42 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



and pigs, when they come back from feeding. In the 

 outer yard there should be a pond for soaking vetch 

 and other things that are better for consumption after 



4 being put into water. The outer yard, if it be fre- 

 quently strewn with straw and chaff, and trampled by 

 the feet of cattle, is useful to the farm through what 

 is taken out of it. Close to the farm buildings there 



,;M«>rvu ^should be two manure heaps, or one divided into two; 

 \ h'*y for the one part should be made of fresh manure, while 

 '^^'^ the other should be taken on to the land only when 

 ^' old, for manure that has rotted is better than that 

 which is fresh. A manure heap is better, too, if its 

 sides and top are protected from the sun by twigs and 

 J leaves, for the sun must not suck out beforehand 

 the goodness which the earth requires. And ac- 

 cordingly good farmers, if they can manage to let 

 water flow into it, do so on that account. For thus 

 the juice is best kept in. In the manure-heap some 

 place the slaves' privies. 



5 A building should be made under the shelter of 

 which you can put the whole of the farm's harvest 

 — which some call a nuhilarium. It should be close 

 to the threshing floor, where your corn is to be' 

 threshed; of a size proportionate to that of the 



V farm ; open on one side — the side next the thresh- 

 ing-floor — so that you can both easily throw the 

 corn to be threshed into it, and, if the sky begins to 

 cloud over, you can quickly throw it back again. It 

 should have windows on that side where the wind 

 can best blow through it. 



6 Said Fundanius: A farm is assuredly more 



