wiiid. 



BOOK XVIIl. Lxxvii. 332-336 



help must be afforded to the undei-standing even of 

 persons unacquainted with the subject: the rule is 

 to examine the position of the sun at noon, as that 

 is ahvays the same, whereas the sunrise is at a 

 different point in the sky everv day from where it 

 was yesterday, so nobody must suppose that the right 

 plan is to take a line on sunrise. 



Having thus worked out a part of the heavens, 

 the end of the Hne next to north on the east side of 

 it will give the point of sunrise at the summer solstice, 

 that is on the longest day, and the position of the 

 north-east " wind, the Greek name for which is Boreas. \<'rth-east 

 You should plant trees and vines facing this j)oinl ; 

 but bcware of pkiugliing or sowing corn or scattcr- 

 ing seed wlien this wind is blowing, for it nips and 

 chills the roots of trees that you will bring to plant. 

 Be taught in advance : some conditions are good for 

 strong fuU-grown trees and others for sapUngs. (Nor 

 have I forgotten that the Greeks pkice in this quarter 

 the wind they call Caecias ; but Aristotle, a man of 

 immense acuteness, who took that very view, also 

 gives the earth's convexity as the reason why the 

 north-east wind blows in the opposite direction to the 

 African wind.) And nevertheless the farnier need 

 not fear a north-east wind all the year round in the 

 operations mentioned above ; at midsummer it is 

 softened by the sun, and changes its name — it is 

 called Etesias. Consequently be on your guard 

 when you feel the wind cold, and when a north- 

 easter is forecast, as it does so much more damage 

 than a wind due north. North-east is the direction 

 in which the trees and vines should face in Asia, 

 Greece, Spain, the coastal parts of Italy, Campania 

 and ApuHa. Breeders who dcsire to get male stock 



399 



