Chap. 3.] WHAT SOILS AEE BEST. 44 3 



share "which they use is narrow, and the furrows are but very- 

 superficial, there being a rock beneath the soil that in summer 

 scorches up the seeds. 



Then, too, the effects of excessive cold and heat in various 

 places are similar; thus, for instance, Thrace is fruitful in 

 corn, by reason of the cold, while Africa and Egypt are so in 

 consequence of the heat that prevails there. At Chalcia, 46 an 

 island belonging to the Rhodians, there is a certain place which 

 is so remarkably fertile, that after reaping the barley that has 

 been sown at the ordinary time, and gathering it in, they im- 

 mediately sow a fresh crop, and reap it at the same time as the 

 other corn. A gravelly soil is found best suited for the olive 

 in the district of Venafrum, 47 while one of extreme richness is 

 required for it in Bastica. The wines of Pucinum 48 are ri- 

 pened upon a rock, and the vines of Csecubum 49 are moistened 

 by the waters of the Pomptine 50 marshes ; so great are the dif- 

 ferences that have been detected by human experience in the 

 various soils. Caesar Yopiscus, when pleading a cause before 

 the Censors, said that the fields of Eosia 51 are the very marrow 52 

 of Italy, and that a stake, left in the ground there one day, 

 would be found covered by the grass the next : 53 the soil, how- 

 ever, is only esteemed there for the purposes of pasturage. Still, 

 however, Nature has willed that w r e should not remain unin- 

 structed, and has made full admission as to existing defects in 

 soil, even in cases where she has failed to give us equal in- 

 formation as to its good qualities : we shall begin, therefore, 

 by speaking of the defects that are found in various soils. 



(5.) If it is the wish of a person to test whether a soil is 

 bitter, or wmether it is thin and meagre, the fact may be easily 

 ascertained from the presence of black and undergrown herbs. 

 If, again, the herbage shoots up dry and stunted, it shows that 

 the soil is cold, and if sad and languid, that it is moist and 

 slimy. The eye, too, is able to judge whether it is a red earth 

 or whether it is argillaceous, both of them extremely difficult 

 to work, and apt to load the harrow or ploughshare with 



4 6 See B. v. c. 36. 47 See B. xv. c. 2. 



48 See B. xiv. c. 8. 49 See B. xiv. c. 8. 



50 See B. iii. c. 9. 51 See B. ill. c. 17. 



5 °< Sumen. Properly, " udder." A cow's udder was considered one of 

 the choicest of delicacies hy the Romans. 



53 This is, of course, an exaggeration. The stake must have been 

 driven in very deep to disappear so speedily. 



vol. in. & & 



