<P> Pliny the Younger painted a picture that Rome was able to survive without Egyptian wheat in his speech the Panegyricus in 100 AD . In 99 there was an Egyptian crisis due to inadequate flooding . </P> <P> Pliny the Younger stated that for "long it was generally believed that Rome could only be fed and maintained with Egyptian aid". However, he argued that "Now (that) we have returned the Nile its riches...her business is not to allow us food but to pay a proper tribute . </P> <P> The Romans improved crop growing by watering growing plants using aqueducts . An increasing amount of evidence suggests that some parts of the industry were mechanised . For example, extensive sets of mills existed in Gaul and Rome at an early date to grind wheat into flour . The most impressive extant remains occur at Barbegal in southern France, near Arles . Sixteen overshot water wheels arranged in two columns were fed by the main aqueduct to Arles, the outflow from one being the supply to the next one down in the series . The mills apparently operated from the end of the 1st century AD until about the end of the 3rd century . The capacity of the mills has been estimated at 4.5 tons of flour per day, sufficient to supply enough bread for the 12,500 inhabitants occupying the town of Arelate at that time . </P> <P> Vertical water wheels were well known to the Romans, described by Vitruvius in his De Architectura of 25 BC, and mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia of AD 77 . There are also later references to floating water mills from Byzantium and to sawmills on the river Moselle by the poet Ausonius . The use of multiple stacked sequences of reverse overshot water - wheels was widespread in Roman mines . </P>

What tools did ancient romans use for farming