BOOK V. V. 1-4 



yards are planted. Inquiry, however, must first be 

 made into the excellence of the soil ; for if the plants 

 are going to be set in hungry and poor land, planting- 

 holes or furrows must be made just before the time of 

 planting. If they are made a year before the vine- 

 yard is planted, it is quite enough for the planting- 

 hole to be dug three feet in length and depth, but 

 two feet in width ; or, if we are going to leave four 

 feet between the rows, it is generally reckoned more 

 convenient to give the planting-hole the same 

 measurement in every dimension without, however, 

 sinking them to a greater depth than three feet. 

 Each plant, then, will be applied to the four corners 

 after fine soil has been put into the bottom of the 

 planting-holes, which will then be filled in. 



As to the spaces between the rows we have this 

 much advice to offer, that farmers should understand 

 that, if they intend to cultivate their vineyards with 

 the plough, wider intervals must be left, but they can 

 be narrower if hoes " are used ; but they should never 

 be wider than ten feet or narrower than four. Many 

 people, however, arrange the rows so as to leave two 

 or at most three feet in a straight line between the 

 plants, while on the other hand they make the 

 transverse spaces wider, so that the digger or plough- 

 man may pass freely. 



The precautions taken in planting ought not to 

 differ from those which I directed in my Third Book.* 

 Mago, the Carthaginian, however, makes one 

 addition to this system of planting, namely, that the 

 plants should be put into the ground in such a way 

 that the whole plant-hole is not immediately filled 

 with soil but about half of it is gradually levelled up 

 in the two following years ; for he thinks that in this 



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