BOOK II. xvm. 1-3 



it begins to wither, as a greater quantity of it is har- 

 vested and it affords a more agreeable food for cattle. 

 But a middle course should be followed in the curing, 

 that it be gathered neither when very dry nor, on the 

 other hand, while still green— in the one case because 

 it is no better than straw if it has lost all its sap, and in 

 the other because, if it has kept too much of it, it rots 

 in the loft and often, when it becomes heated, it 

 breeds fire and starts a blaze. Sometimes, too, when 

 we have cut our hay a rain surprises us ; and if the hay 

 is soaked through it is useless to move it while wet, 

 but better to let the upper side of it dry out in the 

 sun. Only then shall we turn it, and, when it is dry on 2 

 both sides, we shall bring it together in windrows 

 and then bind it up in bundles. And above all we 

 shall lose no time in putting it under cover ; or, if it is 

 not convenient for the hay to be carried to the farm- 

 stead or tied into bundles, it will be well at any rate 

 that all of it that had been dried out to the proper 

 extent be built up into cocks and that these be topped 

 off with very sharp peaks. For by this method hay 3 

 is very conveniently protected from rains ; and even 

 if there is no rain, it is still not amiss to build the afore- 

 said cocks, so that any moisture remaining in the hay 

 may sweat and dry out in the piles. For this reason 

 wise husbandmen, even in the case of hay brought 

 under cover, do not store it away until they have 

 allowed it to heat and cool for a few days in a loose 

 pile. But now after the haymaking comes attention 

 to the grain harvest ; and that we may properly gather 

 it, we must first put in readiness the implements with 

 which the crops are harvested. 



^ exsudet atque om. 8 A. 



213 



