BOOK 11. XIX. i-xx. 2 



XIX. The threshing-floor, too, if it is of earth, to be 

 satisfactorily prepared for threshing should first be 

 scraped, then dug thoroughly, with an admixture of 

 chaff and oil lees which have not been salted, and 

 moistened; for such treatment protects the grain 

 from the ravages of mice and ants. Then, after 

 being smoothed down, it should be packed hard 

 with rammers or with a millstone, and, again strewn 

 with chaff, it should be tramped down and left in 

 this condition to be dried by the sun. There are 

 people, however, who set aside for the threshing a 

 piece of meadow land which is exposed to the west 

 wind, and smooth off a threshing-place by cutting 

 beans and throwing them on it ; for while the 

 legumes are being trampled out by the cattle the 

 vegetation also is worn away by their hoofs, and 

 in this way the place becomes bare and makes a 

 suitable threshing-floor for grain. 



XX. But when the grain is ripe it should be quickly 

 harvested befoi-e it can be parched by the heat of the 

 summer sun, which is most severe at the rising of the 

 Dog-star ; " for delay is costly — in the first place be- 

 cause it affords plunder for birds and other creatures, 

 and, secondly, because the kernels and even the heads 

 themselves quickly fall as the stalks and beards 

 wither. And if wind-storms or cyclones strike it, 

 the greater part of it is lost on the ground ; for 

 which reason there should be no delay, but when the 

 crop is even golden yellow, before the grains have 

 entirely hardened and after they have taken on a 

 reddish colour, the harvest should be gathered, so 



" XL 2. 53, Septimo Kal. Augustas (= July 2t>) Cankula 

 ajiparet. 



