BOOK XVIII. xLix. 179-182 



crop has been sown is badly ploughed : the ground 

 will only have been worked properly where it is im- 

 possible to tell in which of two opposite directions 

 the share went. It is also usual to make inter- 

 mediate runnels by means of a larger furrow, if the 

 place requires this, for these to di*aw oif the water 

 into the ditches. 



After the cross-ploughing has been done there Harrowiiw 

 foUows the harrowing of clods with a framework or a "'"*'"<»*»"?• 

 rake where circumstances require it, and, where local 

 custom allows, this second breaking is also repeated 

 after the seed has been sown, by means of a harrow- 

 framework or 'with a board attached to the plough 

 covering up the seeds — this process is called ridging ; 

 if thev are not covered, this is ' unridging '- — the 

 original use of the word that means ' raving '.<* 

 \'irgil when he said that the best crop is one that ororg. r. 47. 

 ' twice hath felt the sun and twice the cold ', is under- 

 stood to have desired a fourth ploughing before 

 sowing. Where the soil is rather dense, as it usually is 

 in Italy, it is better to plough five times before sow- 

 ing, but in Tuscany nine times. With beans and vetch 

 however it is a labour-saving plan involving no loss to 

 dispense with preliminarv breaking before sowing. 



We will not omit one additional method of plough- pionohinr/ 

 ing that has been deviscd in Italy north of the Po *"• 

 owing to damage caused by war. When the Salassi * 

 were devastating the farms lying below the AIps they 

 made an attempt to destroy the crops of panic and 

 millet that were just appearing above the ground : 

 but after Nature proved contemptuous of their 

 efforts, thcy ploughed in the crops ; these however 

 came up in multiplied abundance, and thus taught us 

 the practice of ploughing in — artrare as it is now 



303 



