BOOK XVIII. Lxvii. 261-263 



former days, when only Cretan and other imported 

 whetstones were known, and these would only liven 

 up the blade of a scythe with the help of olive oil ; 

 and consequently a man niowing hay used to walk 

 along with a horn to hold the oil tied to his leg. Italy 

 gave us whetstones used with water, which keep the 

 iron in order instead of a file, though the water very 

 soon makes them go green with rust. Of scythes 

 themselves there are two kinds : the Italian kind is 

 shorter, and handy to use even among bi-ambles, 

 whereas the scythe used on the large farms of the 

 GaUic provinces are bigger, in fact they economize 

 labour by cutting through the stalks of the grass in 

 the middle and missing the shorter ones. An ItaHan 

 mower holds the sickle with only his right hand. It 

 is a fair day's work for one labourer to cut an acre of 

 grass, or to bind 200 " sheaves weighing four pounds 

 each. After the grass is cut it must be turned 

 towards the sun, and it must not be piled in shocks 

 till it is dry ; unless this rule is carefully kept, the 

 shocks are certain to give ofF a sort of vapour in the 

 morning and then to be set aUght by the sun and to 

 burn up. A hayfiekl should be irrigated again after 

 it has been mown, so as to provide a crop of 

 autumn hay caUed the aftermath. At Terni in 

 Umbria even hayfields not irrigated are mown four 

 times a year, but those with irrigation are in most 

 places mown three times, and afterwards as much 

 profit is made out of the pasture as from the hay. 

 Accordingly keeping herds and breeding draft- 

 animals will supply each farmer with his own poUcy, 

 a most lucrative trade being breeding horses for 

 chariot-racing. 



" TheMSS. give 1200. 



355 



