BOOK I, PREFACE 24-27 



better; in some countries, as in Africa and Numidia, 

 a crumbling, sandy soil surpasses in fertility even 

 the strongest land ; while in Asia and Mysia <* a stiff 

 and viscoxis soil is especially productive) ? Of how 25 

 many is it the lot to have an understanding in the 

 matter of these soils, as to what crop a hillside will 

 refuse to yield, what a level situation, what a culti- 

 vated land, what a wooded land, what a land that is 

 moist and grassy or diT and blasted ; to discern also 

 the method of planting and tending trees and vine- 

 yards, of which there are endless varieties ; and of 

 acquiring and keeping cattle, since we have admitted 

 this as a part of agriculture, though the herdsman's 

 art is distinct from husbandry ? And yet even 26 

 this is not of one pattern ; for a stud of horses 

 requires one kind of management ; a herd of cattle 

 another ; a flock of sheep still another, and of these 

 the Tarentine breed* demands a different method 

 from the coarse-wooled ; a still different treatment is 

 required by the goat kind, and of these the hornless 

 and thin-haired are cared for in one way, the horned 

 and shaggy-haired, as in Cilicia,*^ in another way. 

 Moreover, the business of the swne-breeder and 

 swineherd is different, their method of feeding is 

 different ; nor do light-coated and heavv-coated swine 

 require the same climate, rearing, and care. And, 27 

 to take mv leave of cattle, as a part of which the 

 cai-e of farmyard poultry and bees is reckoned, who 

 has extended his studies so far as to be acquainted, 

 in addition to the points which I have enumerated, 

 with the many methods of grafting and pruning ? to 

 put in practice the cultivation of the many fruits 

 and vegetables ? to devote his attention to the many 



* In the south-eastern part of Asia Minor. 



21 



