32 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



best that is brought into the vineyard — being of 

 oak or juniper, and is called ridica ; the second, a 

 bough made into a stake — the harder the better, as 

 it lasts longer. When the earth has rotted the 

 lower end, which crumbles away, the prop is turned 

 round and the bottom becomes the top. Failing 

 these two, a third kind is got from the reed planta- 

 tion. From it some reeds are taken and bound 

 together by strips of bark. These are then put into 

 earthenware tubes, of which the bottom has been 

 knocked out, so that superfluous moisture may be 

 able to run through. These bundles of reeds are 

 called cuspides. The fourth kind is a natural prop 

 of the same kind, when the vineyard consists of 

 vines trained from tree to tree. Some people call 



5 these traverses rumpi. The vine ought to be the 

 height of a man, and the props should be placed at 

 such a distance from one another as to allow a yoke 

 of oxen to plough between them. 



The least expensive vineyard is that which, with- 

 out supports, provides wine for the wine-jar. There 

 are two varieties of this — one where the grapes rest 

 on the earth, as is the case in many places in Asia, 

 in which foxes often share the vintage with men. 

 Besides, if the land breeds mice, the yield is less, 

 unless you fill the vineyards with mouse-traps, as 



6 they do in the island of Pandateria. There is 

 another kind of vine, of which only that shoot which 

 gives evidence of bearing grapes is raised above 

 the ground; under it, when the grape is forming, 

 are placed little forked sticks about two feet high. 



