BOOK II. X. 21-24 



the rising of Arcturus, which means toward the end 

 of February, about the sixth or fifth day before the 

 Calends of March ; " and yet no harm \vill be done 

 in planting it up to the spring equinox if the weather 

 is rainy. 



After these legumes consideration must be given 22 

 to the navew and the turnip, as both of them are filling 

 food for country people. The turnips, however, ai-e 

 more profitable, because they yield a greater increase 

 and serve as food, not only for mankind, but also 

 for cattle, especially in Gaul, where this vegetable 

 provides winter fodder for the aforesaid animals. 

 Both require a loamy, loose soil, and do not grow 

 in heavy ground. Turnips, however, Uke level and 23 

 moist places, while the navew prefers ground that is 

 sloping and dry with more of a tendency to leanness ; 

 and so it grows better in gravelly and sandy lands. 

 The nature of the situation changes the seed of both : 

 thus, turnips sown in one soil are changed into navews 

 in two years' time, while in the other the navew like- 

 wise takes on the appearance of the turnip.'' In well- 

 watered situations both are properly sown after 

 the summer solstice, in dry places at the end of 

 August or the early part of September." They 

 demand a soil that is well prepared by repeated 

 working with the plough or mattock and generously 

 manured ; for this is of the greatest importance, not 24 

 only because they themselves make a better showing 

 but also because, after they are harvested, soil so 

 treated produces luxuriant crops of grain. One 



« Columella speaks also (XI. 3. 16 and 59) of a spring 

 sowing, in February, for a summer crop, though the sowing in 

 August was to be preferred. 



171 



