BOOK VIII 



I. We have now, Publius Silvinus, dealt in seven Of the 

 books with what practically constituted a complete tMs"nd 

 account of the science of gaining knowledge of the ^^ °° *'*'^ 

 land and all that was required for the business of 

 raising cattle. Our present book shall bear the 

 next number, eight, for its title, not that the subject 

 of which we are going to speak demands the close and 

 particular attention of the farmer, but because it 

 ought not to be undertaken except in the country and 

 on the farm, and brings benefit to country-folk rather 

 than to town-dwellers. For the keeping of animals 2 

 at the farm, as of cattle on the pasture, brings no 

 small profit to farmers, since they use the dung of 

 fowls to doctor the leanest vines and every kind of 

 young tree and every kind of soil, and with the fowls 

 themselves they enrich the family kitchen and table 

 by providing rich fare ; and, lastly, with the price 

 which they obtain by selling animals they increase 

 the revenue of the farm. Therefore I have thought 

 it fitting that I should speak also of the keeping of 

 this kind of animal. But it is generally carried on 

 either at the farm or in its neighbourhood. 



At the farm there are what the Greeks call opvL- 3 

 ^cDi^e? and TrepiGTepecbveg (poultry-houses and dove- 

 cotes), and also, where a supply of water is available, 

 lxdvorpo<f)eXa (fish-ponds), the management of which 

 requires unremitting care. All these, to use by 



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