296 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



ingly the eggs laid before or after this time, as well 

 as the first^ eggs laid during this time, should not 

 be used for sitting, and such as are used should be 

 given to quite old hens which must not have sharp 

 beaks or claws, ^ rather than to pullets,^ for the time 

 of the young ones should be taken up in con- 

 ceiving, not sitting. They lay best when one or two 

 10 years old. If you mean to put pea-hens' eggs under 

 a hen, then hens' eggs may be added only after 

 she has been sitting on the former nine days, and 

 is beginning the tenth, so that she may bring the 

 chickens off at the same time, for chickens take 

 twice ten days to hatch, peacocks thrice nine.* The 



^ Prima. The Geoponica (xiv, 7) translate this TrpmroTOKa — 

 "the first eggs laid by a hen." Td dk irpb tovtov tov Kaipov ?/ /itrd 

 ravTa riKTofieva Kai rd irpioroToKa iravra ovx vTroOersov.^^ 



2 Ungues. Columella (viii, 2, 8) says that it is a sign of 

 breeding in hens if they have five toes, but they must not have 

 cross spurs like cocks, as in that case contumax ad concubiium 

 . . . raroque fecunday etiam cum incuhat calcis aculeis ova per- 

 fringit. 



^ Pullitris, Scaliger defends the word pullitra, not found 

 elsewhere, on the analogy of porcetra — a young sow that has 

 farrowed but once. The Geoponica {loc. cit. ) translate pullitris 

 OLKfia^ovaaig Kai TiKTtiv dvvafitvaig. 



* Ter noveni. Schneider substitutes ter dent, inferring the 

 necessity from Varro's own words ; but Varro was not the man 

 to sacrifice a neat antithesis and a fine number associated 

 with Pythagorean philosophy and magic spells (cf the ter 

 noviens cantare of i, 2, 27) to mere pedantic accuracy. Even 

 the later born Columella respects the number, not changing 

 but qualifying it (cf. viii, 5, 10) : Diebus ter septenis opus est 

 gallinaceo generic at pavonino et anserino paullo amplius ter 

 novenis ! Pliny, however, says that the time depends upon the 



