90 PLTNY's NATUEA.L HISTOET. [Book XVIII. 



After the rising of the VergiliaB the more remarkable signs 

 are, according to Caesar, the morning rising of Arcturus, which 

 lakes place on the following day ;^^ and the rising of the Lyre 

 on the third^^ before the ides of May. The She- goat sets in 

 the evening of the twelfth before'^ the calends of June, and 

 in Attica the Dog. On the eleventh" before the calends of 

 June, according to Ciesar, Orion's Sword begins to appear : and, 

 according to the same writer, on the fourth^"* before the nones 

 of June the Eagle rises in the evening, and in Assyria as well. 

 On the seventh^^ before the ides of June Arcturus sets in the 

 morning to the people of Italy, and on the fourth^^ before the 

 ides the Dolphin rises in the evening. On the seventeenth" 

 before the calends of July Orion's Sword rises in Italy, and, 

 four days later, in Egypt. On the eleventh^^ before the calends 

 of July, according to Caesar's reckoning, Orion's Sword begins 

 to set; and the eighth^^ before the calends of July, the longest 

 day in the year, with the shortest night, brings us to the sum- 

 mer solstice. 



In this interval of time the vine should be cleared of its 

 superfluous branches, and care taken to give an old vine one 

 turning up at the roots, a young tree two. Sheep, too, are 

 sheared at this period, lupines turned up for manuring the 

 land, the ground dug, vetches cut for fodder, and beans gathered 

 in and threshed. 



(28.) About the calends of June^° the meadows are mown ; 

 the cultivation of which, the one which is the easiest of all, 

 and requires the smallest outlay, leads me to enter into some 

 further details relative to it. Meadow lands should be selected 

 in a rich, or else a moist or well-watered, soil, and care should 

 be taken to drain the rain-water upon them from the high- 

 road. The best method of ensuring a good crop of grass, is 

 first to plough the land, and then to harrow it : but, before 

 ])assing the harrow over it, the ground should be spiinkled 

 with such seed as may have fallen from the hay in the hay- 

 lofts and mangers. The land should not be watered, however, 

 the first year,^^ nor should cattle be put to graze upon it before 



JO Eleventh of May. u Thirteenth of May. 



'2 Twenty-first of May. i3 Twenty-second ofMay. 



^* Second of June. i^ Seventh of June. 



>6 Tenth of June. i' Fifteenth of June. 



18 Twenty-first of June. ^9 Twenty-fourth of June. 



20 First of June. 21 Columella, E. ii. c. IS. 



