II] CATTLE FARMING: ITS PRACTICE 137 



i to seek acorns, but barley ^ and beans may occa- 

 sionally have to be given to some animals, lupines 

 to cows, and lucerne and clover to the latter when 

 they are suckling their young. You must remem- 

 ber also that for thirty days before they are used for; 

 breeding, rams and bulls are given more food in[j 

 order to maintain their strength, while cows are; 

 given less, because it is said they conceive more 

 readily when they are thin. 



The second section has to do with gestation — and 

 here I define ** gestation" as lasting from concep- 



n to birth, for these are respectively the begin- 

 nmg and end of pregnancy. So we must first con- 

 sider the time when the males of each species 

 should be admitted to the females. Now for swine 

 the best time is thought to be from Favonius'to the 

 vernal equinox; for sheep between the setting of 

 Arcturus and the setting of Aquila. 



Again, we must consider how long, before ad- 

 ! mission, the males should be kept separate from 

 I the females. This is done in almost all cases for a 



iple of months before, by both neatherds and 



cpherds. 



The second division (of this second section) tells 



mountains, and no emendation at all plausible has been pro- 

 posed. 



* Hordeum et faha . . . obiciendum. This seems quite im- 

 possible in any Latin {pace Keil). S\xx^\y faham^ and further on 

 medkam, as suggested by Ursinus, must be read. The con- 

 1 is then the normal one for Varro. The corruption 

 dica to medica^ fabd io/abuy is easy. 

 A/avonio. Cf. i, 29. 



