Delphi Complete Works of Varro

by Marcus Terentius Varro

  [4] Scrofa gave the following advice from the same author: “ ‘Wherever there is wet ground, poplar cuttings and a reed thicket should be planted. The ground should first be turned with the mattock and then the eyes of the reed should be planted three feet apart; . . . the same cultivation is adapted pretty much to each. The Greek willow should be planted along the border of the thicket, so that you may have withes for tying up vines.

  [25.1] ‘Soil for laying out a vineyard should be chosen by the following rules: In soil which is best adapted for grapes and which is exposed to the sun the small Aminnian, the double eugeneum, and the small parti-coloured should be planted; in soil that is heavy or more subject to fogs the large Aminnian, the Murgentian, the Apician, and the Lucanian. The other varieties, and especially the hybrids, grow well anywhere.’

  [26.1] “In every vineyard they are careful to see that the vine is protected toward the north by the prop; and if they plant live cypresses to serve as props they plant them in alternate rows, yet do not allow the rows to grow higher than the props, and are careful not to plant vines near them, because they are hostile to each other.”

  “I am afraid,” remarked Agrius to Fundanius, “that the sacristan will com back before our friend comes to the fourth act; for I am awaiting the vintage.” “Be of good cheer,” replied Scrofa, “and get ready the baskets and jar.”

  [27.1] “And since we have two measures of time, one annual which the sun bounds by its circuit, the other monthly which the moon embraces as it circles, I shall speak first of the sun. Its annual course is divided first into four periods of about three months each up to its completion, and more narrowly into eight periods of a month and a half each; the fourfold division embraces spring, summon, autumn, and winter. [2] For the spring plantings the untilled ground should be broken up so that the weeds which have sprung from it may be rooted up before any seed falls from them; and at the same time, when the clods have been thoroughly dried by the sun, to make them more accessible to the rain and easier to work when they have been thus broken up; and there should be not less than two ploughings, and preferably three. [3] In summer the grain should be gathered, and in autumn, when the weather is dry, the grapes; and this is the best time for the woods to be cleared, the trees being cut close to the ground, while the roots should be dug out at the time of the early rains, so that they cannot sprout again. In winter trees should be pruned, provided it is done when the bark is free from the chill of rain and ice.

  [28.1] “The first day of spring occurs [when the sun is] in Aquarius, that of summer when it is in Taurus, of autumn when it is in Leo, of winter when it is in Scorpio. As the twenty-third day of each one of these four signs is the first day of the four seasons, this makes spring contain 91 days, summer 94, autumn 91, winter 89, which numbers, reduced to the official calendar now in force, fix the beginning of spring on February 7, of summer on May 9, of autumn on August 11, of winter on November 10. [2] But in the more exact divisions certain things are to be taken into account, which cause an eightfold division: the first from the rising of the west wind to the vernal equinox, 45 days, thence to the rising of the Pleiades 44 days, thence to the solstice 48 days, thence to the rising of the Dog Star 27 days, thence to the autumnal equinox 67 days, from there to the setting of the Pleiades 32 days, hence to the winter solstice 57 days, and back to the rising of the west wind 45 days.

  [29.1] “These are things which should be done in the first period, from the rising of the west wind to the vernal equinox: — All kinds of nurseries should be set out, orchards pruned, meadows manured, vines trenched and outcropping roots removed, meadows cleared, willow beds planted, grain-land weeded. The word seges is used of ploughed land which has been sowed, arvum of ploughed land not yet sowed, novalis of land where there has been a crop before it is “renewed” (novatur) by a second ploughing. [2] When they plough the first time they say they are ‘breaking up,’ the second time that they are ‘breaking down,’ because at the first ploughing large clods are usually turned up, and when the ploughing is repeated they call it ‘breaking down.’ When they plough the third time, after the seed has been broadcast, the oxen are said to ‘ridge’; that is, with mould boards attached to the ploughshare they both cover the broadcast seed in ridges, and at the same time cut ditches to let the rain-water drain off. Some farmers, who have fields which are not very large, as in Apulia and farms of that kind, have the custom later on of breaking up with hoes any large clods which have been left on the ridges. [3] Where the plough makes a hollow or channel with the share, it is called a ‘furrow.’ The space between two furrows, the raised dirt, is called porca, because that part of the field presents (porricit) the grain; so they also used to employ the word porricere when they offered the entrails to the gods.

  [30.1] “In the second period, between the vernal equinox and the rising of the Pleiades, these operations should be carried out: — Crops should be weeded, that is, the grass cleared from the crops, oxen should break up the ground, willows should be cut, and meadows fenced. What should have been done in the former period but was not completed should be done before the plants begin to bud and flower, because if those which are deciduous once begin to frond, they are at once unsuited for planting. Olives should be planted and pruned.

  [31.1] “In the third period, between the rising of the Pleiades and the solstice, these operations should be carried out: — Digging or ploughing the young vines and then forking them, that is, breaking the ground so that there will be no clods. This is called occare because they crush (occidunt) the ground. The vines should be thinned (for that is better than pruning), but by an expert, and this should be done not in the orchard but in the vineyard. [2] Thinning consists in leaving the first and second, sometimes even the third of the strongest shoots with spring from the stock and picking off the rest, lest the stock be not strong enough to furnish sap to the shoots if all are left. For that reason, in the vine-nursery when the vine first comes out, it is the practice for the whole to be cut back, so that it may come from the ground with a sturdier stock and have greater strength in sending out shoots. [3] For a slender stock, on account of weakness, is sterile and cannot put out the vine, which, when it is smaller, they call flagellum, while the larger from which the grapes spring they call palma. The first word by the change of one letter is derived from flatus, the blowing of the wind, so that they call it flagellum instead of flabellum. The second word seems at first to have been called parilema, from parere, to bear, because the shoot is sent out to bear grapes; [4] thence, by change of letters, as in many words, it got to be called palma. On the other side, it bears a tendril; this is a vine twig twisted like a curl. It is by means of these tendrils that the vine holds the support on which it creeps to grasp a place, from which grasping (capere) it is called capreolus. All fodder crops should be cut, first clover, mixed fodder, and vetch, and last hay. Ocinum is derived, as is the garden clover (ocimum), from the Greek word ὠκέως, which means ‘quickly.’ It is called ocinum for the further reason that it moves (citat) the bowels of cattle, and is fed to them on that account, as a purgative. It is cut green from the bean crop before it forms pods. [5] Farrago, on the other hand, is so called from a crop where a mixture of barley, vetch, and legumes has been sowed for green feed, either because it is cut with the steel (ferrum, ferrago) or for the reason that it was first sowed in a spelt (far) field. It is with this that horses and other animals are purged and fattened in the spring. Vetch is so called from vincire, to bind, because it also has tendrils as the vine has, with which, when it creeps up to cling to the stalk of the lupine or some other plant, it usually binds (vincit) it. If you have meadows to be irrigated, as soon as you have gathered the hay, irrigate them. During droughts water should be given every evening to the fruit trees that are grafted. It may be that they are called poma from the fact that they need drink (potus).

  [32.1] “In the fourth period, between the solstice and the Dog Star, most farmers harvest, because it is a saying that the grai
n is in the sheath for fifteen days, blooms for fifteen days, dries for fifteen days, and is then ripe. Ploughing should be completed, and it will be more valuable in proportion as it is done in warm ground; if you are ‘breaking up’ the ground it should be crushed, that is, gone over a second time so that the clods may be broken; for in the first ploughing large clods are cut from the ground. [2] You should sow vetch, lentils, small peas, pulse, and other plants, which some call legumes, and others, like some Gallic farmers, call legarica, both words being derived from legere, because these are not reaped, but are gathered by pulling. Hoe old vines a second time, young ones even a third time, if there are clods still left.

  [33.1] “In the fifth period, between the Dog Star and the autumnal equinox, the straw should be cut and stacks built, ploughed land harrowed, leaf-fodder gathered, and irrigated meadows mowed a second time.

  [34.1] “In the sixth period, from the autumnal equinox, the authorities state that sowing should begin and continue up to the ninety-first day. After the winter solstice, unless necessity requires, there should be no sowing — a point of such importance that seeds which, when planted before the solstice, sprout in seven days, hardly sprout in forty if sowed after the solstice. And they hold that sowing should not begin before the equinox, because, if unfavourable seasons follow, the seeds usually rot. Beans are sowed to best advantage at the time of the setting of the Pleiades: [2] while the gathering of the grapes and the making of the vintage falls between the autumnal equinox and the setting of the Pleiades; then the pruning and layering of vines and the planting of fruit trees should begin. In some localities, where severe frosts come earlier, these operations are best carried on in spring.

  [35.1] “In the seventh period, between the setting of the Pleiades and the winter solstice, they say that these operations should be carried out: — Planting of lilies and crocus. A rose which has already formed a root is cut from the root up into twigs a palm-breadth long and planted; later on the same twig is transplanted when it has made a living root. It is not profitable to plant violet beds on a farm for the reason that beds must be formed by heaping up the soil, and irrigation and heavy rains wash these away and thus make the ground poorer. [2] From the beginning of the west wind to the rising of Arcturus, it is proper to transplant from the nursery wild thyme, which gets its name (serpillum) from the fact that it ‘creeps’ (serpit). Dig new ditches, clear old ones, prune vineyards and orchards, provided you do not do this, or in fact most things, during the fifteen days preceding and following the solstice. And yet some trees, such as the elm, are properly planted at that time.

  [36.1] “In the eighth period, between the solstice and the beginning of the west wind, these operations should be carried out: — Any water in the grain lands should be drained, but if there is a drought and the land is friable, harrow. Prune vineyards and orchards. When work cannot be carried out on the land, indoor tasks should be completed then in the early winter mornings. You should keep the rules I have laid down written and posted in the farmstead, in order that the overseer particularly may know them.

  [37.1] “The lunar periods also must be taken into account; these are roughly twofold, as the moon waxes from the new to the full and then wanes again toward the new, until it reaches the intermenstruum, or time ‘between two months,’ on which day the moon is said to be ‘last and first’; hence, at Athens they call this day ἕνην καὶ νέαν, or ‘old and new,’ while others call it τριακάδα, or the ‘thirtieth.’ Some operations should be carried out on the land during the waxing rather than the waning of the moon, while there are certain crops which you should gather in the opposite phase, such as grain and firewood.” [2] “I learned this rule from my father,” said Agrasius, “and I keep it not only in shearing my sheep but in cutting my hair, for fear that if I have it done when the moon is waxing I may become bald.” “After what method is the moon divided into quarters,” asked Agrius, “and what influence has that division on farming?” [3] “Have you never heard in the country,” replied Tremelius, “the expressions ‘eight days before the waxing of the moon,’ and ‘eight days before the waning of the moon,’ and that of the things which should be done when the moon is waxing some are nevertheless better done after this ‘eight days before the waxing’ than before it; and that the things which should be done when she is waning are better done the less light that heavenly body has? I have discussed the fourfold division in agriculture.”

  [4] “There is,” said Stolo, “a second, a sixfold-division of seasons of which may be said to bear a relation to the sun and moon, because almost every product comes to perfection in five stages and reaches jar and basket in the farmstead, and from these is brought forth for use in the sixth. The first stage is the preparation, the second the planting, the third the cultivation, the fourth the harvesting, the fifth the storing, the sixth the marketing. In the matter of preparation: for some crops you must make trenches or dig thoroughly or draw furrows, as when you wish to make an arbustum or an orchard; for others you must plough or spade, as when you starting a grain field; [5] for some the earth must be turned more or less deeply with the trenching spade. For some trees, such as the cypress, spread their roots less, and others, such as the plane, more; so much, indeed, that Theophrastus mentions a plane tree in the Lyceum at Athens which, even when it was quite young, had thrown out its roots to a spread of thirty-three cubits. Certain land, when you have broken it with oxen and plough, must be worked a second time before you broadcast the seed. Any preparation that is made in the matter of meadows consists in closing them from grazing, a practice which is usually observed from the time of the blooming of the pear trees; and if they are irrigated, in turning in the water at the proper time.

  [38.1] “We must observe what parts of the land must be manured, how the manure is to be applied, and the best kind to use; for there are several varieties. Cassius states that the best manure is that of birds, except marsh- and sea-fowl; and that the dung of pigeons is the best of these, because it has the most heat and causes the ground to ferment. This should be broadcast on the land like seed, and not placed in piles like cattle dung. [2] My own opinion is that the best dung is from aviaries of thrushes and blackbirds, as it is not only good for the land, but is excellent food both for cattle and swine, to fatten them. Hence those who lease aviaries with the owner’s stipulation that the dung shall remain on the place pay less rent than those who have the use of it. Cassius states that next to pigeon dung human excrement is the best, and in the third place goat, sheep, and ass dung; [3] that horse dung is least valuable, but good on grain land; for on meadows it is the most valuable of all, as is that of all draught animals which feed on barley, because it produces a quantity of grass. The farmer should make a dung-hill near the steading, so that the manure may be cleared out with the least labour. They say that if an oak stake is driven into the middle of it no serpent will breed there.

  [39.1] “The second step, that of planting, requires care as to the season of planting which is suited to the nature of each seed. For in a field it is important to note the exposure of every section, and also the season at which each plant grows best. Do we not observe that some blossom in spring, some in summer, and that the autumn growth is not the same as the winter? [2] Thus some plants are sown and grafted and harvested earlier or later than others; and while most are grafted in spring rather than in autumn, figs are grafted near the solstice, and cherries actually in mid-winter. [3] Now as seeds are, in general, of four kinds — those furnished by nature, those which are transplanted from one piece of ground to another as rooted slips, cuttings from trees planted in the ground, and grafts from tree to tree — you should observe what separate operation should be carried out at each season and in each locality.

  [40.1] “In the first place, the seed, which is the origin of growth, is of two kinds, one being invisible, the other visible. There are invisible seed, if, as the naturalist Anaxagoras holds, they are in the air, and if the water which flows on the land car
ries them, as Theophrastus writes. The seed which can be seen should be carefully watched by the farmer; for some seed, such as that of the cypress, though capable of generating, is so small that it can hardly be seen; (for the pods which it bears, that look like little balls of bark, are not the seeds but contain them). [2] The original seeds were given by nature, while the later were discovered in the experiments of the farmer. The first are those which, without the aid of the farmer, grow without being sown; the second are those which, derived from these, do not grow without being sown. In the case of the first, care should be taken to see that they are not dried out from age, and that they are clean and not mixed with seed of similar appearance. The age of the seed is of such importance in the case of some plants that it alters their nature; thus from the planting of old cabbage seeds it is said that rape grows, and on the other hand that cabbage grows from old rape seed. [3] In the case of the second class of seed, you should be careful not to transplant them too early or too late. The proper time is that given by Theophrastus — spring, autumn, and at the rising of the Dog Star — but the time is not the same for all localities and all species. In ground that is dry, thin, or clayey, spring is the proper season, because it is less humid; in good, rich land the autumn, because in spring it is very wet. Some authorities allow about thirty days for such planting. [4] In the third method, which consists in transferring shoots from a tree into the ground, if the shoot is buried in the earth, you must be careful, in the case of some, that the shoot be removed at the proper time — that is, before it shows any sign of budding or blossoming; and that what you transplant from the tree you tear from the stock rather than break off a limb, as the heel of a shoot is steadier, or the wider it is the more easily it puts out roots. They are thrust into the ground at once, before the sap dries out. In the case of olive cuttings, care must be taken that they be from a tender branch, sharpened evenly at both ends. Such cuttings, about a foot in length, are called by some clavolae, and by others taleae. [5] In the fourth method, which consists in running a shoot from one tree to another, the points to be observed are the nature of the tree, the season, and the method of fastening. You cannot, for instance, graft a pear on an oak, even though you can on an apple. This is a matter of importance to many people who pay considerable attention to the soothsayers; for these have a saying that when a tree has been grafted with several varieties, the one that attracts the lightning turns into as many bolts as there are varieties, though the stroke is a single one. No matter how good the pear shoot which you graft on a wild pear, the fruit will not be as well flavoured as if you graft it on a cultivated pear. [6] It is a general rule in grafting, if the shoot and the tree are of the same species, as, for instance, if both are of the apple family, that for the effect on the fruit the grafting should be of a such a nature that the shoot is of a better type than the tree on which it is grafted. There is a second method of grafting from tree to tree which has recently been developed, under conditions where the trees stand close to each other. From the tree from which you wish to take the shoot a small branch is run to the tree on which you wish to graft and is inserted in a branch of the latter which has been cut off and split; the part which fits into the branch having first been sharpened on both sides with the knife so that one side the part which will be exposed to the weather will have bark fitted accurately to bark. Care is taken to have the tip of the grafted shoot point straight up. The next year, after it has taken firm hold, it is cut off the parent stem.