We now come to the history of the leguminous plants, among which

the place of honour must be awarded to the bean;[247] indeed, some

attempts have even been made to use it for bread. Bean meal is known

as “lomentum;” and, as is the case with the meal of all leguminous

plants, it adds considerably, when mixed with flour, to the weight of

the bread. Beans are on sale at the present day for numerous purposes,

and are employed for feeding cattle, and man more particularly. They

are mixed, also, among most nations, with wheat,[248] and panic

more particularly, either whole or lightly broken. In our ancient

ceremonials, too, bean pottage[249] occupies its place in the religious

services of the gods. Beans are mostly eaten together with other food,

but it is generally thought that they dull the senses, and cause

sleepless nights attended with dreams. Hence it is that the bean has

been condemned[250] by Pythagoras; though, according to some, the

reason for this denunciation was the belief which he entertained

that the souls of the dead are enclosed in the bean: it is for this

reason, too, that beans are used in the funereal banquets of the

Parentalia.[251] According to Varro, it is for a similar cause that the

Flamen abstains from eating beans: in addition to which, on the blossom

of the bean, there are certain letters of ill omen to be found.

There are some peculiar religious usages connected with the bean. It

is the custom to bring home from the harvest a bean by way of auspice,

which, from that circumstance, has the name of “referiva.”[252] In

sales by public auction, too, it is thought lucky to include a bean

in the lot for sale. It is a fact, too, that the bean is the only one

among all the grains that fills out at the increase of the moon,[253]

however much it may have been eaten away: it can never be thoroughly

boiled in sea-water, or indeed any other water that is salt.

The bean is the first leguminous plant that is sown; that being done

before the setting of the Vergiliæ, in order that it may pass the

winter in the ground. Virgil[254] recommends that it should be sown in

spring, according to the usage of the parts of Italy near the Padus:

but most people prefer the bean that has been sown early to that of

only three months’ growth; for, in the former case, the pods as well as

the stalk afford a most agreeable fodder for cattle. When in blossom

more particularly, the bean requires water; but after the blossom has

passed off, it stands in need of but very little. It fertilizes[255]

the ground in which it has been sown as well as any manure; hence it

is that in the neighbourhood of Thessaly and Macedonia, as soon as it

begins to blossom, they turn up[256] the ground.

The bean, too, grows wild in most countries, as in those islands of the

Northern Ocean, for instance, which for that reason have been called by

us the “Fabariæ.”[257] In Mauritania, also, it is found in a wild state

in various parts, but so remarkably hard that it will never become soft

by boiling.

In Egypt there is a kind of bean[258] which grows upon a thorny stalk;

for which reason the crocodiles avoid it, being apprehensive of danger

to their eyes. This stalk is four cubits in length, and its thickness,

at the very most, that of the finger: were it not for the absence of

articulations in it, it would resemble a soft reed in appearance. The

head is similar to that of the poppy, being of a rose colour: the beans

enclosed in this head are not above thirty in number; the leaves are

large, and the fruit is bitter and odoriferous. The root, however, is

highly esteemed by the natives as a food, whether eaten raw or well

boiled; it bears a strong resemblance to that of the reed. This plant

grows also in Syria and Cilicia, and upon the banks of Lake Torone in

Chalcidice.

CHAP. 31.—LENTILS. PEASE.

Among the leguminous plants the lentil is sown in the month of

November, and the pea,[259] among the Greeks. The lentil thrives best

in a soil that is rather thin than rich, and mostly stands in need of

dry weather. There are two kinds of lentil grown in Egypt; one of which

is rounder and blacker than the other, which has a peculiar shape of

its own. The name of this plant has been applied to various uses, and

among others has given origin to our word “lenticula.”[260] I find it

stated in some authors that a lentil diet is productive of evenness of

temper. The pea requires to be sown in a warm, sunny spot, and is ill

able to endure cold; hence in Italy and the more rigorous climates, it

is sown in the spring only, a light, loose soil being chosen for the

purpose.

CHAP. 32.—THE SEVERAL KINDS OF CHICK-PEASE.

The chick-pea[261] is naturally salt,[262] for which reason it is

apt to scorch the ground, and should only be sown after it has been

steeped a day in water. This plant presents considerable differences in

reference to size, colour,[263] form, and taste. One variety resembles

in shape a ram’s head, from which circumstance it has received the name

of “arietinum;” there are both the white and the black arietinum. There

is also the columbine chick-pea, by some known as the “pea of Venus;”

it is white, round, and smooth, being smaller than the arietinum, and

is employed in the observances of the night festivals or vigils. The

chicheling vetch,[264] too, is a diminutive kind of chick-pea, unequal

and angular, like[265] the pea. The chick-pea that is the sweetest in

flavour is the one that bears the closest resemblance to the fitch; the

pod in the black and the red kinds is more firmly closed than in the

white ones.

CHAP. 33.—THE KIDNEY-BEAN.

The pod of the chick-pea is rounded, while in other leguminous plants

it is long and broad, like the seed which it contains; in the pea,

again, it is of a cylindrical form. In the case of the kidney-bean[266]

it is usual to eat the pod together with the seed. This last may

be sown in all kinds of soils indifferently, between the ides of

October[267] and the calends of November.[268] As soon as ever the

leguminous plants begin to ripen, they ought to be plucked, for the

pods will very soon open and the seed fall out, in which case it is

very difficult to find: the same is the case, too, with the lupine.

But before we pass on to the lupine, it will be as well to make some

mention of the rape.[269]

CHAP. 34. (13.)—THE RAPE.

The Latin writers have only treated of this plant in a cursory manner,

while those of Greece have considered it a little more attentively;

though even they have ranked it among the garden plants. If, however, a

methodical arrangement is to be strictly observed, it should be spoken

of immediately after corn, or the bean, at all events; for next to

these two productions, there is no plant that is of more extensive use.

For, in the first place, all animals will feed upon it as it grows;

and it is far from being the least nutritious plant in the fields for

various kinds of birds, when boiled in water more particularly. Cattle,

too, are remarkably fond of the leaves of rape; and the stalks and

leaves, when in season, are no less esteemed as a food for man than

the sprouts of the cabbage;[269] these, too, when turned yellow and

left to die in the barn, are even more highly esteemed than[270] when

green. As to the rape itself, it will keep all the better if left in

its mould, after which it should be dried in the open air till the

next crop is nearly ripe, as a resource in case of scarcity. Next to

those of the grape and corn, this is the most profitable harvest of

all for the countries that lie beyond the Padus. The rape is by no

means difficult to please in soil, for it will grow almost anywhere,

indeed where nothing else can be sown. It readily derives nutriment

from fogs and hoar-frosts, and grows to a marvelous size; I have seen

them weighing upwards of forty pounds.[271] It is prepared for table

among us in several ways, and is made to keep till the next crop, its

fermentation[272] being prevented by preserving it in mustard. It is

also tinted with no less than six colours in addition to its own, and

with purple even; indeed, that which is used by us as food ought to be

of no other colour.[273]

The Greeks have distinguished two principal species of rape, the male

and the female,[274] and have discovered a method of obtaining them

both from the same seed; for when it is sown thick, or in a hard,

cloggy soil, the produce will be male. The smaller the seed the better

it is in quality. There are three kinds of rape in all; the first is

broad and flat, the second of a spherical shape, and the third, to

which the name of “wild” rape[275] has been given, throws out a long

root, similar in appearance to a radish, with an angular, rough leaf,

and an acrid juice, which, if extracted about harvest, and mixed with

a woman’s milk, is good for cleansing the eyes and improving defective

sight. The colder the weather the sweeter they are, and the larger, it

is generally thought; heat makes them run to leaf. The finest rape of

all is that grown in the district of Nursia: it is valued at as much as

one sesterce[276] per pound, and, in times of scarcity, two even. That

of the next best quality is produced on Mount Algidus.

CHAP. 35.—THE TURNIP.

The turnip[277] of Amiternum, which is pretty nearly of the same

nature as the rape, thrives equally well in a cold soil. It is sown

just before the calends of March,[278] four sextarii of seed to the

jugerum. The more careful growers recommend that the ground should be

turned up five times before putting in the turnip, and four for rape,

care being taken, in both cases, to manure it well. Rape, they say,

will thrive all the better, if it is sown together with some chaff.

They will have it, too, that the sower ought to be stripped, and that

he should offer up a prayer while sowing, and say: “I sow this for

myself and for my neighbours.” The proper time for sowing both kinds

is the period that intervenes between the festivals[279] of the two

divinities, Neptune and Vulcan. It is said, too—and it is the result

of very careful observation—that these plants will thrive wonderfully

well, if they are sown as many days after the festival of Neptune as

the moon was old when the first snow fell the previous winter. They are

sown in spring as well, in warm and humid localities.

CHAP. 36. (14.)—THE LUPINE.

The lupine is the next among the leguminous plants that is in

extensive use, as it serves for food for man in common with the hoofed

quadrupeds. To prevent it from springing out of the pod[280] while

being gathered, and so lost, the best plan is to gather it immediately

after a shower. Of all the seeds that are sown, there is not one of a

more marvellous nature than this, or more favoured by the earth. First

of all, it turns every day with the sun,[281] and shows the hour to

the husbandman, even though the weather should happen to be cloudy and

overcast. It blossoms, too, no less than three times, and so attached

is it to the earth, that it does not require to be covered with the

soil; indeed, this is the only seed that does not require the earth to

be turned up for sowing it. It thrives more particularly on a sandy,

dry, and even gravelly soil; and requires no further care to be taken

in its cultivation. To such a degree is it attached to the earth, that

even though left upon a soil thickly covered with brambles, it will

throw out a root amid the leaves and brakes, and so contrive to reach

the ground. We have already stated[282] that the soil of a field or

vineyard is enriched by the growth of a crop of lupines; indeed, so

far is it from standing in need of manure, that the lupines will act

upon it as well as the very best. It is the only seed that requires no

outlay at all, so much so, in fact, that there is no necessity to carry

it even to the spot where it is sown; for it may be sown the moment it

is brought from the threshing-floor:[283] and from the fact that it

falls from the pod of its own accord, it stands in need of no one to

scatter it.

This is[284] the very first grain sown and the last that is gathered,

both operations generally taking place in the month of September;

indeed, if this is not done before winter sets in, it is liable to

receive injury from the cold. And then, besides, it may even be left

with impunity to lie upon the ground, in case showers should not

immediately ensue and cover it in, it being quite safe from the attacks

of all animals, on account of its bitter taste: still, however, it is

mostly covered up in a slight furrow. Among the thicker soils, it is

attached to a red earth more particularly. In order to enrich[285]

this earth, it should be turned up just after the third blossom; but

where the soil is sandy, after the second. Chalky and slimy soils are

the only ones that it has an aversion to; indeed, it will never come

to anything when sown in them. Soaked in warm water, it is used as a

food, too, for man. One modius is a sufficient meal for an ox, and it

is found to impart considerable vigour to cattle; placed, too, upon the

abdomen[286] of children, it acts as a remedy in certain cases. It is

an excellent plan to season the lupine by smoking it; for when it is

kept in a moist state, maggots are apt to attack the germ, and render

it useless for reproduction. If cattle have eaten it off while in leaf,

as a matter of necessity it should be ploughed in as soon as possible.

CHAP. 37. (15.)—THE VETCH.

The vetch,[287] too, enriches the soil, and its cultivation entails no

labour on the agriculturist. It is sown after the ground has been but

once turned up, and requires neither hoeing nor manuring; nothing at

all, indeed, except harrowing. There are three periods for sowing it;

the first is about the setting of Arcturus, when it is intended for

feeding cattle in the month of December, while in the blade; this crop,

too, is the best of all for seed, for, although grazed upon, it will

bear just as well. The second crop is sown in the month of January,

and the last in March; this last being the best crop for fodder. Of

all the seeds this is the one that thrives best in a dry soil; still,

however, it manifests no repugnance to a shaded locality. This grain,

if gathered when quite ripe, produces a chaff superior to that of any

other. If sown near vines supported by trees, the vetch will draw away

the juices from the vines, and make them languid.

CHAP. 38.—THE FITCH.

The cultivation of the fitch,[288] too, is attended with no difficulty.

It requires weeding, however, more than the vetch. Like it, the fitch

has certain medicinal[289] properties; for we find the fact still kept

in remembrance by some letters of his, that the late Emperor Augustus

was cured by its agency. Five modii will sow as much ground as a yoke

of oxen can plough in a day. If sown in the month of March,[290] it

is injurious, they say, to oxen: and when sown in autumn, it is apt

to produce head-ache. If, however, it is put in the ground at the

beginning of spring, it will be productive of no bad results.

CHAP. 39. (16.)—SILICIA.

Silicia,[291] or, in other words, fenugreek, is sown after a light

ploughing[292] merely, the furrows being no more than some four

fingers in depth; the less the pains that are bestowed upon it the

better it will thrive—a singular fact that there should be anything

that profits from neglect. The kinds, however, that are known as

“secale” and “farrago” require harrowing only.

CHAP. 40.—SECALE OR ASIA.

The people of Taurinum, at the foot of the Alps, give to secale[293]

the name of “asia;” it is a very inferior[294] grain, and is only

employed to avert positive famine. It is prolific, but has a straw

of remarkable thinness; it is also black and sombre-looking, but

weighs extremely heavy. Spelt is mixed with this grain to modify its

bitterness,[295] and even then it is very disagreeable to the stomach.

It will grow upon any soil, and yields a hundred-fold; it is employed

also as a manure for enriching the land.

CHAP. 41.—FARRAGO: THE CRACCA.

Farrago, a mixture made of the refuse of “far,” or spelt, is sown very

thick, the vetch being sometimes mingled with it; in Africa, this

mixture is sometimes made with barley. All these mixtures, however,

are only intended for cattle, and the same is the case with the

cracca,[296] a degenerate kind of leguminous plant. Pigeons, it is

said, are so remarkably fond of this grain, that they will never leave

the place where it has been given to them.

CHAP. 42.—OCINUM: ERVILIA.

Among the ancients there was a sort of fodder, to which Cato[297] gives

the name of “ocinum;” it was employed by them to stop scouring in oxen.

This was a mixture of various kinds of fodder, cut green before the

frosts came on. Mamilius Sura, however, explains the term differently,

and says that ten modii of beans, two of vetches, and the same quantity

of ervilia,[298] were mixed and sown in autumn on a jugerum of land.

He states, also, that it is a still better plan to mix some Greek

oats[299] with it, the grain of which never falls to the ground; this

mixture, according to him, was ocinum, and was usually sown as a food

for oxen. Varro[300] informs us that it received its name on account of

the celerity with which it springs up, from the Greek ὠκέως, “quickly.”

CHAP. 43.—LUCERNE.

Lucerne[301] is by nature an exotic to Greece even, it having been

first introduced into that country from Media,[302] at the time of

the Persian wars with King Darius; still it deserves to be mentioned

among the very first of these productions. So superior are its

qualities, that a single sowing will last more than thirty[303]

years. It resembles trefoil in appearance, but the stalk and leaves

are articulated. The longer it grows in the stalk, the narrower is

the leaf. Amphilochus has devoted a whole book to this subject and

the cytisus.[304] The ground in which it is sown, being first cleaned

and cleared of stones, is turned up in the autumn, after which it is

ploughed and harrowed. It is then harrowed a second and a third time,

at intervals of five days; after which manure is laid upon it. This

seed requires either a soil that is dry, but full of nutriment, or

else a well-watered one. After the ground has been thus prepared, the

seed is put in in the month of May;[305] for if sown earlier, it is in

danger from the frosts. It is necessary to sow the seed very thick,

so that all the ground may be occupied, and no room left for weeds to

shoot up in the intervals; a result which may be secured by sowing

twenty modii to the jugerum. The seed must be stirred at once with the

rake, to prevent the sun from scorching it, and it should be covered

over with earth as speedily as possible. If the soil is naturally damp

or weedy, the lucerne will be overpowered, and the spot degenerate

into an ordinary pasture; it is necessary, therefore, directly the

crop is an inch in height, to disengage it from all weeds, by hand, in

preference to the weeding-hook.

It is cut when it is just beginning to flower, and this is repeated

as often as it throws out new blossoms; which happens mostly six[306]

times in the year, and four at the very least. Care should be taken to

prevent it from running to seed, as it is much more valuable as fodder,

up to the third year. It should be hoed in the spring, and cleared of

all other plants; and in the third year the surface should be well

worked with the weeding-hook. By adopting this method, the weeds will

be effectually destroyed, though without detriment to the lucerne, in

consequence of the depth of its roots. If the weeds should happen to

get ahead of it, the only remedy is to turn it up repeatedly with the

plough, until the roots of the weeds are thoroughly destroyed. This

fodder should never be given to cattle to satiety, otherwise it may be

necessary to let blood; it is best, too, when used while green. When

dry, it becomes tough and ligneous, and falls away at last into a thin,

useless dust. As to the cytisus, which also occupies the very foremost

rank among the fodders, we have already spoken[307] of it at sufficient

length when describing the shrubs. It remains for us now to complete

our account of all the cereals, and we shall here devote a portion of

it to the diseases to which they are subject.

CHAP. 44. (17.)—THE DISEASES OF GRAIN: THE OAT.

The foremost feature of disease in wheat is the oat.[308] Barley,

too, will degenerate into the oat; so much so, in fact, that the oat

has become an equivalent for corn; for the people of Germany are in

the habit of sowing it, and make their porridge of nothing else. This

degeneracy is owing more particularly to humidity of soil and climate;

and a second cause is a weakness in the seed, the result of its being

retained too long in the ground before it makes its appearance above

it. The same, too, will be the consequence, if the seed is decayed

when put in the ground. This may be known, however, the moment it

makes its appearance, from which it is quite evident that the defect

lies in the root. There is another form of disease, too, which closely

resembles the oat, and which supervenes when the grain, already

developed to its full size, but not ripe, is struck by a noxious blast,

before it has acquired its proper body and strength; in this case, the

seed pines away in the ear, by a kind of abortion, as it were, and

totally disappears.

The wind is injurious to wheat and barley, at three[309] periods of

the year in particular: when they are in blossom, directly the blossom

has passed off, and just as the seed is beginning to ripen. In this

last case, the grain wastes away, while in the two former ones it is

prevented from being developed. Gleams of sunshine, every now and

then, from the midst of clouds, are injurious to corn. Maggots, too,

breed[310] in the roots, when the rains that follow the seed-time are

succeeded by a sudden heat, which encloses the humidity in the ground.

Maggots make their appearance,[311] also, in the grain, when the ear

ferments through heat succeeding a fall of rain. There is a small

beetle, too, known by the name of “cantharis,”[312] which eats away

the blade. All these insects die, however, as soon as their nutriment

fails them. Oil,[313] pitch, and grease are prejudicial to grain, and

care should be taken not to let them come in contact with the seed

that is sown. Rain is only beneficial to grain while in the blade; it

is injurious to wheat and barley while they are in blossom, but is

not detrimental to the leguminous plants, with the exception of the

chick-pea. When grain is beginning to ripen, rain is injurious, and

to barley in particular. There is a white grass[314] that grows in

the fields, very similar to panic in appearance, but fatal to cattle.

As to darnel,[315] the tribulus,[316] the thistle,[317] and the

burdock,[318] I can consider them, no more than the bramble, among

the maladies that attack the cereals, but rather as so many pests

inflicted on the earth. Mildew,[319] a malady resulting from the

inclemency of the weather, and equally attacking the vine[320] and

corn, is in no degree less injurious. It attacks corn most frequently

in localities which are exposed to dews, and in vallies which have

not a thorough draught for the wind; windy and elevated spots, on the

other hand, are totally exempt from it. Another evil, again, in corn,

is over-luxuriance, when it falls to the ground beneath the weight[321]

of the grain. One evil, however, to which all crops in common, the

chick-pea even, are exposed, is the attacks of the caterpillar, when

the rain, by washing away the natural saltness of the vegetation, makes

it[322] all the more tempting for its sweetness.

There is a certain plant,[323] too, which kills the chick-pea and

the fitch, by twining around them; the name of it is “orobanche.” In

a similar manner, also, wheat is attacked by darnel,[324] barley by

a long-stalked plant, called “ægilops,”[325] and the lentil by an

axe-leafed grass, to which, from the resemblance[326] of the leaf, the

Greeks have given the name of “pelecinon.” All these plants, too, kill

the others by entwining around them. In the neighbourhood of Philippi,

there is a plant known as ateramon,[327] which grows in a rich soil,

and kills the bean, after it has been exposed, while wet, to the

blasts of a certain wind: when it grows in a thin, light soil, this

plant is called “teramon.” The seed of darnel is extremely minute,

and is enclosed in a prickly husk. If introduced into bread, it will

speedily produce vertigo; and it is said that in Asia and Greece, the

bath-keepers, when they want to disperse a crowd of people, throw this

seed upon burning coals. The phalangium, a diminutive insect of the

spider genus,[328] breeds in the fitch, if the winter happens to be

wet. Slugs, too, breed in the vetch, and sometimes a tiny snail makes

its way out of the ground, and eats it away in a most singular manner.

These are pretty nearly all the maladies to which grain is subject.

CHAP. 45.—THE BEST REMEDIES FOR THE DISEASES OF GRAIN.

The best remedy for these maladies, so long as grain is in the blade,

is the weeding-hook, and, at the moment of sowing, ashes.[329] As to

those diseases which develope themselves in the seed and about the

root, with due care precautions may be effectually employed against

them. It is generally supposed that if seed has been first steeped in

wine,[330] it will be less exposed to disease. Virgil[331] recommends

that beans should be drenched with nitre and amurca of olives; and he

says that if this is done, they will be all the larger. Some persons,

again, are of opinion, that they will grow of increased size, if the

seed is steeped for three days before it is sown in a solution of

urine and water. If the ground, too, is hoed three times, a modius

of beans in the pod, they say, will yield not less than a modius of

shelled[332] beans. Other seeds, again, it is said, will be exempt

from the attacks of maggots, if bruised cypress[333] leaves are mixed

with them, or if they are sown just at the moon’s conjunction. Many

persons, for the more effectual protection of millet, recommend that

a bramble-frog should be carried at night round the field before the

hoeing is done, and then buried in an earthen vessel in the middle of

it. If this is done, they say, neither sparrows nor worms will attack

the crop. The frog, however, must be disinterred before the millet

is cut; for if this is neglected, the produce will be bitter. It is

pretended, too, that all seeds which have been touched by the shoulders

of a mole are remarkably productive.

Democritus recommends that all seeds before they are sown should be

steeped in the juice of the herb known as “aizoüm,”[334] which grows on

tiles or shingles, and is known to us by the Latin name of “sedum” or

“digitellum.”[335] If blight prevails, or if worms are found adhering

to the roots, it is a very common remedy to sprinkle the plants with

pure amurca of olives without salt, and then to hoe the ground. If,

however, the crop should be beginning to joint, it should be stubbed

at once, for fear lest the weeds should gain the upper hand. I know

for certain[336] that flights of starlings and sparrows, those pests

to millet and panic, are effectually driven away by means of a certain

herb, the name of which is unknown to me, being buried at the four

corners of the field: it is a wonderful thing to relate, but in such

case not a single bird will enter it. Mice are kept away by the ashes

of a weasel or a cat being steeped in water and then thrown upon the

seed, or else by using the water in which the body of a weasel or a

cat has been boiled. The odour, however, of these animals makes itself

perceived in the bread even; for which reason it is generally thought

a better plan to steep the seed in ox-gall.[337] As for mildew, that

greatest curse of all to corn, if branches of laurel are fixed in the

ground, it will pass away from the field into the leaves of the laurel.

Over-luxuriance in corn is repressed by the teeth of cattle,[338] but

only while it is in the blade; in which case, if depastured upon ever

so often, no injury to it when in the ear will be the result. If the

ear, too, is once cut off, the grain, it is well known, will assume a

larger[339] form, but will be hollow within and worthless, and if sown,

will come to nothing.

At Babylon, however, they cut the blade twice, and then let the cattle

pasture on it a third time, for otherwise it would run to nothing

but leaf. Even then, however, so fertile is the soil, that it yields

fifty, and, indeed, with care, as much as a hundred, fold. Nor is the

cultivation of it attended with any difficulty, the only object being

to let the ground be under water as long as possible, in order that

the extreme richness and exuberance of the soil may be modified. The

Euphrates, however, and the Tigris do not deposit a slime, in the same

way that the Nilus does in Egypt, nor does the soil produce vegetation

spontaneously; but still, so great is the fertility, that, although the

seed is only trodden in with the foot, a crop springs up spontaneously

the following year. So great a difference in soils as this, reminds me

that I ought to take this opportunity of specifying those which are the

best adapted for the various kinds of grain.

CHAP. 46.—THE CROPS THAT SHOULD BE SOWN IN THE DIFFERENT SOILS.

This, then, is the opinion expressed by Cato[340] on the subject: “In

a dense and fertile soil wheat should be sown: but if the locality is

subject to fogs, rape, radishes, millet, and panic. Where the land[341]

is cold and moist, sowing should be commenced earlier; but where it is

hot, at a later period. In a red, black, or gravelly soil, provided

it is not watery, lupines should be sown; but in chalk, red earth, or

a watery soil, spelt.[342] Where a locality is dry, free from weeds,

and not overshadowed, wheat should be put in; and where the soil is

strong and powerful, beans. Vetches should be grown in a soil as free

from water and weeds as possible; while wheat and winter wheat are best

adapted to an open, elevated locality, fully exposed to the warmth of

the sun. The lentil thrives best in a meagre, red earth, free from

weeds. Barley is equally suited for fallow land and for a soil that is

not intended to be fallow, and three-month wheat, for a soil upon which

a crop of ordinary wheat would never ripen, but strong enough to bear.”

The following, too, is sound advice:[343] Those plants should be sown

in a thin soil which do not stand in need of much nutriment, the

cytisus, for instance, and such of the leguminous plants, with the

exception of the chick-pea, as are taken up by the roots and not cut.

From this mode of gathering them—“legere”—the legumina derive their

name. Where it is a rich earth, those plants should be grown which

require a greater proportion of nutriment, coleworts for instance,

wheat, winter-wheat, and flax. The result, then, will be, that a light

soil will be given to barley—the root of that grain standing in need

of less nutriment—while a more dense, though easily-worked soil, will

be assigned to wheat. In humid localities spelt should be sown in

preference to wheat; but where the soil is of moderate temperature,

either wheat or barley may be grown. Declivities produce a stronger

growth of wheat, but in smaller quantities. Spelt and winter-wheat

adopt a moist, cretaceous soil in preference to any other.

(18.) The only occasion on which there ever was a prodigy connected

with grain, at least that I am aware of, was in the consulship of

P. Ælius and Cneius Cornelius, the year[344] in which Hannibal was

vanquished: on that occasion, we find it stated, corn was seen growing

upon trees.[345]

CHAP. 47.—THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF CULTIVATION EMPLOYED BY VARIOUS

NATIONS.

As we have now spoken at sufficient length of the several varieties

of grain and soil, we shall proceed to treat of the methods adopted

in tilling the ground, taking care, in the very first place, to make

mention of the peculiar facilities enjoyed by Egypt in this respect.

In that country, performing the duties of the husbandman, the Nile

begins to overflow, as already stated,[346] immediately after the

summer solstice or the new moon, gradually at first, but afterwards

with increased impetuosity, as long as the sun remains in the sign

of Leo. When the sun has passed into Virgo, the impetuosity of the

overflow begins to slacken, and when he has entered Libra the river

subsides. Should it not have exceeded twelve cubits in its overflow,

famine is the sure result; and this is equally the case if it should

chance to exceed sixteen; for the higher it has risen, the more slowly

it subsides, and, of course, the seed-time is impeded in proportion. It

was formerly a very general belief that immediately upon the subsiding

of the waters the Egyptians were in the habit of driving herds of

swine over the ground, for the purpose of treading the seed into the

moist soil—and it is my own impression that this was done in ancient

times. At the present day even, the operation is not attended with much

greater labour. It is well known, however, that the seed is first laid

upon the slime that has been left by the river on its subsidence, and

then ploughed in; this being done at the beginning of November. After

this is done, a few persons are employed in stubbing, an operation

known there as “botanismos.” The rest of the labourers, however, have

no occasion to visit the land again till a little before the calends

of April,[347] and then it is with the reaping-hook. The harvest is

completed in the month of May. The stem is never so much as a cubit in

length, as there is a stratum of sand beneath the slime, from which

last alone the grain receives its support. The best wheat of all is

that of the region of Thebais, Egypt[348] being of a marshy character.

The method adopted at Seleucia in Babylonia is very similar to this,

but the fertility there is still greater, owing to the overflow of the

Euphrates and Tigris,[349] the degree of irrigation being artificially

modified in those parts. In Syria, too, the furrows are made extremely

light, while in many parts of Italy, again, it takes as many as

eight oxen to pant and blow at a single plough. All the operations

of agriculture, but this in particular, should be regulated by the

oracular precept—“Remember that every locality has its own tendencies.”

CHAP. 48.—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF PLOUGHS.

Ploughs are of various kinds. The coulter[350] is the iron part that

cuts up the dense earth before it is broken into pieces, and traces

beforehand by its incisions the future furrows, which the share,

reversed,[351] is to open out with its teeth. Another kind—the common

plough-share—is nothing more than a lever, furnished with a pointed

beak; while another variety, which is only used in light, easy soils,

does not present an edge projecting from the share-beam throughout,

but only a small point at the extremity. In a fourth kind again, this

point is larger and formed with a cutting edge; by the agency of which

implement, it both cleaves the ground, and, with the sharp edges at the

sides, cuts up the weeds by the roots. There has been invented, at a

comparatively recent period, in that part of Gaul[352] known as Rhætia,

a plough with the addition of two small wheels, and known by the name

of “plaumorati.”[353] The extremity of the share in this has the form

of a spade: it is only used, however, for sowing in cultivated lands,

and upon soils which are nearly fallow. The broader the plough-share,

the better it is for turning up the clods of earth. Immediately after

ploughing, the seed is put into the ground, and then harrows[354]

with long teeth are drawn over it. Lands which have been sown in this

way require no hoeing, but two or three pairs of oxen are employed in

ploughing. It is a fair estimate to consider that a single yoke of oxen

can work forty jugera of land in the year, where the soil is light, and

thirty where it is stubborn.

CHAP. 49. (19.)—THE MODE OF PLOUGHING.

In ploughing, the most rigid attention should be paid to the oracular

precepts given by Cato[355] on the subject. “What is the essence of

good tillage? Good ploughing. What is the second point? Ploughing

again. What is the third point? Manuring. Take care not to make crooked

furrows. Be careful to plough at the proper time.” In warm localities

it is necessary to open the ground immediately after the winter

solstice, but where it is cold, directly after the vernal equinox:

this, too, should be done sooner in dry districts than in wet ones, in

a dense soil than a loose one, in a rich land than a meagre one. In

countries where the summers are hot and oppressive, the soil cretaceous

or thin, it is the best plan to plough between the summer solstice and

the autumnal equinox. Where, on the other hand, the heat is moderate,

with frequent falls of rain, and the soil rich and full of vegetation,

the ploughing should be done during the prevalence of the heat. A deep,

heavy soil, again, should be ploughed in winter; but one that is very

thin and dry, only just before putting in the seed.

Tillage, too, has its own particular rules[356]—Never touch the ground

while it is wet and cloggy; plough with all your might; loosen the

ground before you begin to plough. This method has its advantages, for

by turning up the clods the roots of the weeds are killed. Some persons

recommend that in every case the ground should be turned up immediately

after the vernal equinox. Land that has been ploughed once in spring,

from that circumstance has the name of “vervactum.”[357] This, too,

is equally necessary in the case of fallow land, by which term is

meant land that is sown only in alternate years. The oxen employed in

ploughing should be harnessed as tightly as possible, to make them

plough with their heads up; attention paid to this point will prevent

them from galling the neck. If it is among trees and vines that you are

ploughing, the oxen should be muzzled, to prevent them from eating off

the tender buds. There should be a small bill-hook, too, projecting

from the plough-tail, for the purpose of cutting up the roots; this

plan being preferable to that of turning them up with the share, and so

straining the oxen. When ploughing, finish the furrow at one spell, and

never stop to take breath in the middle.

It is a fair day’s work to plough one jugerum, for the first time, nine

inches in depth; and the second time, one jugerum and a half—that is to

say, if it is an easy soil. If this, however, is not the case, it will

take a day to turn up half a jugerum for the first time, and a whole

jugerum the second; for Nature has set limits to the powers of animals

even. The furrows should be made, in every case, first in a straight

line, and then others should be drawn, crossing them obliquely.[358]

Upon a hill-side the furrows are drawn transversely[359] only, the

point of the share inclining upwards at one moment and downwards[360]

at another. Man, too, is so well fitted for labour, that he is able to

supply the place of the ox even; at all events, it is without the aid

of that animal that the mountain tribes plough, having only the hoe to

help them.[361]

The ploughman, unless he stoops to his work, is sure to

prevaricate,[362] a word which has been transferred to the Forum, as a

censure upon those who transgress—at any rate, let those be on their

guard against it, where it was first employed. The share should be

cleaned every now and then with a stick pointed with a scraper. The

ridges that are left between every two furrows, should not be left in a

rough state, nor should large clods be left protruding from the ground.

A field is badly ploughed that stands in need of harrowing after the

seed is in; but the work has been properly done, when it is impossible

to say in which direction the share has gone. It is a good plan, too,

to leave a channel every now and then, if the nature of the spot

requires it, by making furrows of a larger size, to draw off the water

into the drains.

(20.) After the furrows have been gone over again transversely, the

clods are broken, where there is a necessity for it, with either the

harrow or the rake;[363] and this operation is repeated after the

seed has been put in. This last harrowing is done, where the usage of

the locality will allow of it, with either a toothed harrow, or else a

plank attached to the plough. This operation of covering in the seed

is called “lirare,” from which is derived the word “deliratio.”[364]

Virgil,[365] it is generally thought, intends to recommend sowing after

_four_ ploughings, in the passage where he says that land will bear the

best crop, which has twice felt the sun and twice the cold. Where the

soil is dense, as in most parts of Italy, it is a still better plan to

go over the ground five times before sowing; in Etruria, they give the

land as many as nine ploughings first. The bean, however, and the vetch

may be sown with no risk, without turning up the land at all; which, of

course, is so much labour saved.

We must not here omit to mention still one other method of ploughing,

which the devastations of warfare have suggested in Italy that lies

beyond the Padus. The Salassi,[366] when ravaging the territories which

lay at the foot of the Alps, made an attempt to lay waste the crops of

panic and millet that were just appearing above the ground. Finding,

however, that Nature resisted all their endeavours, they passed the

plough over the ground, the result of which was that the crops were

more abundant than ever; and this it was that first taught us the

method of ploughing in, expressed by the word “artrare,” otherwise

“aratrare,” in my opinion the original form. This is done either just

as the stem begins to develope itself, or else when it has put forth

as many as two or three leaves. Nor must we withhold from the reader

a more recent method, which was discovered the year but one before

this,[367] in the territory of the Treviri. The crops having been

nipped by the extreme severity of the winter, the people sowed the land

over again in the month of March, and had a most abundant harvest.

We shall now proceed to a description of the peculiar methods employed

in cultivating each description of grain.

CHAP. 50. (21.)—THE METHODS OF HARROWING, STUBBING, AND HOEING,

EMPLOYED FOR EACH DESCRIPTION OF GRAIN. THE USE OF THE HARROW.

For winter wheat, spelt, wheat, zea,[368] and barley, harrow, hoe and

stub upon the days which will be mentioned[369] in the sequel. A single

hand per jugerum will be quite enough for any one of these kinds of

grain. The operation of hoeing loosens the ground in spring when it has

been hardened and saddened by the rigours of the winter, and admits

the early sun to the interior. In hoeing, every care must be taken not

to go beneath the roots of the corn; in the case of wheat, zea, and

barley, it is best to give a couple of hoeings. Stubbing,[370] when

the crop is just beginning to joint, cleanses it of all noxious weeds,

disengages the roots of the corn, and liberates the growing blade from

the clods. Among the leguminous plants, the chick-pea requires the same

treatment that spelt does. The bean requires no stubbing, being quite

able of itself to overpower all weeds; the lupine, too, is harrowed

only. Millet and panic are both harrowed and hoed; but this operation

is never repeated, and they do not require stubbing. Fenugreek and the

kidney-bean require harrowing only.

There are some kinds of ground, the extreme fertility of which obliges

the grower to comb down the crops while in the blade—this is done with

a sort of harrow[371] armed with pointed iron teeth—and even then he

is obliged to depasture cattle upon them. When, however, the blade has

been thus eaten down, it stands in need of hoeing to restore it to its

former vigour.

But in Bactria, and at Cyrenæ in Africa, all this trouble has been

rendered quite unnecessary by the indulgent benignity of the climate,

and after the seed is in, the owner has no occasion to return to the

field till the time has come for getting in the harvest. In those parts

the natural dryness of the soil prevents noxious weeds from springing

up, and, aided by the night dews alone, the soil supplies its nutriment

to the grain. Virgil[372] recommends that the ground should be left to

enjoy repose every other year; and this, no doubt, if the extent of

the farm will admit of it, is the most advantageous plan. If, however,

circumstances will not allow of it, spelt should be sown upon the

ground that has been first cropped with lupines, vetches, or beans;

for all these have a tendency to make the soil more fertile. We ought

to remark here more particularly, that here and there certain plants

are sown for the benefit of others, although, as already stated in the

preceding Book,[373] not to repeat the same thing over again, they are

of little value themselves. But it is the nature of each soil that is

of the greatest importance.

CHAP. 51. (22.)—EXTREME FERTILITY OF SOIL.

There is a city of Africa, situate in the midst of the sands as you

journey towards the Syrtes and Great Leptis, Tacape[374] by name. The

soil there, which is always well-watered, enjoys a degree of fertility

quite marvellous. Through this spot, which extends about three miles

each way, a spring of water flows—in great abundance it is true—but

still, it is only at certain hours that its waters are distributed

among the inhabitants. Here, beneath a palm of enormous size, grows

the olive, beneath the olive the fig, beneath the fig, again, the

pomegranate, beneath the pomegranate the vine, and beneath the vine

we find sown, first wheat, then the leguminous plants, and after them

garden herbs—all in the same year, and all growing beneath another’s

shade. Four cubits square of this same ground—the cubit[375] being

measured with the fingers contracted and not extended—sell at the rate

of four denarii.[376] But what is more surprising than all, is the fact

that here the vine bears twice, and that there are two vintages in the

year. Indeed, if the fertility of the soil were not distributed in this

way among a multitude of productions, each crop would perish from its

own exuberance: as it is, there is no part of the year that there is

not some crop or other being gathered in; and yet, it is a well-known

fact, that the people do nothing at all to promote this fruitfulness.

There are very considerable differences, too, in the nature of water,

as employed for the purposes of irrigation. In the province of Gallia

Narbonensis there is a famous fountain, Orge by name; within it there

grow plants which are sought for with such eagerness by the cattle,

that they will plunge over head into the water to get at them; it is a

well ascertained[377] fact, however, that these plants, though growing

in the water, receive their nutriment only from the rains that fall.

It is as well then that every one should be fully acquainted with the

nature, not only of the soil, but of the water too.

CHAP. 52. (23.)—THE METHOD OF SOWING MORE THAN ONCE IN THE YEAR.

If the soil is of that nature which we have already[378] spoken of as

“tender,”[379] after a crop of barley has been grown upon it, millet

may be sown, and after the millet has been got in, rape. In succession

to these, again, barley may be put in, or else wheat, as in Campania;

and it will be quite enough, in such case, to plough the ground when

the seed is sown. There is another rotation again—when the ground has

been cropped with spelt,[380] it should lie fallow the four winter

months; after which, spring beans should be put in, to keep it occupied

till the time comes for cropping it with winter beans. Where the soil

is too rich, it may lie fallow one year, care being taken after sowing

it with corn to crop it with the leguminous plants the third year.[381]

Where, on the other hand, it is too thin, the land should lie fallow up

to the third year even. Some persons recommend that corn should never

be sown except in land which has lain fallow the year before.

CHAP. 53.—THE MANURING OF LAND.

The proper method of manuring is here a very important subject for

consideration—we have already treated of it at some length in the

preceding Book.[382] The only point that is universally agreed upon

is, that we must never sow without first manuring the ground; although

in this respect even there are certain rules to be observed. Millet,

panic, rape, and turnips should never be sown in any but a manured

soil. If, on the other hand, the land is not manured, sow wheat there

in preference to barley. The same, too, with fallow lands; though in

these it is generally recommended that beans should be sown. It should

be remembered, however, that wherever beans are sown, the land should

have been manured at as recent a period as possible. If it is intended

to crop ground in autumn, care must be taken to plough in manure in

the month of September, just after rain has fallen. In the same way,

too, if it is intended to sow in spring, the manure should be spread

in the winter. It is the rule to give eighteen cart-loads of manure to

each jugerum, and to spread it well before ploughing it in,[383] or

sowing the seed.[384] If this manuring, however, is omitted, it will

be requisite to spread the land with aviary dust just before hoeing

is commenced. To clear up any doubts with reference to this point, I

would here observe that the fair price for a cart-load of manure is one

denarius; where, too, sheep furnish one cart-load, the larger cattle

should furnish ten:[385] unless this result is obtained, it is a clear

proof that the husbandman has littered his cattle badly.

There are some persons who are of opinion that the best method of

manuring land is to pen sheep there, with nets erected to prevent them

from straying. If land is not manured, it will get chilled; but if, on

the other hand, it is over-manured, it becomes burnt up: it is a much

better plan, too, to manure little and often than in excess. The warmer

the soil is by nature, the less manure it requires.

CHAP. 54. (24.)—HOW TO ASCERTAIN THE QUALITY OF SEED.

The best seed of all is that which is of the last year’s growth. That

which is two years old is inferior, and three the worst of all—beyond

that, it is unproductive.[386] The same definite rule which applies

to one kind of seed is applicable to them all: the seed which falls

to the bottom[387] on the threshing-floor, should be reserved for

sowing, for being the most weighty it is the best in quality: there is

no better method, in fact, of ascertaining its quality. The grains of

those ears which have intervals between the seed should be rejected.

The best grain is that which has a reddish hue,[388] and which, when

broken between the teeth, presents the same[389] colour; that which

has more white within is of inferior quality. It is a well-known fact

that some lands require more seed than others, from which circumstance

first arose a superstition that exists among the peasantry; it is their

belief that when the ground demands the seed with greater avidity

than usual, it is famished, and devours the grain. It is consistent

with reason to put in the seed where the soil is humid sooner than

elsewhere, to prevent the grain from rotting in the rain: on dry spots

it should be sown later, and just before the fall of a shower, so that

it may not have to lie long without germinating and so come to nothing.

When the seed is put in early it should be sown thick, as it is a

considerable time before it germinates; but when it is put in later, it

should be sown thinly, to prevent it from being suffocated. There is a

certain degree of skill, too, required in scattering the seed evenly;

to ensure this, the hand must keep time[390] with the step, moving

always with the right foot. There are certain persons, also, who have

a secret method[391] of their own, having been born[392] with a happy

hand which imparts fruitfulness to the grain. Care should be taken not

to sow seed in a warm locality which has been grown in a cold one, nor

should the produce of an early soil be sown in a late one. Those who

give advice to the contrary have quite misapplied their pains.

CHAP. 55.—WHAT QUANTITY OF EACH KIND OF GRAIN IS REQUISITE FOR SOWING A

JUGERUM.

[393] In a soil of middling quality, the proper proportion of seed is

five modii of wheat or winter-wheat to the jugerum, ten of spelt or of

seed-wheat—that being the name which we have mentioned[394] as being

given to one kind of wheat—six of barley, one-fifth more of beans than

of wheat, twelve of vetches, three of chick-pease, chicheling vetches,

and pease, ten of lupines, three of lentils—(these last, however, it is

said, must be sown with dry manure)—six of fitches, six of fenugreek,

four of kidney-beans, twenty of hay grass,[395] and four sextarii

of millet and panic. Where the soil is rich, the proportion must be

greater, where it is thin, less.[396]

There is another distinction, too, to be made; where the soil is

dense, cretaceous, or moist, there should be six modii of wheat or

winter-wheat to the jugerum, but where the land is loose, dry, and

prolific, four will be enough. A meagre soil, too, if the crop is not

very thinly sown, will produce a diminutive, empty ear. Rich lands give

a number of stalks to each grain, and yield a thick crop from only a

light sowing. The result, then, is, that from four to six modii must be

sown, according to the nature of the soil; though there are some who

make it a rule that five modii is the proper proportion for sowing,

neither more nor less, whether it is a densely-planted locality, a

declivity, or a thin, meagre soil. To this subject bears reference an

oracular precept which never can be too carefully observed[397]—“Don’t

rob the harvest.”[398] Attius, in his Praxidicus,[399] has added that

the proper time for sowing is, when the moon is in Aries, Gemini, Leo,

Libra, and Aquarius. Zoroaster says it should be done when the sun has

passed twelve degrees of Scorpio, and the moon is in Taurus.

CHAP. 56.—THE PROPER TIMES FOR SOWING.

We now come to a subject which has been hitherto deferred by us, and

which requires our most careful attention—the proper times for sowing.

This is a question that depends in a very great degree upon the stars;

and I shall therefore make it my first care to set forth all the

opinions that have been written in reference to the subject. Hesiod,

the first writer who has given any precepts upon agriculture, speaks

of one period only for sowing—the setting of the Vergiliæ: but then

he wrote in Bœotia, a country of Hellas, where, as we have already

stated,[400] they are still in the habit of sowing at that period.

It is generally agreed by the most correct writers, that with the

earth, as with the birds and quadrupeds, there are certain impulses

for reproduction; and the epoch for this is fixed by the Greeks at

the time when the earth is warm and moist. Virgil[401] says that

wheat and spelt should be sown at the setting of the Vergiliæ, barley

between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, and vetches,[402]

kidney-beans, and lentils at the setting of Boötes:[403] it is of great

importance, therefore, to ascertain the exact days of the rising and

setting of these constellations, as well as of the others. There are

some, again, who recommend the sowing to be done before the setting

of the Vergiliæ, but only in a dry soil, and in those provinces where

the weather is hot; for the seed, they say,[404] if put in the ground

will keep, there being no moisture to spoil it, and within a single day

after the next fall of rain, will make its appearance above ground.

Others, again, are of opinion that sowing should begin about seven days

after the setting of the Vergiliæ, a period which is mostly followed by

rain. Some think that cold soils should be sown immediately after the

autumnal equinox, and a warm soil later, so that the blade may not put

forth too luxuriantly before winter.

It is universally agreed, however, that the sowing should not be done

about the period of the winter solstice; for this very good reason—the

winter seeds, if put in before the winter solstice, will make their

appearance above ground on the seventh day, whereas, if they are sown

just after it, they will hardly appear by the fortieth. There are some,

however, who begin very early, and have a saying to justify their

doing so, to the effect that if seed sown too early often disappoints,

seed put in too late always does so. On the other hand, again, there

are some who maintain that it is better to sow in spring than in a

bad autumn; and they say that if they find themselves obliged to sow

in spring, they would choose the period that intervenes between the

prevalence of the west winds[405] and the vernal equinox. Some persons,

however, take no notice of the celestial phenomena, and only regulate

their movements by the months. In spring they put in flax, the oat, and

the poppy, up to the feast of the Quinquatria,[406] as we find done at

the present day by the people of Italy beyond the Padus. There, too,

they sow beans and winter-wheat in the month of November, and spelt at

the end of September, up to the ides of October:[407] others, however,

sow this last after the ides of October, as late as the calends of

November.[408]

The persons who do this take no notice, consequently, of the phenomena

of Nature, while others, again, lay too much stress upon them, and

hence, by these refined subtleties and distinctions, only add to their

blindness; for here are ignorant rustics, not only dealing with a

branch of learning, but that branch astronomy! It must still, however,

be admitted that the observation of the heavens plays a very important

part in the operations of agriculture; and Virgil,[409] we find,

gives it as his advice, that before any thing else, we should learn

the theory of the winds, and the revolutions of the stars; for, as he

says, the agriculturist, no less than the mariner, should regulate his

movements thereby. It is an arduous attempt, and almost beyond all hope

of success, to make an endeavour to introduce the divine science of the

heavens to the uninformed mind of the rustic; still, however, with a

view to such vast practical results as must be derived from this kind

of knowledge, I shall make the attempt. There are some astronomical

difficulties, however, which have been experienced by the learned even,

that ought to be first submitted for consideration, in order that

the mind may feel some encouragement on abandoning the study of the

heavens, and may be acquainted with facts at least, even though it is

still unable to see into futurity.

CHAP. 57. (25.)—ARRANGEMENT OF THE STARS ACCORDING TO THE TERRESTRIAL

DAYS AND NIGHTS.

In the first place, it is almost an utter impossibility to calculate

with a fair degree of accuracy the days of the year and the movements

of the sun. To the three hundred and sixty-five days there are still to

be added the intercalary days, the result of the additional quarters of

a day and night: hence it is, that it is found impossible to ascertain

with exactness the proper periods for the appearance of the stars. To

this we must add, too, a certain degree of uncertainty connected with

these matters, that is universally admitted; thus, for instance, bad

and wintry weather will often precede, by several days, the proper

period for the advent of that season, a state of things known to the

Greeks as προχειμάζειν;[410] while at another time, it will last longer

than usual, a state of circumstances known as ἐπιχειμάζειν.[411] The

effects, too, of the changes that take place in the seasons will

sometimes be felt later, and at other times earlier, upon their

reaching the face of the earth; and we not unfrequently hear the remark

made, upon the return of fine weather, that the action of such and such

a constellation is now completed.[412] And then, again, as all these

phænomena depend upon certain stars, arranged and regulated in the

vault of heaven, we find intervening, in accordance with the movements;

of certain stars, hailstorms and showers, themselves productive of no

slight results, as we have already observed,[413] and apt to interfere

with the anticipated regular recurrence of the seasons. Nor are we to

suppose that these disappointments fall upon the human race only, for

other animated beings, as well as ourselves, are deceived in regard

to them, although endowed with even a greater degree of sagacity

upon these points than we are, from the fact of their very existence

depending so materially upon them. Hence it is, that we sometimes

see the summer birds killed by too late or too early cold, and the

winter birds by heat coming out of the usual season. It is for this

reason, that Virgil[414] has recommended us to study the courses of the

planets, and has particularly warned us to watch the passage of the

cold star Saturn.

There are some who look upon the appearance of the butterfly as the

surest sign of spring, because of the extreme delicacy of that insect.

In this present year,[415] however, in which I am penning these lines,

it has been remarked that the flights of butterflies have been killed

three several times, by as many returns of the cold; while the foreign

birds, which brought us by the sixth of the calends of February[416]

every indication of an early spring, after that had to struggle against

a winter of the greatest severity. In treating of these matters, we

have to meet a twofold difficulty: first of all, we have to ascertain

whether or not the celestial phænomena are regulated by certain laws,

and then we have to seek how to reconcile those laws with apparent

facts. We must, however, be more particularly careful to take into

account the convexity of the earth, and the differences of situation

in the localities upon the face of the globe; for hence it is, that

the same constellation shows itself to different nations at different

times, the result being, that its influence is by no means perceptible

everywhere at the same moment. This difficulty has been considerably

enhanced, too, by various authors, who, after making their observations

in different localities, and indeed, in some instances, in the same

locality, have yet given us varying or contradictory results.

There have been three great schools of astronomy, the Chaldæan, the

Ægyptian, and the Grecian. To these has been added a fourth school,

which was established by the Dictator Cæsar among ourselves, and to

which was entrusted the duty of regulating the year in conformity

with the sun’s revolution,[417] under the auspices of Sosigenes,

an astronomer of considerable learning and skill. His theory, too,

upon the discovery of certain errors, has since been corrected, no

intercalations having been made for twelve[418] successive years,

upon its being found that the year which before had anticipated the

constellations, was now beginning to fall behind them. Even Sosigenes

himself, too, though more correct than his predecessors, has not

hesitated to show, by his continual corrections in the three several

treatises which he composed, that he still entertained great doubts

on the subject. The writers, too, whose names are inserted at the

beginning of this work,[419] have sufficiently revealed the fact of

these discrepancies, the opinions of one being rarely found to agree

with those of another. This, however, is less surprising in the case

of those whose plea is the difference of the localities in which they

wrote. But with reference to those who, though living in the same

country, have still arrived at different results, we shall here mention

one remarkable instance of discrepancy. Hesiod—for under his name,

also, we have a treatise extant on the Science of the Stars[420]—has

stated that the morning setting of the Vergiliæ takes place at the

moment of the autumnal equinox; whereas Thales, we find, makes it the

twenty-fifth day after the equinox, Anaximander the twenty-ninth, and

Euctemon the forty-eighth.

As for ourselves, we shall follow the calculations made by Julius

Cæsar,[421] which bear reference more particularly to Italy; though at

the same time, we shall set forth the dicta of various other writers,

bearing in mind that we are treating not of an individual country,

but of Nature considered in her totality. In doing this, however, we

shall name, not the writers themselves, for that would be too lengthy

a task, but the countries in reference to which they speak. The reader

must bear in mind, then, that for the sake of saving space, under the

head of Attica, we include the islands of the Cyclades as well; under

that of Macedonia, Magnesia and Thracia; under that of Egypt, Phœnice,

Cyprus, and Cilicia; under that of Bœotia, Locris, Phocis, and the

adjoining countries; under that of Hellespont, Chersonesus, and the

contiguous parts as far as Mount Athos; under that of Ionia, Asia[422]

and the islands of Asia; under that of Peloponnesus, Achaia, and the

regions lying to the west of it. Chaldæa, when mentioned, will signify

Assyria and Babylonia, as well.

My silence as to Africa,[423] Spain, and the provinces of Gaul, will

occasion no surprise, from the fact that no one has published any

observations made upon the stars in those countries. Still, however,

there will be no difficulty in calculating them, even for these regions

as well, on reference being made to the parallels which have been set

forth in the Sixth Book.[424] By adopting this course, an accurate

acquaintance may be made with the astronomical relations, not only of

individual nations, but of cities even as well. By taking the circular

parallels which we have there appended to the several portions of the

earth respectively, and applying them to the countries in question,

that are similarly situate, it will be found that the rising of the

heavenly bodies will be the same for all parts within those parallels,

where the shadows projected are of equal length. It is also deserving

of remark, that the seasons have their periodical recurrences, without

any marked difference, every four years, in consequence of the

influence[425] of the sun, and that the characteristics of the seasons

are developed in excess every eighth year, at the revolution of every

hundredth moon.

CHAP. 58.—THE RISING AND SETTING OF THE STARS.

The whole of this system is based upon the observation of three

branches of the heavenly phænomena, the rising of the constellations,

their setting, and the regular recurrence of the seasons. These risings

and settings may be observed in two different ways:—The stars are

either concealed, and cease to be seen at the rising of the sun, or

else present themselves to our view at his setting—this last being more

generally known by the name of “emersion” than of “rising,” while their

disappearance is rather an “occultation” than a “setting.”—Considered,

again, in another point of view, when upon certain days they begin to

appear or disappear, at the setting or the rising of the sun, as the

case may be, these are called their morning or their evening settings

or risings, according as each of these phænomena takes place at

day-break or twilight. It requires an interval of three quarters of an

hour at least before the rising of the sun or after his setting, for

the stars to be visible to us. In addition to this, there are certain

stars which rise and set twice.[426] All that we here state bears

reference, it must be remembered, to the fixed stars only.

CHAP. 59.—THE EPOCHS OF THE SEASONS.

The year is divided into four periods or seasons, the recurrence of

which is indicated by the increase or diminution of the daylight.

Immediately after the winter solstice the days begin to increase,

and by the time of the vernal equinox, or in other words, in ninety

days and three hours, the day is equal in length to the night. After

this, for ninety-four days and twelve hours, the days continue

to increase, and the nights to diminish in proportion, up to the

summer solstice; and from that point the days, though gradually

decreasing, are still in excess of the nights for ninety-two days,

twelve hours, until the autumnal equinox. At this period the days

are of equal length with the nights, and after it they continue to

decrease inversely to the nights until the winter solstice, a period

of eighty-eight days and three hours. In all these calculations, it

must be remembered, equinoctial[427] hours are spoken of, and not

those measured arbitrarily in reference to the length of any one day

in particular. All these seasons, too, commence at the eighth degree

of the signs of the Zodiac. The winter solstice begins at the eighth

degree of Capricorn, the eighth[428] day before the calends of January,

in general;[429] the vernal equinox at the eighth degree of Aries;

the summer solstice, at the eighth degree of Cancer; and the autumnal

equinox at the eighth degree of Libra: and it is rarely that these

days do not respectively give some indication of a change in the

weather.

These four seasons again, are subdivided, each of them, into two

equal parts. Thus, for instance, between the summer solstice and the

autumnal equinox, the setting of the Lyre,[430] on the forty-sixth

day, indicates the beginning of autumn; between the autumnal equinox

and the winter solstice, the morning setting of the Vergiliæ, on the

forty-fourth day, denotes the beginning of winter; between the winter

solstice and the vernal equinox, the prevalence of the west winds on

the forty-fifth day, denotes the commencement of spring; and between

the vernal equinox and the summer solstice, the morning rising of

the Vergiliæ, on the forty-eighth day, announces the commencement

of summer. We shall here make seed-time, or in other words, the

morning setting of the Vergiliæ, our starting-point;[431] and shall

not interrupt the thread of our explanation by making any mention of

the minor constellations, as such a course would only augment the

difficulties that already exist. It is much about this period that the

stormy constellation of Orion departs, after traversing a large portion

of the heavens.[432]

CHAP. 60.—THE PROPER TIME FOR WINTER SOWING.

Most persons anticipate the proper time for sowing, and begin to put in

the corn immediately after the eleventh day of the autumnal equinox,

at the rising of the Crown, when we may reckon, almost to a certainty,

upon several days of rainy weather in succession. Xenophon[433] is of

opinion, that sowing should not be commenced until the Deity has given

us the signal for it, a term by which Cicero understands the rains

that prevail in November. The true method to be adopted, however, is

not to sow until the leaves begin to fall. Some persons are of opinion

that this takes place at the setting of the Vergiliæ, or the third

day before the ides of November, as already stated,[434] and they

carefully observe it, for it is a constellation very easily remarked

in the heavens, and warns us to resume our winter clothes.[435] Hence

it is, that immediately on its setting, the approach of winter is

expected, and care is taken by those who are on their guard against

the exorbitant charges of the shop-keepers, to provide themselves with

an appropriate dress. If the Vergiliæ set with cloudy weather, it

forebodes a rainy winter, and the prices of cloaks[436] immediately

rise; but if, on the other hand, the weather is clear at that period, a

sharp winter is to be expected, and then the price of garments of other

descriptions is sure to go up. But as to the husbandman, unacquainted

as he is with the phænomena of the heavens, his brambles are to him

in place of constellations, and if he looks at the ground he sees it

covered with their leaves. This fall of the leaves, earlier in one

place and later in another, is a sure criterion of the temperature

of the weather; for there is a great affinity between the effects

produced by the weather in this respect, and the nature of the soil

and climate. There is this peculiar advantage, too, in the careful

observation of these effects, that they are sure to be perceptible

throughout the whole earth, while at the same time they have certain

features which are peculiar to each individual locality.—A person may

perhaps be surprised at this, who does not bear in mind that the herb

pennyroyal,[437] which is hung up in our larders, always blossoms on

the day of the winter solstice; so firmly resolved is Nature that

nothing shall remain concealed from us, and in that spirit has given us

the fall of the leaf as the signal for sowing.

Such is the true method of interpreting all these phænomena, granted

to us by Nature as a manifestation of her will. It is in this way that

she warns us to prepare the ground, makes us a promise of a manure, as

it were, in the fall of the leaves, announces to us that the earth and

the productions thereof are thus protected by her against the cold, and

warns us to hasten the operations of agriculture.

CHAP. 61.—WHEN TO SOW THE LEGUMINOUS PLANTS AND THE POPPY.

Varro[438] has given no other sign but this[439] for our guidance in

sowing the bean. Some persons are of opinion that it should be sown at

full moon, the lentil between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth day of

the moon, and the vetch on the same days of the moon; and they assure

us that if this is done they will be exempt from the attacks of slugs.

Some say, however, that if wanted for fodder, they may be sown at

these periods, but if for seed, in the spring. There is another sign,

more evident still, supplied us by the marvellous foresight of Nature,

with reference to which we will give the words employed by Cicero[440]

himself:

“The lentisk, ever green and ever bent

Beneath its fruits, affords a threefold crop:

Thrice teeming, thrice it warns us when to plough.”

One of the periods here alluded to, is the same that is now under

consideration, being the appropriate time also for sowing flax and

the poppy.[441] With reference to this last, Cato gives the following

advice: “Burn, upon land where corn has been grown, the twigs and

branches which are of no use to you, and when that is done, sow the

poppy there.” The wild poppy, which is of an utility that is quite

marvellous, is boiled in honey as a remedy for diseases in the

throat,[442] while the cultivated kind is a powerful narcotic. Thus

much in reference to winter sowing.

CHAP. 62.—WORK TO BE DONE IN THE COUNTRY IN EACH MONTH RESPECTIVELY.

And now, in order to complete what we may call in some measure an

abridgment of the operations of agriculture, it is as well to add

that it will be a good plan at the same period to manure the roots of

trees, and to mould up the vines—a single hand being sufficient for

one jugerum. Where, too, the nature of the locality will allow it, the

vines, and the trees upon which they are trained, should be lopped, and

the soil turned up with the mattock for seed plots; trenches, too,

should be opened out, and the water drained from off the fields, and

the presses[443] should be well washed and put away. Never put eggs

beneath the hen between the calends of November[444] and the winter

solstice:[445] during all the summer and up to the calends of November,

you may put thirteen under the hen; but the number must be smaller in

winter, not less than nine, however. Democritus is of opinion, that

the winter will turn out of the same character[446] as the weather

on the day of the winter solstice and the three succeeding days; the

same too with the summer and the weather at the summer solstice.

About the winter solstice, for about twice seven days mostly, while

the halcyon[447] is sitting, the winds are lulled, and the weather

serene;[448] but in this case, as in all others, the influence of the

stars must only be judged of by the result, and we must not expect the

changes of the weather, as if out upon their recognizances,[449] to

make their appearance exactly on certain predetermined days.

CHAP. 63.—WORK TO BE DONE AT THE WINTER SOLSTICE.

Be careful never to touch the vine at the winter solstice. Hyginus

recommends us to strain and even rack-off wine at the seventh day after

the winter solstice, provided the moon is seven days old. About this

period, also, the cherry-tree, he says, should be planted. Acorns,

too, should now be put in soak for the oxen, a modius for each pair.

If given in larger quantities, this food will prove injurious to their

health; and whenever it is given, if they are fed with it for less than

thirty days in succession, an attack of scab in the spring, it is said,

will be sure to make you repent.

This, too, is the period that we have already assigned[450] for

cutting timber—other kinds of work, again, may be found for the hours

of the night, which are then so greatly prolonged. There are baskets,

hurdles, and panniers to be woven, and wood to be cut for torches:

squared stays[451] for the vine may be prepared, too, thirty in the day

time, and if rounded,[452] as many as sixty. In the long hours of the

evening, too, some five squared stays, or ten rounded ones may be got

ready, and the same number while the day is breaking.

CHAP. 64.—WORK TO BE DONE BETWEEN THE WINTER SOLSTICE AND THE

PREVALENCE OF THE WEST WINDS.

Between the winter solstice and the period when the west winds begin

to prevail, the following, according to Cæsar, are the more important

signs afforded by the constellations: the Dog sets in the morning, upon

the third[453] day before the calends of January; a day on the evening

of which the Eagle sets to the people of Attica and the adjoining

countries. On the day before[454] the nones of January, according to

Cæsar’s computation, the Dolphin rises in the morning, and on the

next day, the Lyre, upon the evening of which the Arrow sets to the

people of Egypt. Upon the sixth[455] day before the ides of January,

the Dolphin sets in the evening, and Italy has many days of continuous

cold; the same is the case also when the sun enters Aquarius, about the

sixteenth[456] day before the calends of February. On the eighth[457]

before the calends of February, the star which Tubero calls the Royal

Star[458] sets in the morning in the breast of Leo, and in the evening

of the day before[459] the nones of February, the Lyre sets.

During the latter days of this period, whenever the nature of the

weather will allow of it, the ground should be turned up with a double

mattock, for planting the rose and the vine—sixty men to a jugerum.

Ditches, too, should be cleaned out, or new ones made; and the time of

day-break may be usefully employed in sharpening iron tools, fitting on

handles, repairing such dolia[460] as may have been broken, and rubbing

up and cleaning their staves.

CHAP. 65.—WORK TO BE DONE BETWEEN THE PREVALENCE OF THE WEST WINDS AND

THE VERNAL EQUINOX.

Between the prevalence of the west winds and the vernal equinox,

the fourteenth day before[461] the calends of March, according to

Cæsar, announces three days of changeable weather; the same is the

case, too, with the eighth[462] before the calends of March, at the

first appearance of the swallow, Arcturus rising on the evening of

the next day. Cæsar has observed, that the same takes place on the

third[463] before the nones of March, at the rising of Cancer; and

most authorities say the same with reference to the emersion of the

Vintager.[464] On the eighth[465] before the ides of March, the

northern limb of Pisces[466] rises, and on the next day Orion, at which

period also, in Attica, the Kite is first seen. Cæsar has noted, too,

the setting of Scorpio on the ides of March,[467] a day that was so

fatal to him; and on the fifteenth[468] before the calends of April,

the Kite appears in Italy. On the twelfth[469] before the calends of

April, the Horse sets in the morning.

This interval of time is a period of extreme activity for the

agriculturist, and affords him a great number of occupations, in

reference to which, however, he is extremely liable to be deceived. He

is summoned to the commencement of these labours, not upon the day on

which the west winds ought to begin, but upon the day on which they

really do begin, to blow. This moment then must be looked for with

the most careful attention, as it is a signal which the Deity has

vouchsafed us in this month, attended with no doubts or equivocations,

if only looked for with scrupulous care. We have already stated in the

Second Book,[470] the quarter in which this wind blows, and the exact

point from which it comes, and before long we shall have occasion to

speak of it again still more in detail.