BOOK III. 1. 6-9 



aware that the natui-e of the cHmate — cold or warm, 

 drv' or moist, subject to hail and wind or calm, clear 

 or foggy — is a more potent influence. To cold or 7 

 foggy conditions he will adapt two varieties of 

 vine, either the early ripe, whose fruits mature 

 before cold weather, or those with firm and hard 

 berries, whose clusters drop their blossoms during 

 the foggy season and are presently ripened by 

 freezing weather and frosts, as those of other grapes 

 are ripened by warmth. To a windy and unsettled 

 climate also he will boldly commit the same hardy 

 \dnes and those of the hard-berried variety. On 

 the other hand, he will entrust to a warm chmate 

 the more delicate and heavier-bearing sorts. For 

 a dry chmate he will select such as are rotted by 

 rains or continual dews ; for a de\\'y one, those that 

 suffer in dry weather; for one subject to hailstorms, 

 those that have tough and broad leaves for the 

 better protection of the fruit. A calm and clear- 

 skied region does not refuse to admit any kind of 

 vine, though most suitably one whose clusters or 

 berries fall quickly. 



But if your own wishes are to be considered in 8 

 the selection of site and climate for your \ineyards, 

 the best soil, as Celsus very rightly beUeves, is 

 neither too compact nor loose, but closer to the 

 loose type ; neither poor nor excessively rich, but 

 nearest to the fertile kind; neither flat nor steep, 

 but like plain-land with a rise ; neither diy nor 

 wet, but moderately moist ; one which does not 

 abound in springs, either on the sm*face or in the 

 depths of the earth, but which supplies the roots 

 with moisture close at hand— and that neither bitter 9 

 nor brackish, lest it spoil the flavour of the wine 



231 



