Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
is very unpleasant to taste the soil directly, and as the compounds which make a soil
salty or bitter are water-soluble, soil-impregnated
ltrates could be used for testing.
One takes clear, fresh water and mixes it thoroughly with a soil sample. Once the
mixture is
ltered, through an unglazed earthenware or a sieve as used in wine-
making (so Virgil)
one can cautiously taste
the water, which will have taken on the taste of the soil. 61 This test is said to be
particularly important for wine-growing as the wine will pick up the taste of the
soil. In modern oenology this concept has been resurrected as
details vary depending on the author
.
Water retention capacity and organic matter content are important factors
determining the quality of a soil, in particular under semi-arid conditions. The
Roman writers report a speci
'
terroir
'
c test for these qualities, which is still used by soil
scientists in the
eld. One takes a small clod of soil, adds a few drops of water to
moisturize it and then moulds it in the palm of the hand. If it becomes sticky and
clings to the skin, the soil is of good quality (explained in terms of
'
natural
). 62 Pliny remarks that, because potters clay, which is
infertile, also shows this stickyness, the test is inconclusive. 63
Interestingly, there was no hiatus or breach in the transmission of agricultural
knowledge between pagan Antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages. A proof of this
is a commentary to the Bible by the church father Jerome who lived ca. 350
humidity
'
and
'
richness
'
420
CE. Jerome was thoroughly a part of late antique Roman culture, but his works
helped transmit some of that to the Middle Ages. He was born in Dalmatia, had
traveled the Middle East, and then lived in Trier and Rome, and spent his last years
in a monastery he had founded. He wrote several commentaries to topics of the
bible. In the Commentary to Isaia 14, 22
-
23 (I will cut off from Babylon her name
and survivors, her offspring and descendants, declares the LORD. I will turn her
into a place for owls and into swampland) Jerome uses vocabulary contrasting
swampland, which is muddy and silty, to a fertile irrigated
-
eld, writing:
“…
where
there is not an irrigated
eld, which produces diverse fruit from seed, but infertile
swamps, muddy and silty,
The
vocabulary he uses in the commentary (limosus, lutosus, irriguus) is found nowhere
in the Vulgate Bible. Jerome tries to explain what one is to understand by the
biblical
in which nightly animals enjoy themselves.
and its owls using terms he must have known from elsewhere,
namely from the agricultural heritage of pagan Antiquity.
The Byzantine tradition is similar to that of the early Latin west. The beginning of
the Geoponika discusses the quality of land:
'
swampland
'
The best land is that, the soil of which
is of a black color, recommended above all, for it is proof against wet and drought.
The next is that of a yellowish hue, and that which is thrown up by rivers, on which
they bestow the epithet miry, and that which is sweet, and that which feels warm; for
these kinds are known to be adapted to vines and trees, and to the propagation of
corn. A deep soil is also recommended, especially if it is friable and not hard to work,
61 Palladius ( 1976a ), Vergilius 5 ( 1987b ).
62 Vergilius 5 ( 1987c ), Columella ( 1982c ), Palladius ( 1976b ).
63
Plinius Secundus ( 1994b ).
Search WWH ::




Custom Search