Part 8 (1/2)

Work the old vines a second time and the young ones thrice, especially if there are any clods left.

5 _July 21-September 26_

x.x.xIII. During the fifth season between the rising of the Dog Star and the autumn equinox thresh your straw and rick it, continue the harrowing of your fallow land, prune your fruit trees, and mow your irrigated meadow the second time.

6 _September 26-October 28_

x.x.xIV. The authorities advise you to begin to sow at the commencement of the sixth season immediately after the autumn equinox and to keep it up for the following 91 days, but not to attempt to sow any thing after the winter solstice, unless it is absolutely necessary, because seed sown before the winter solstice germinates in seven days, while that sown later hardly ever sprouts for 40 days.

In like manner the authorities say that you should not begin your sowing before the equinox, lest continued rains cause the seed to rot in the ground. The best time to plant beans is at the setting of the Pleiades, but gather the grapes and make the vintage between the equinox and the setting of the Pleiades. Immediately afterward begin to prune the vines, to propagate them and plant fruit trees, but in those regions where the frost comes early it is better to postpone these operations until the following spring.

7 _October 28-December 24._

x.x.xV. These are the things to do during the seventh season between the setting of the Pleiades and the winter solstice. Plant lilies and crocuses and propagate roses, which may be done by making cuttings about three inches in length from a stem already rooted, set these out and later, after they have formed their own roots, transplant them.

The cultivation of violets has no place on a farm because they require elevated beds for which the soil is sc.r.a.ped up and these are damaged or even washed away by heavy rains, thus wasting the fertility of the land. At any time of the year between the rising of the west wind and the rising of Arcturus (February-September) it is proper to transplant from the seed beds thyme, an herb, which owes its name, _serpyllum_, to its creeping habit (_quod serpit_). This is the season also to dig new ditches, clean the old ones, and to prune the trees in the arbustum and the vines which are married to them, but be careful that you suspend most of your work during the fifteen days before and after the winter solstice: it is fitting, however, to set out some trees during this period, as, for example, elms.

8 _December 24-February 7_

x.x.xVI. These are the things to do during the eighth season between the winter solstice and the rising of the west wind. Drain the fields, if any water is standing on them, but if they are dry and the land is friable, harrow them. Prune the vines and the orchard. When it is not fitting to work in the fields then those things should be done which can be done under cover during the winter twilight.

All these rules should be written out and posted in the farmstead and the overseer especially should have them at the tip of his tongue.

_Of the influence of the moon on agriculture_

x.x.xVII. The lunar seasons also must be considered. They are divided into two terms, that from the new moon to the full, and that from the full moon to the next moon, or until that day which we call _intermenstruus_, or the last and the first of a moon, whence at Athens this day is called [Greek: henae kai nea] (the old and the new), though the other Greeks call it [Greek: triakas] the thirtieth day. Some agricultural operations may be undertaken with more advantage during the increase of the moon, others during the decrease,[88] as, for example, the harvest or cutting of wood.”

”I observe a practice which I learned from my father,” said Agrasius, ”not only never to shear my sheep, but not even to have my own hair cut on the decrease of the moon, for fear that I might become bald.”

”What are the quarters of the moon,” said Agrius, ”and what bearing have they on agriculture?”

”Have you never heard in the country,” said Tremelius, ”the lore about the influence of Jana (Diana) on the eighth day before her waxing, and again on the eighth day before her waning; how certain things which ought to be done during the increase can be done to better advantage in the second quarter than the first, and that what ever is fitting to do on the wane of the moon can be better done when her light is less?

This is all I know about the effect of the four quarters of the moon upon agriculture.”