BOOK XVIIl. xuii. 146-XLIV. 150 



It is cut %\hen it is beginning to flower and every 

 time it fluwers again: this happens six times, or at 

 the least four times, in a year. It must be prevented 

 from running to seed, because till it is three years old 

 it is more useful as fodder. It must be hoed in spring- 

 tinie and rid of all other plants, and till the third year 

 shaved down to the earth with weeding-hoes : this 

 makes the rest of the plants die without damaging the 

 lucerne itself, because of the depth of its roots. If 

 weeds get the upper hand, the sole remedy is in the 

 plough, by repeatedly turning the soil till all the other 

 roots die. It must not bc fed to cattle to the point 

 of repletion, lest it should be necessary to let blood. 

 Also it is more useful when green, as it dries into a 

 woody state and finally thins out into a useless dust. 



About tree-medick, which itself also is given a very 

 high rank among fodder, we have spoken sufficiently 

 among the shrubs. And now we have to complete xin. iso. 

 our account of the nature of all the cereals, in one 

 part of wliich we must also speak about diseases. 



XLIV. The first of all forms of disease in wheat oiseasex 

 is the oat." Barley also degcnerates into oats, in '^ereais^cm 

 such a way that the oat * itself counts as a kind of 

 corn, inasmuch as the races of Germany grow crops 

 of it and Uve entirely on oatmeal porridge. The 

 degeneration in qucstion is pi-incipally due to damp- 

 ness of soil and cHmate, but a subsidiary causc is 

 contained in weakness of the seed, if it is held back 

 too lonti in the crround before it shoots out. There 

 is also the same explanation if it was rotten when it 

 was sown. But it is recognizable the moment it 

 breaks out of the ground, which shows that the 

 f-ause is contained in the root. Tliere is also another 

 disease arising in close connection with oats, when 



283 



