72 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTORY. [Book XVIII. 



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 Vergilise : but then 

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

 already stated, 1 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 2 says that wheat and spelt should be sown at the setting 

 .of the Vergiliae, barley between the autumnal equinox and 

 the winter solstice, and vetches, 3 kidney-beans, and lentils at 

 the setting of Bootes : 4 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 Vergiliae, but only in a dry soil, and in those provinces 

 where the weather is hot ; for the seed, they say/ 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 

 Vergiliae, 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 



1 In c. 8 of this Book. 2 Georg. i. 208. 



3 Georg. i. 227 4 See c. 74 of this Book. 



5 Columella, B. ii. e. 8. 



