BOOK III. Mil. 4-7 



imitate that trenching in some measure, run straight 

 furrows to a width of six feet, leaving alternate 

 strips of equal ^\•idth ; then they dig the furrows 

 and deepen them to three feet, and place the vines 

 or shoots along the sides of the hollows. Some, 5 

 with greater sa\ing of expense, make a furrow two and 

 three-fourths feet deep and five feet wide ; then, 

 leaving three times as much unbroken ground, they 

 cut the next furrow. When they have done this 

 throughout the whole plot set aside for vines, they set 

 upright in the sides of the furrows either quicksets 

 or young vine-branches as freshly cut as possible, 

 putting in among the plants set in the regular rows 

 a great number of cuttings which, after they have 

 gained strength, they may propagate in cross-trenches 

 in the groimd which was left unbroken, and so ar- 

 range their vineyards in rows at equal distances. 

 But these methods of planting vineyards, as we have 

 given them, are ours to employ or reject according 

 to the nature and favourableness of each region. 



It is now my intention to hand down the method 6 

 of trenching a piece of ground. And first of all, 

 when we have marked out a site for vineyards, 

 whether it be a plantation of trees or natural wood- 

 land, every bush and tree should be rooted out and 

 removed, so as not to be a hindrance to the digger 

 thereafter, and that the ground already trenched 

 may not be pressed do'w'n by heavy masses lying upon 

 it and trodden doA^Ti by the coming and going of those 

 who carry off the branches and tree trunks. For it is of 7 

 no little importance that trenched ground be in a very 

 loose state and, if possible, not \'iolated even by a foot- 

 print ; so that the earth, being evenly stirred, may 

 give way gently to the roots of the young plant in 



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