46 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



Sabine country; others plant cypresses as I did 

 near Vesuvius, others elms, as many do in the 

 Crustumerian country ; for where it is possible, as 

 it is in that district, seeing that it is a plain, no 

 better tree can be planted, for it is extremely profit- 

 able, as it often supports ^ and collects for you many 

 a basket of grapes, supplies to sheep and cattle 

 leaves that they greatly enjoy, and furnishes boughs 

 for hedges, hearth, and oven. 



Said Scrofa: Well, these are the four matters 

 which, as I remarked, a farmer should first con- 

 sider, namely: the configuration of the farm, the 

 nature of its soil, the extent of the land, and the 

 maintenance of its boundaries. 



CHAPTER XVI 



ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF A FARM 



I There remains a second department of the sub- 

 ject, which has to do with what is outside the farm. 

 Now a farm's immediate surroundings, owing to ijts 



^ Et sustinet saepe. So Keil for the MSS. reading. Et sus- 

 tinet saepem, which would mean " supports a fence," in which 

 Schneider and the rest see no sense. But the elms might play 

 the part of the pali statuti crehri mentioned in the previous 

 chapter (xv). A row of trees ' * supporting a fence " is com- 

 mon enough in this country. 



