Chap. 8.] THE PEOPEE MODE OF USING MANUEE. 4.59 



oxen. If a vine should happen to be but poor and meagre, 

 prune 8 the shoots of it, and plough them in round about it." 

 The same author says, also, 9 " When you are going to sow corn 

 in a field, fold your sheep 10 there first." 



CHAP. 7. CEOPS WHICH TEND TO IMPEOVE THE LAND : CEOPS 



WHICH EXHAUST IT. 



Cato 11 says, also, that there are some crops which tend to 

 nourish the earth : thus, for instance, corn land is manured by 

 the lupine, the bean, and the vetch ; while, on the other hand, 

 the chick-pea exercises a contrary influence, both because it is 

 pulled up by the roots and is of a salt nature ; the same is the 

 case, too, with barley, fenugreek, and fitches, all of which have 

 a tendency to burn up 13 corn land, as, in fact, do all those 

 plants which are pulled up by the roots. Take care, too, not to 

 plant stone-fruits on corn land. Virgil 13 is of opinion, also, that 

 corn land is scorched by flax, oats, and poppies. 



CHAP. 8. THE PEOPEE MODE OF USING MANUEE. 



It is recommended, 14 also, that the dung-heap should be 

 kept in the open air, in a spot deep sunk and well adapted 

 to receive the moisture : it should be covered, too, with straw, 

 that it may not dry up with the sun, care being taken to drive 

 a stake of robur into the ground, to prevent serpents from 

 breeding 15 there. It is of the greatest consequence that the 



reference to the " ebulum," dane-wort, wall- wort, or dwarf-elder, previously 

 mentioned. 



8 "Concidito." Sillig adopts the reading " comburito," "burn the 

 shoots, and dig in, &c." But in the original the word is " concidito." 



9 De Re Rust. 30. 



10 This is still extensively practised in England and' France, and other 

 countries. The azote, even, that exhales from the bodies of the animals, 

 is supposed to have a fertilizing influence, to say nothing of the dung, 

 grease of the body, and urine. " De Re Rust. 37. 



_ 12 "Exsugunt," « suck up," or " drain," is one reading in Cato ; and it 

 is not improbable that it is the correct one. 



13 Georg. i. 77, 78 : 



" Urit enim lini campum seges, urit avenae, 

 Urunt Lethseo perfusa papavera somno." 



14 Fee is of opinion, that, with reference to this branch of agriculture, 

 the ancients displayed more skill and intelligence than the moderns. 



15 This absurdity is copied from Varro and Columella. 



