with large increase; Fool! to expect them from a bullock’s grease."

"To his county farm the fool confined; Rude work well suited with a rustic mind."

"The peasant, innocent of all these ills, With crooked ploughs the fertile fallow tills, And the round year with daily labour fills."

"But various are the ways to change the state, To plant, to bud, to graft, to inoculate."

"For flax and oats will burn the tender field, And sleepy poppies harmful harvests yield."

"Most have found A husky harvest from the grudging ground."

"Where the vales with violets once were crown’d, Now knotty burs and thorns disgrace the ground."

"For sundry foes the rural realm surround; The field-mouse builds her garner under ground: For gather’d grain the blind laborious mole, In winding mazes, works her hidden hole."

"Begin when the slow waggoner descends, Nor cease your sowing till midwinter ends."

"But when the western winds with vital pow’r Call forth the tender grass and budding flow’r, Men, at the last, produce in open air Both flocks, and send them to their summer’s fare."

"She took the coleworts which her husband got From his own ground (a small well-water’d spot); She stripp’d the stalks of all their leaves; the best She cull’d, and then with handy care she dress’d."

"And oft whole sheets descend of sluicy rain, Suck’d by the spungy clouds from off the main: The lofty skies at once come pouring down, The promised crop and golden labours drown."

"When continued rain The lab’ring husband in his house restrain, Let him forecast his work with timely care, Which else is huddled when the skies are fair."

"You who supply the ground with seeds of grain, And you who swell those seeds with kindly rain."

"We may know And when to reap the grain and when to sow, Or when to fell the furzes."

"In the sun your golden grain display, And thrash it out and winnow it by day."

"And new-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare."

"Oft the drudging ass is driven with toil; Returning late and loaden home with gain Of barter’d pitch, and handmills for the grain."

"The low’ring spring, with lavish rain, Beats down the slender stem and bearded grain."

"Mark well the flow’ring almonds in the wood: If od’rous blooms the bearing branches load, The glebe will answer to the sylvan reign: Great heats will follow, and large crops of grain."

"Some steep their seeds, and some in cauldrons boil O’er gentle fires; the exuberant juice to drain, And swell the flatt’ring husks with fruitful grain."

"The vineyard must employ thy sturdy steer To turn the glebe; besides thy daily pain To break the clods, and make the surface plain."

"In shallow furrows vines securely grow."

"She in pens his flocks will fold."

"On a short pruning-hook his head reclines, And studiously surveys his gen’rous vines."

"If a wood of leaves o’ershade the tree, In vain the hind shall vex the threshing floor, For empty chaff and straw will be thy store."

"In vain the hinds the threshing floor prepare, And exercise their flails in empty air."

"Delve of convenient depth your threshing floor; With temper’d clay then fill and face it o’er."

"Moist earth produces corn and grass, but both Too rank and too luxuriant in their growth. Let not my land so large a promise boast, Lest the lank ears in length of stem be lost."

"Your hay it is mow’d, and your corn it is reap’d; Your barns will be full, and your hovels heap’d; Come, my boys, come, Come, my boys, come, And merrily roar out harvest-home."

"The bearded corn ensued From earth unask’d; nor was that earth renew’d."

"Tough thistles choked the fields, and kill’d the corn, And an unthrifty crop of weeds was born."

"No fruitful crop the sickly fields return; But oats and darnel choke the rising corn."

"Thou king of horned floods, whose plenteous urn Suffices fatness to the fruitful corn, Shalt share my morning song and evening vows."

"He burns the leaves, the scorching blast invades The tender corn, and shrivels up the blades,"