BOOK II. X. 6-9 



manure to the iugerum and spread it; and just as 

 before, when we have scattered the seed on the 

 unbroken ground, we shall plough it in, form ridges, 

 and harrow, though there are some who say that 

 beans should not be harrowed in cold regions because 

 the projecting clods shelter them from the frosts 

 while they are still yoimg and provide some warmth 

 when they are suffering from the cold. There are 7 

 people, too, who think that in cultivated land this 

 same plant takes the place of manure" — a belief which 

 I take as meaning, not that the ground is enriched 

 by the sowing of it, but that it uses up the strength 

 of the soil less than other crops. For I am con- 

 vinced that land which has borne no crop is better 

 suited for grain than one which bore a crop of this 

 legume the preceding year. A iugerum of land 8 

 requires four viodii of beans, as Tremelius thinks, 

 but six, in my opinion, if the ground is rich, and 

 somewhat more if it is just ordinary; and it does 

 not tolerate lean ground or a foggy situation, though 

 it often does well on heavy soil. It should be sown, 

 part at the middle of seed-time, and part at the end 

 — the sowing called " septimontial." * The early 

 sowing is more common, though the late one is some- 

 times better. There is little use in sowing it after the 9 

 winter solstice, and the very worst time is spring ; 

 although there is also a three-months bean which 

 may be sown in February, using one-fifth more than 

 for the early variety, but which yields scanty straw 



solstice; c/. Varro, L.L. VI. 34, and Palladius, XIII (Dec. 1). 

 The festival celebrated, not the union of the Seven Hills of 

 complete Rome, but a much earlier union of the three spurs 

 of the Palatine, the three spurs of the Esquiline, and the 

 lower ground of the Subura. 



i6i 



