BOOK III. IV. 2-V. 2 



mum time within which the quality of the cuttings can 

 certainly show itself; though, as I have said, it has 

 always been of the greatest importance to set out 

 stock of carefully selected origin. Next after this 3 

 he should remember to make a careful choice of a 

 site for his vineyards ; and when he has come to a 

 decision on this point he should know that the greatest 

 pains must be employed in trenching the ground. 

 After he has finished the trenching he should use no 

 less care in the planting of the vine, and after the 

 planting he should attend with greatest diligence 

 to the matter of cultivation ; for this is, so to speak, 

 the chief and cro\\Tiing point of the investment, 

 since on it rests the decision as to whether it has 

 been better or worse for the proprietor to commit 

 his money to the soil rather than to employ it in 

 idleness. Therefore I shall discuss in their proper 

 order each of those matters which I have proposed. 



V. A vine-nursery should be established in ground 

 that is neither hungry nor wet, but moist and of 

 medium quality rather than fat ; though nearly all 

 authorities have designated a very fertile soil for 

 this purpose. This I consider as not at all to the 

 advantage of the husbandman ; for even though 

 the cuttings quickly take root and shoot up when 

 planted in strong soil, yet if transferred to poorer 

 soil when they become quicksets, they wither and 

 cannot grow to maturity. Moreover, it is the mark 2 

 of a wise husbandman to transplant from poorer 

 ground to better rather than from better to poorer. 

 For this reason an intermediate quality is most ap- 

 proved in the choice of a site, because it stands on 

 the border line between good and bad. For if 

 necessity afterwards demands the setting of the 



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