BOOK 11. XI. 6-9 



to grow among his crops, for it detracts greatly from 

 the yield if weeding is neglected. And it is no mark 7 

 of a wise husbandman to be more concerned with 

 fodder for cattle than with food for man, especially 

 when he may obtain the former as well by cultivation 

 of his meadows. I am so strongly in favour of hoeing 

 beans as to think that they should actually be hoed 

 three times. For Ave find that when cultivated in 

 this way they not only multiply their yield but also 

 have but little pod in proportion, and that a measure 

 of them when shelled and cleaned is almost as full 

 as before they were shelled, as the amount is scarcely 

 diminished by the removal of the outer coverings. 

 And in general, as we have said before, winter hoeing 8 

 is of very great benefit on clear and dry days after the 

 solstice is past, in the month of January, if there are 

 no frosts. It should be done, besides, in such a way 

 that the roots of the plants will not be damaged, but 

 rather covered over and hilled up, so that the offshoots 

 of the main stem may spread out farther. It will be 

 beneficial to do this at the first hoeing, but harmful 

 at the second, because grain rots if it is covered after 

 it has ceased to send out shoots. Therefore nothing 9 

 more should be done at the second hoeing than to 

 loosen the ground evenly ; and this should be done 

 immediately after the vernal equinox is past, within 

 twenty days, before the plant forms a joint, for when 

 it is hoed later it is destroyed by the dry weather and 

 heat of the ensuing summer. To the hoeing must be 

 added the weeding, and we must take care not to 

 touch a grain-field when it is in bloom, but either 

 beforehand or soon after the blossoms have fallen. 



^^ antea R plerique, edd. ante Lundstrom. 



185 



