Cereals and other arable crops were generally grown in a two-year rotation system: one year the field was sown with a crop and the next year nothing was grown and the land was left fallow. In temperate regions fallowing is used primarily to conserve and restore soil fertility, and to prevent the build-up of pests and diseases. In the drier parts of the Mediterranean, the main purpose of fallowing is to conserve soil moisture. Sometimes fallow land was ploughed so that weed growth did not consume soil moisture and the dry top levels of soil acted as a blanket to stop the loss of water by capillary action and evaporation. However, fallow land with weeds growing on it could also be an important resource for grazing.
The most important cereal in much of the Greek world was barley. It is tolerant of drought, salt and alkaline conditions, and though it is sensitive to cold this is not generally a problem in the southern Mediterranean. The drawbacks are that (1) most
Types of barley grown in classical Greece had hulls which took considerable pounding to remove (although they protected the kernel from pests in storage) and (2) it makes truly terrible bread. Wheat was considered a much more desirable cereal by Greeks, because of its bread-making qualities, and several species were grown in classical antiquity. Because it does not produce as prolifically in less than optimal conditions, it was something of a ‘luxury’ cereal—perhaps not eaten as an everyday food by poorer people. One variety of wheat was spring sown, and was sometimes used as an emergency crop if the autumn rains had been inadequate. In damper areas millet (sown in the spring) was also grown, though it was not as important as wheat and barley. In addition to legumes (see above), other field crops regularly grown included sesame, fenugreek and, in damp areas with good soil, flax both for linseed and for rope and textiles.
For arable crops the field was ploughed and sown in the autumn, after the onset of the winter rains had sufficiently softened the ground. In Figure 13.12 (top), the sower is walking in front of the ploughman scattering the seed broadcast, while the plough breaks up the soil and covers it over. Cereals sown at higher altitudes and/or in warmer locations need up to two months more growing time than those planted at lower altitudes and/or in warmer locations. This is where the Greek habit of fragmenting plots could be advantageous: farmers could spread out the work of the busy sowing and harvest seasons by having plots in both cooler, wetter, higher places and warmer, drier, lower ones. This also incidentally spread the risks of crop failure: in dry years grain on damper plots grew better, while in wet years drier plots might produce more.
Important by-products of arable crops included chaff and straw which were used for animal fodder, and in the latter case also for stable bedding. Grain was normally harvested close to the ear, so the straw left in the field was generally quite long. This could be gathered separately, or it could have been used for grazing as stubble. The haulms (stalks) of leguminous crops also made nutritious fodder. Unsuccessful crops of cereals or legumes might be harvested early for fodder or hay, though sometimes crops such as vetch were grown specifically for hay. (Hay was never meadow grass, as was traditional in temperate Europe.)
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