BOOK II. X. 16-18 



iugerum of ground. To keep it from being destroyed 

 by weevils — for they eat it even when it is in the pod 

 — care must be taken that, as soon as it is threshed 

 out, it be sunk in water, and that the sound grains 

 be separated from the empty, which come at once to 

 the surface ; then that it be dried in the sun, sprinkled 

 and rubbed -svith the bruised root of silphium "^ mixed 

 with vinegar, and again dried in the sun ; and 

 presently, after cooling, that it be stored away — in 

 the bin if the amount is rather large, or in olive jars 

 and salt-fish jars if there is not much of it. If these 

 are sealed with gypsum immediately upon being 

 filled, we shall find the lentil sound whenever we take 

 it out for use. Still, it can be kept satisfactorily with- 

 out such treatment if mixed with ashes. 



Flax-seed should not be so^vTl unless it yields a heavy 17 

 crop and brings a good price in the region where you 

 farm ; for it is particularly hurtful to land. For this 

 reason it requires a soil which is very rich and 

 moderately moist. It is sown from the first of 

 October to the rising of Aquila, which falls on the 

 seventh day before the Ides of December.* A 

 iugerum of land is sown Avith eight modii of it. Some 

 hold that it should be so\^Tl in poor land, and very 

 thickly, so that the flax may grow with a more 

 slender stem. The same people also say that if it is 

 sown in rich ground in February, ten modii should be 

 broadcast to the iugerum. 



Sesame"^ is to be sown earlier on well-watered 18 

 ground, and from the autumnal equinox to the Ides 



> Dec. 7tb, 



* Perhaps to be identified with the gingili- or gingelly- 

 plant. 



167 



