BOOK XVITT. XLM. 163-166 



XLVI. This then is the opinion of Cato " : ' In thick cato's advice 

 and fertile land wheat should be sown ; but if the same ^^lpf^"' 

 land is Hable to fog, turnip, radishes, common and 

 Italian millets. In cold or damp land sowing should be 

 done earlier, but in warm land later. In a ruddle-soil 

 or in dark or sandy soil, if it is not damp, sow lupine ; in 

 chalk and red earth and rathcr damp land, emmer 

 wheat ; in dry land that is free from grass and not 

 overshaded, wheat ; beans in strong soil, but veteh in 

 the least damp and weedy soil ; common and other 

 bare wheats in an open and elcvated locality that gcts 

 the warmth of the sun as long as possible ; lentils in 

 poor and ruddle-soil that is frec from grass ; barley in 

 fallow land and also in land that can produce a second 

 crop ; three-month wheat where the land could not 

 ripen an ordinary crop and which is rich enough to 

 produce a second crop.' 



The foUowing also is acute advice : * ' In a rather Varro'! 

 thin soil crops should be sown that do not need much ''^' 

 moisture, for instance tree-medick, and such of the 

 leguminous plants, except chick-pea, as are gathered 

 bv being puUcd up out of the ground and not by being 

 cut — which is the reason why thev are called " crops ", 

 because that is how they are " cropped " — , but in rich 

 land the plants that need greater nuti-iment, such 

 as greens, wheat, common wheat, flax. Under this 

 method consequentlv thin soil will be assigned to 

 barley, as its root demands less nourishment, while 

 more easily worked and denser earth will be alk)tted to 

 wheat. In a rather damp place emmer will be sown in 

 preference to other wheat, but in soil of medium quality 

 this and also barlev. Hillsides produce a stronger 

 wheat but a smaller crop of it. Emmer and common 

 wheat can do with both chalky and marshy soiL' 



293 



