30 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



for some— and I am of the number — put good 

 meadow-lands in the first rank. Our ancestors 

 called prata, parata (ready) for this reason — 

 Caesar Vopiscus, the ex-aedile, when pleading a 

 case before the censors, called the plains of Rosea 

 the nursery of Italy, seeing that if you left a pole 

 there overnight it could not be seen next morning 

 for the grass. 



CHAPTER VIII 



ON VINE-TRAINING 



I An objection sometimes made to vineyards is 

 that their cost eats up the profit. It depends, 

 said I, upon the kind of vine, for there are many. 

 Some keep to the ground and need no supports, as 

 in Spain; others are trained up — the so-called 

 " yoked vines," to which class Italian vines mostly 

 belong. In connection with the latter class, two 

 terms are used, viz., pedamenta (props) and iuga 

 (espaliers) ; the uprights which support the vine 

 are called pedamenta^ the supports which are placed 

 cross-wise have the name of iuga (yokes). Jience, 



i too, the term " yoked vines." Of these iuga there 

 are roughly four kinds — the pole, the reed, cords, 

 and withes. Poles are used in Falernum, reeds in 

 Arpinum, cords in the country about Brundisium, 

 and withes in the district of Mediolanum (Milan). 

 There are two methods of training vines, the one 

 proceeding on lines at right angles to the trees, the 



