BOOK XVIII. Lxxiv. 314-317 



when the moon is silent." This is also the time for 

 getting ready a store of leaves;'' to collect fom* leaf- 

 baskets full is a fair day's work for one woodman. 

 If they are stored when the moon is on the wane 

 they do not decay ; but they ought not to be dry 

 when collected. 



In okl days the vines were never thought to be Daiesoj 

 ripe for the vintage before the equinox, but nowa- \lselfwim- 

 days I notice they are commonly pulled at any press. 

 time ; consequently we must also specify the times 

 for this by their signs and indications. The ruk'S "^ are 

 as foUows : ' Do not pick a bunch of grapes when they 

 are warm ' — that is during unbroken dry weather, 

 with no rain in between ; ' Do not pick a bunch of 

 grapes if wet with dew ', that is if there has been dew 

 in the night, and not before it has been dispelled by 

 the sun. ' Begin the vintage when the grape-shoot 

 begins to droop down to the stem, or when after a 

 grape has been 1'emoved froni a cluster it has been 

 clearly noticed that the gap does not fiU up and that 

 the grapes are no longer getting bigger.' It is a 

 very great advantage for the vintage to coincide 

 with a crescent moon. One pressing '^ ought to fill 

 twenty wine-skins ^ : that is a fair basis. A single 

 wine press is enough for twenty wine-skins and 

 vats to serve twenty acres of vineyard. Some press 

 the grapes with a single press-beam, but it pays 

 better to use a pair, however large the single beams 

 may be. It is length that matters in the case 

 of the beams, not thickness;/ but those of ample 

 width press better. In old days people used to drag 

 down the press-beams with ropes and leather straps. 



I.e. tho work is done by leverage, not by the mero weight 

 of the beam. 



387 



