BOOK XVIII. Lxv. 238-241 



This space of time is an extremely busy period 

 for farniers and specially toilsome, and it is onc as 

 to which they are particuhirly hable to go Avrong— 

 the fact being that they are not summoned to their 

 tasks on the dav on which the west wind ought to 

 blow but on which it actuallv does begin to blow. 

 This must be watched for with sharp attention, and 

 is a signal possessed by a day in that month that is 

 observable without any deception or doubt what- 

 ever, if one gives close attention. We have stated 

 in Volume Two the quarter in which that wind blows n. 122. 

 and the exact point from which it comes, and we 

 shall speak about it rather more fully a Httle later. § 3i7. 

 In the meantime, starting from the day, whichever 

 it is, on which it begins to blow — not however neces- 

 sarily February 8, but whether before that date, 

 when the spring is early, or afterwards, when winter 

 goes on after that day, countrymen should find 

 themselves torn between innumerable anxieties and 

 should finish off all the primary tasks which cannot 

 be postponed. Three-month wheat must be sown, 

 vines pruned by the method we have stated, ohves xvil. 176. 

 attended to, fruit-trees planted and grafted, vine- 

 yards dug oyer, seed-plots arranged and others re- 

 stored, reeds, willows and brooms phmted and cut, and 

 elms, pophirs and asli trees planted in the manncr 

 stated above. Then it is also suitable to weed the xvii. 78. 

 cornfields and hoe the winter crops, and especially 

 emmer wheat ; for the latter there is a definite 

 rule, to hoe when it has begun to have four blades 

 showing, but in the case of beans not before they 

 have three leaves out, and even then they should 

 be cleaned with a light hoe rather than dug over, 

 and anyway when they flower they must not be 



341 



