BOOK II. XVI. 4-.v\-ii. 2 



there, the latter that it may not immediatelv pour it 

 off in a torrent. However, if the ground has a gentle 

 slope and is either rich or moist, a meadow may be 

 laid down. But the place most approved is an even 5 

 surface which, having a slight slope, does not allow 

 rain or inflowing rivulets to stand too long ; but when 

 any moisture reaches it, it gradually drains off. And 

 so if there is in any part of it a low and boggy place 

 where water stands, it must be drained with ditches ; 

 for an oversupply and an undersupply of water are 

 equally destructive to grass. 



XVII. The keeping up of meadows is, moreover, 

 a matter of care rather than of labour. In the first 

 place, we must not allow shrubs or thorn bushes or 

 Aveeds of rather vigorous growth to remain in them, 

 but before winter and throughout autumn we must 

 root out some of them, such as bramble-bushes, 

 thickets, and rushes, and pull up others like endive 

 and midsummer thorns ; and we should not permit 

 swine to feed on them, as they root them up with their 

 snouts and tear up the sod, nor larger animals except 

 when the ground is very dry, because their hoofs, 

 sinking into the wet ground, bruise and cut the grass 

 roots. Then also the more rugged and elevated 2 

 sections should be enriched with manure in the month 

 of February, while the moon is waxing ; and all stones 

 and any harmful objects that may lie in the way of the 

 sickle should be gathered up and carried some 

 distance away, and then, sooner or later, according 

 to the nattu-e of the place, the meadows should be let 

 alone to grow to hay. There are also some meadows 

 covered with the mould of long neglect, and the old- 



• naperiora R pauci : aspriora SA, Lundstrom : macriora 

 R aliquot, et vulgo. 



207 



