BOOK II. X. 24-26 



iugerum of ground should be sown with not more than 

 four sextarii of turnip seed ; of the navew, one-fourth 

 more is to be scattered, because it does not widen 

 out into a globular shape but pushes its slender root 

 straight down. 



The above plantings are to be made, in our opinion, 

 for the sake of man, and then come several kinds of 

 cattle fodder, such as Medic clover," vetch, mixed 

 fodder of barley and oats, fenugreek, and also 

 bitter vetch and chick-pea; for we do not think it 

 worth while to enumerate the rest, and still less to 

 sow them, excepting only the cytisus [shrub-clover] 

 of which we shall speak in those books ^ which we have 

 in writing on the various kinds of young shoots. But 

 of those which find favour the Medic plant is out- 

 standing for several reasons : one seeding affords, for 

 all of ten years thereafter, four harvestings regularly 

 and sometimes six ; it improves the soil ; lean cattle 

 of every kind grow fat on it ; it has medicinal value for 

 an ailing beast ; and one iugerum of it provides 

 abundant fodder for three horses for an entire year. 

 It is sown as we shall next direct. In the place where 

 you are to sow Medic the following spring, break the 

 ground about the first of October and allow it to 

 mellow during the entire winter ; then, at the begin- 

 ning of February, work it again carefully, remove 

 all stones, and break up the clods ; after that, some- 

 time in the month of March, plough it a third time 

 and harrow it. When you have prepared the ground 

 in this fashion, make divisions as you would in a 



time of the Persian Wars with King Darius (Pliny, N.H. 

 XVIII. 144). 



* The cultivation of cytisus is discussed in V. 12 and De 

 Arb. 28; it is tree-medick. 



173 



