BOOK III. XIII. 1-4 



XIII. Now the method of doing this must be 

 handed down, not only to future husbandmen of the 

 Italian race, but also to those from the provinces ; for 

 in countries that are far distant and quite remote 

 this particular way of turning and subduing a field is 

 very little practised, but the vines are set for the most 

 part either in planting-holes or in furrows. Those, 2 

 moreover, whose habit it is to set the vine in planting- 

 holes, after excavating the earth for about three feet 

 in length and two in depth — to as great a width as that 

 of the iron spade permits, lay the shoots on both sides 

 along the walls of the ditches and bend them to stand 

 erect at the opposite ends of the holes ; and then, 

 allowing two eyes to project above ground, they 

 replace the earth about it and level off the rest. This 

 they do in the same line, leaving undug skips of the 

 same number of feet, until they come to the end of 

 the row. Then leaving a space, according to each 3 

 man's habit of cultivating with either plough or two- 

 pronged mattock, they set the next row. And if the 

 earth is merely turned by a spade-man, the minimum 

 distance between roAvs is five feet, and seven is the 

 maximum; but if with oxen and plough, the mini- 

 mum is seven feet, while ten is large enough. Yet 4 

 some set all their vines at ten-foot intervals, in the form 

 of a quincunx," so that the ground may be broken up 

 by diagonal and cross ploughing in the manner of 

 fallow land. This sort of vineyard is not to the advan- 

 tage of the farmer except where, in very fertile soil, 

 the vine is of large gro\\i;h. But those who dread the 

 expense of trenching the ground, and yet wish to 



" An arrangement in blocks of five, like the cinque on a 

 die. In this way any five in the same position form a square, 

 with the fifth in the centre. See Chap. 15, sees. 1-2, below. 



