On Agriculture, Volume II

Columella (Lucius Iunius Moderatus) of Gades (Cadiz) lived during the reigns of the first emperors until about 70 CE. He moved early in life to Italy where he owned farms and lived near Rome. It is probable that he performed military service in Syria and Cilicia and that he died at Tarentum.

On Agriculture (De Re Rustica) by Columella is the most comprehensive, systematic and detailed of Roman agricultural works. Book I covers choice of farming site, water supply, buildings, and staff. Book II discusses ploughing, fertilising, and care of crops. Books III, IV, and V address the cultivation, grafting, and pruning of fruit trees, vines, and olives. Book VI focuses on the acquisition, breeding, and rearing of oxen, horses, and mules; as well as veterinary medicine. Book VII covers sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs. Book VIII discusses poultry and fish ponds. Book IX is dedicated to bee-keeping. Book X, written in hexameter poetry, covers gardening. Book XI outlines the duties of the overseer of a farm, provides a calendar for farm work, and includes more content on gardening. Book XII describes the duties of the overseer's wife, manufacture of wines, pickling, and preserving.

There is also a separate treatise, Trees (De Arboribus), on vines, olives, and various trees. This may be part of an otherwise lost work written before On Agriculture.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Columella's work is presented in three volumes.