the land in Italy to produce a variety of crops. "The people living in the city of Rome constituted a huge market for the purchase of food produced on Italian farms." Land ownership was a dominant factor in distinguishing the aristocracy from the common person, and the more land a Roman owned, the more important he would be in the city. Soldiers were often rewarded with land from the commander they served. Though farms depended on slave labor, free men and citizens were hired at farms to oversee the slaves and ensure that the farms ran smoothly. Crops Grains Staple crops in early Rome were millet, and emmer and spelt which are species of wheat. According to the Roman scholar Varro, common wheat and durum wheat were introduced to Italy as crops about 450 BC. Durum (hard) wheat became the preferred grain of urban Romans, because it could be baked into leavened bread and was easier to grow in the Mediterranean region than common (soft) wheat.<ref>James et al, p. 165</ref> Grains, especially baked into bread, were the staple of the Roman diet, providing 70 to 80 percent of the calories in an average diet. Barley was also grown extensively, dominating grain production in Greece and on poorer soils where it was more productive than wheat. Wheat was the preferred grain, but barley was widely eaten and also important as animal feed. In De re rustica Columella wrote that emmer was more resistant to moisture than wheat. According to Columella four types of emmer were cultivated, including one variety that he calls Clusian (named for the town Clusium). Cato wrote that if sowing grain in humid or dewy soils was unavoidable, they should be sown alongside turnips, panic grass, millet and rape. Despite listing panicum and millet among the legumes Columella says they should be considered grain crops "for in many countries the peasants subsist on food made from them". Legumes Of legumes, Columella lists some that are preferred for cultivation: lentils, peas, lupinus, beans, cowpeas, and chickpeas (also listing sesame, panicum, cannabis, barley, and millet as legumes). He writes the following about lupinus: ...it requires the least labour, costs least, and of all crops that are sown is most beneficial to the land. For it affords an excellent fertilizer for worn out vineyards and ploughlands; it flourishes even in exhausted soil; and it endures age when laid away in the