BOOK II. IV. 9-v. I 



dryness of the region make it advisable, even in 

 February. Then between the middle of April and 

 the solstice they should be gone over a second time, 

 and a third time in September around the equinox ; 

 and a iugerum of such ground is prepared with the 

 same number of days labour as wet champaign 

 land. 



But especial care must be taken in the ploughing 10 

 always to run the furrow crosswise to the slope ; for 

 by this method the difficulty of the ascent is mitigated, 

 and the toil of man and beast is thereby lessened 

 most handily. Still, whenever it is reworked, the 

 furroAVs should be run somewhat obliquely, now uphill, 

 now downhill, so that we may tear up the ground in 

 both directions and not work it in the same track. 

 Lean land which lies level and is well watered 11 

 should be ploughed for the first time during the lat- 

 ter part of the month of August, then gone over again 

 a second time in September, and put in readiness for 

 sowing about the time of the equinox. In ground 

 of this sort, moreover, the work is easier, and for 

 this reason fewer days of labour are expended ; 

 for three days are sufficient for one iugerum. Lean 

 and sloping ground, likeAvise, is not to be ploughed 

 in summer, but around the Calends of September ; " 

 for if it is broken before this time, the earth, being 

 exhausted and destitute of moisture, is burned by 

 the summer sun and has no reserves of strength. 

 Therefore it is best to plough it between the 

 Calends and the Ides of September,^ and then to work 

 it again immediately, so that it may be sown during 

 the first rains of the equinox ; and such land is to be 

 sown, not in the ridges, but in the furrows. 



V. Still, before we give lean land its second 



135 



