BOOK X\'III. Lxxiv. 320-Lxxv. 322 



avarice lying in wait for a rise in priees. The piiblic- 

 spirited method of an honest head of a household is 

 to use the output of each year as it eomes ; and tliis 

 is also quite equally the most profitable plan. As xiv. 59 

 for the other matters relating to wines enough has 5,y ^g* 

 been said already, and also it has been stated that as 

 soon as the vintage is done the ohves must at once 

 be picked ; and we have given the facts concerning 

 ohve-growing and the operations that must be done 

 after the setting of the Pleiads. 



LXXV. To these statements we will add what is rimesfor 

 necessarv about the moon and winds and about '"^"'""^ 



• nnnoT farin 



weather foi-ecasts, so as to complete our accoimt 01 operaiUjns. 

 astronomic considerations. \'irgil following the state- a,,,irg. i. 

 ment paraded by Democritus has even thought -'6. 

 proper to assign particular operations to numbered 

 days of the moon, but our own motive, in this 

 section also of our work as in the whole of it, is the 

 practical value of general rules. 



All cutting, gathering and trimming is done with 

 less injury to the trees and plants when the moon is 

 waning than when it is waxing. Manure must not 

 be touched except when the moon is waning, but 

 nianuring should chieflv be done at new moon or at 

 lialf moon. Gekl hogs, steers, rams and kids when 

 the moon is waning. Put eggs under the hen at 

 the new moon. Make ditches at full moon, in the 

 night-time. Bank up the roots of trees at full 

 moon. In damp hind sow seed at the new moon 

 and in the four davs round that time. They also 

 recommend giving corn and leguminous grains an 

 airing and storing them away towards the end of the 

 moon, making seed-plots when the moon is above 

 the horizon, and treading out grapes when it is below 



391 



