Chap. 3.] WHAT SOILS ARE BEST. 43 1 



In a tender soil we shall find fertility combined with modera- 

 tion, a softness and a pliancy easily adapted to cultivation, 

 and an equal absence of humidity and of dryness. Earth 

 of this nature will shine again after the plough-share has 

 passed through it, just as Homer, 61 that great fountain-head of 

 all genius, has described it sculptured by the Divinity 62 upon 

 the arms [of Achilles], adding, too, a thing that is truly marvel- 

 lous, that it was of a blackish hue, though gold was the mate- 

 rial in which it was wrought. This, too, is that kind of earth, 

 which, when newly turned up, attracts the ravenous birds that 

 follow the plough-share, the ravens even going so far as to peck 

 at the heels of the ploughman. 



We may in this place appropriately make mention of an 

 opinion that has been pronounced by an Italian writer also 

 with reference to a matter of luxury. Cicero, 63 that other 

 luminary of literature, has made the following remark : " Those 

 unguents which have a taste of earth 64 are better," says he, 

 "than those which smack of saffron;" it seeming to him 

 more to the purpose to express himself by the word " taste" 65 

 than "smell." And such is the fact, no doubt; that soil 

 is the best which has the flavour of a perfume. 66 If the 

 question should be put to us, what is this odour of the earth 

 that is held in such estimation, our answer is, that it is the 

 same that is often to be recognized at the moment of sunset, 

 without the necessity even of turning up the ground, at the 

 spots where the extremities of the rainbow 67 have been ob- 

 served to meet the earth ; as also when, after long- continued 

 drought, the rain has soaked the ground. Then it is that the 

 earth exhales this divine odour, that is so peculiarly its own, 

 and to which, imparted to it by the sun, there is no perfume, 

 however sweet, that can possibly be compared. It is this 

 odour that the earth, when turned up, ought to emit, and 

 which, when once found, can never deceive a person ; and 

 this will be found the best criterion for judging of the quality 

 of the soil. Such, too, is the odour that is usually perceived 



61 Iliad, xviii. 541 and 548. 



G2 Vulcan. 63 D e Oratore, sec. 39. 



64 See B. xiii. c. 4. 



65 " Sapiunt," rather than " redolent." 



66 This supposed flavour of the earth is, in reality, attributable to the 

 extraneous vegetable matter which it contains. 



67 See B. xii. c. 52, as to this notion. 



G G 2 



