BOOK XVIII. Lxvni. 264-266 



LXVIII. We have said that the sumnier solstice Farmwork 

 comes round on June 24, in the eiijhth degree of the "/''*'■ ""<^ 

 Crab. rhis is an important turning-point of the §§ i'2i, 25C. 

 year, an important matter in the world. From mid- 

 winter to this point the days continually grow longer. 

 The sun itself climbing northward for six months and 

 having scaled the heights of heaven, from that goal 

 begins to slope and to descend towards the south, 

 proceeding for another six months to increase the 

 length of the nights and to subtract from the measure- 

 ment of the day. From this point onward is the 

 time for plucking and coUecting the various successive 

 crops and for preparing against the fierce cruelty of 

 winter, and to have this change marked with un- 

 mistakable signs was only Natui-e's duty ; conse- 

 quently she has placed such signs in the very hands 

 of the farmers, and has bidden the fohage to turn 

 round on that very day and to indicate that the 

 heavenly body has completed its course — and not 

 the leaves of the forests and of trees distant from 

 human habitation, so compelhng those seeking the 

 ^igns to have to go into remote valleys and moun- 

 tains, nor yet again the foHage of the trees of 

 the city and those that are only grown by the orna- 

 mental gardener, albeit these may be seen at a 

 countr)' house as well ; but Nature turns round the 

 foUage of the oUve that confronts iis at every step, 

 of the Ume-tree which we emplov for a thousand 

 practical purposes, and even of the white pophir that 

 is married to the vines. Nor is that yet sufficient. 

 ' You have the elm,' she says, ' that is enriched with 

 the vine ; I wiU turn the foUage of this tree also. 

 You strip its leaves for fodder, or prune them off: 

 look at tluse, and vou have a sign of the heavens, 



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