Chap. 3.] 
WHAT SOILS ARE BEST. 
449 
share which they use is narrow, and the furrows are but veiy 
superficial, there being a rock beneath the soil that in summer 
scorches up the seeds. 
Then, too, the effects of excessive cold and heat in various 
places are similar; thus, for instance, Thrace is fruitful in 
com, by reason of the cold, while Africa and Egypt are so in 
consequence of the heat that prevails there. At Chalcia,^^ an 
island belonging to the Ehodians, there is a certain place which 
is so remarkably fertile, that after reaping the barley that has 
been sown at the ordinary time, and gathering it in, they im- 
mediately sow a fresh crop, and reap it at the same time as the 
other corn. A gravelly soil is found best suited for the olive 
in the district of Yenafrum,^''^ while one of extreme richness is 
required for it in Eaetica. The wines of Pucinum*^ are ri- 
pened upon a rock, and the vines of Csecubum*^ are moistened 
by the waters of the Pomptine^° marshes ; so great are the dif- 
ferences that have been detected by human experience in the 
various soils. Csesar Yopiscus, when pleading a cause before 
the Censors, said that the fields of Eosia^^ are the very marrow 
of Italy, and that a stake, left in the ground there one day, 
would be found covered by the grass the next : the soil, how- 
ever, is only esteemed there for the purposes of pasturage. Still, 
however, JNTature has willed that we should not remain unin- 
structed, and has made full admission as to existing defects in 
soil, even in cases where she has failed to give us equal in- 
formation as to its good qualities : we shall begin, therefore, 
by speaking of the defects that are found in various soils. 
(5.) If it is the wish of a person to test whether a soil is 
bitter, or whether it is thin and meagre, the fact may be easily 
ascertained from the presence of black and undergrown herbs. 
If, again, the herbage shoots up dry and stunted, it shows that 
the soil is cold, and if sad and languid, that it is moist and 
slimy. The eye, too, is able to judge whether it is a red earth 
or whether it is argillaceous, both of them extremely difficult 
to work, and apt to load the harrow or ploughshare with 
*6 See B. V. c. 36. *7 See B. xv. c. 2. 
*8 See B. xiv. c. 8. 49 gge B. xiv. c. 8. 
50 '^.ee B. iii. c. 9. 5i gee B. iii. c. 17. 
52 Sumen. Properly, " udder/* A cow's udder was considered one of 
the choicest of delicacies by the Romans. 
53 This is, of course, an exaggeration. The stake must have been 
driven in very deep to disappear so speedily. 
VOL. III. e Gt 
