BOOK XVIII. Lxxvi. 329-LX.wii. 332 



trees or vines ; and this wind in the four days of the 

 Pleiads is to be dreaded for the ohve, and avoided 

 for their shps bv thc grafter or for thcir biids by 

 those engagcd in budding. It may be suitable to give 

 some warnings as to thc times of day in this rcgion. 

 VV^oodman, do not prune foHage at midday. Shep- 

 herd, when vou perceive noon to be approaching as 

 the shadow contracts, drive your flocks out of the 

 sun into a shady place. When you arc pasturing 

 vour flocks in summer, let them face west in the fore- 

 noon and east in the afternoon ; otherwise it is 

 harmful, as it is in winter and spring to lead them 

 out into pasture wet mth dew [and it has been said " 

 above that you must not let them feed facing north], 

 as they go hime, and get blear-eyed from the wind, 

 and die of looseness of the bowels. You must make 

 the ewes face this ^vind when they are being covered, 

 if you want them to have ewe lambs. 



LXXVII. We have said that the umbilicus must Directions 

 be drawn at the middle of the Hne. Let another hne ammpas^ 

 run transverselv through the middle of the umbiHcus ; §3-'7. 

 this Hnc will run due east and wcst, and a path that 

 cuts across the land on this Hne will bc callcd the 

 ' decuman '. Then two other Hnes must be drawn 

 obHquely to form an X, so as to run down from the 

 right and left of the northern point to the left and 

 right of the southern point. All these Hnes must 

 run through the same umbiHcus, and they must all 

 be equal and the spaces between all of them must be 

 equal. This system will have to be worked out once 

 in each plot of land, or, if you mean to cmploy it 

 frequcntly, a wooden model of it may be made con- 

 sisting of rods of equal length fitted into a small but 

 circular drum. Under the method I am explaining 



397 



