BOOK XVIII. x.\\'viii. i39-.\Lii. 143 



It is said to be injurious to oxen if sown in March 

 and to cause cold in the head if sown in autumn, 

 but sowing it in early spring makes it harni- 

 less. 



XXXIX. SiUcia or fenugreek also is sown after a Fenugrttk. 

 mere scratching of the ground, in a furrow not more 

 than four inches deep, and the worse it is treated the 

 better it comes on — a singular proposition that there 

 is something that is benefited by neglect ; however 

 the kinds called black spelt and cattle mash need 

 harrowing, but no more. 



XL. The name for secale in the subalpine district ^vco/*. 

 of Turin is asia ; it is a very poor food and only 

 serves to avert starvation ; its stalk carries a large 

 head but is a thin straw ; it is of a dark sombre 

 colour, and exceptionally heavy. Wheat is mixed in 

 with this to mitigate its bitter taste, and all the same 

 it is very unacceptable to the stomach even so. It 

 grows in any sort of soil with a hundred-fold yield, 

 and serves of itself to enrich the land. 



XLI. Cattle-mash obtained from the refuse of Or,ii„sfor 

 wheat is sown very thick, occasionally with an admix- ''' '''"■ 

 ture of vetch as well. In Africa the same mash is 

 obtained from barley. All of these plants serve as 

 fodder, and so does the throw-back of the leguminous 

 class of plant called wild vetch, whioh pigeons are so 

 fond of that they are said never to leave a place where 

 they have been fed on it. 



XLII. In old times there was a kind of fodder r.r. 

 which Cato calls ocinum, used to stop scouring in q^^J^'^'^'^' 

 oxen. This was got from a crop of fodder cut green 

 befoi-e it seeded. Mamihus Sura gives another mean- 

 ing to the name, and records that the old practice 

 was to mix ten pecks of bean, two of vetch and the 



279 



