A Husbandman, at the point of death, being desirous that his Sons
should pursue the same innocent course of agriculture in which he
himself had been engaged all his life, made use of this expedient.
He called them to his bed-side, and said: All the patrimony I have
to bequeath to you, my sons, is my farm and my vine-yard, of which I
make you joint heirs; but I charge you not to let them go out of your
own occupation, for if I have any treasure besides, it lies buried
somewhere in the ground within a foot of the surface. This made the
Sons conclude that he talked of money which he had hidden: so after
their father’s death, with unwearied diligence, they carefully dug up
every inch, and though they found not the money they expected, the
ground, by being well stirred and loosened, produced so plentiful
a crop of all that was sown in it, as proved a real, and that no
inconsiderable treasure.