Columella, De Re Rustica

ToposText · Columella · 675 sections

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§ 2.15.3 And there is no doubt that wet land requires a greater quantity of it, and dry land less — the one because, being chilled by constant moisture, it is warmed when manure is applied, and the other because, being naturally warm, it is parched by the increased aridity when this is added; for which reason such dressing should be neither deficient nor over-sufficient.
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§ 2.15.4 If, however, no kind of manure is available, it will be very helpful to follow the practice which I remember my uncle, Marcus Columella, a very learned and painstaking farmer, frequently employed: that is, to heap clay on gravelly ground, and gravel on ground that was clayey and too stiff, and in this way to grow not only luxuriant crops of grain but also very fine vineyards.
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§ 2.15.5 For this same authority used to say that dung should not be applied to vines, because it spoiled the flavour of the wine; and he thought that a better dressing for making a heavy vintage was humus, either that which accumulates around bramble-thickets, or in fact any earth obtained elsewhere and brought in. But my opinion nowadays is that if the farmer is destitute of everything, at any rate there is no lack of lupine, that very ready aid; and if he will scatter this on lean ground about the middle of September, plough it in, and at the proper time cut it up with the ploughshare or the mattock, it will have the effect of the best manure.
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§ 2.15.6 The lupine should be cut, moreover, in gravelly ground when it is in the second flower, and in sticky soils when it is in its third. In the former case it is turned under while it is tender, so that it may rot quickly and be mixed with the thin soil; in the latter case when it has grown stronger, so that it may hold up the more solid clods longer and keep them suspended, to be broken down when heated by the summer sun.
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§ 2.16.1 These things the ploughman will be able to accomplish if he makes provision not only for the varieties of forage crops which I have mentioned, but also for a supply of hay for the better maintenance of his cattle, without which it is difficult to work the land to advantage; and on that account the tending of a meadow is also required of him. To the meadow the ancient Romans assigned the leading role in agriculture,
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§ 2.16.2 and to it also they gave its name (pratum) from the fact that it was immediately “ready” (paratum) and did not require a great amount of toil. Marcus Porcius, indeed, called to mind also the following considerations: that it is not damaged by storms like the other divisions of the farm, and that, though needing very little outlay, it yields a return year after year — and that not a single return, because it pays no less in pasturage than in hay.
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§ 2.16.3 We take notice, then, of two kinds of meadows, the dry and the watered. In level ground that is rich and fat there is no need of an inflowing stream, and hay which grows naturally on a moist soil is considered superior to that enticed by irrigation; though such watering is necessary if the leanness of the soil demands it. For a meadow can be laid down both in stiff and in loose soil, however poor, if the opportunity for irrigation is offered.
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§ 2.16.4 And it should not be a plain that slopes inward, nor a hill with a steep pitch — the former that it may not hold too long the water which settles there, the latter that it may not immediately pour it off in a torrent. However, if the ground has a gentle slope and is either rich or moist, a meadow may be laid down.
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§ 2.16.5 But the place most approved is an even surface which, having a slight slope, does not allow rain or inflowing rivulets to stand too long; but when any moisture reaches it, it gradually drains off. And so if there is in any part of it a low and boggy place where water stands, it must be drained with ditches; for an oversupply and an undersupply of water are equally destructive to grass.
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§ 2.17.1 The keeping up of meadows is, moreover, a matter of care rather than of labour. In the first place, we must not allow shrubs or thorn bushes or weeds of rather vigorous growth to remain in them, but before winter and throughout autumn we must root out some of them, such as bramble-bushes, thickets, and rushes, and pull up others like endive and midsummer thorns; and we should not permit swine to feed on them, as they root them up with their snouts and tear up the sod, nor larger animals except when the ground is very dry, because their hoofs, sinking into the wet ground, bruise and cut the grass roots.
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§ 2.17.2 Then also the more rugged and elevated sections should be enriched with manure in the month of February, while the moon is waxing; and all stones and any harmful objects that may lie in the way of the sickle should be gathered up and carried some distance away, and then, sooner or later, according to the nature of the place, the meadows should be let alone to grow to hay. There are also some meadows covered with the mould of long neglect, and the old-time farmers have a way of restoring them by scraping off the moss and broadcasting seed from the hayloft, or by applying manure; neither of which is so effective as the frequent application of ashes. This last treatment kills the moss completely.
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§ 2.17.3 Still these remedies are rather slow, whereas the most effective measure is to plough the spot all over again. The above are measures that we should take if we have taken over meadows ready-made; but if new ones are to be established or old ones restored — for there are many, as I have said, which run down and become barren through neglect, and it is expedient to plough them up now and then for a grain crop, because such land after long idleness produces luxuriant crops —
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§ 2.17.4 we shall break up in the summer such land as we have set apart for a meadow, work it continuously throughout the autumn, and seed it with turnips or navews or even beans; then the following year, with grain. In the third year we shall plough thoroughly and dig out by the roots all the stouter growth, brambles and trees, that stand in the way, unless the fruitfulness of the set trees keeps us from so doing. Next we shall sow vetch mixed with hayseed, then break the clods with hoes and level the surface by drawing a brushwood drag over it, and scatter the heaps of earth which the drags usually form at the turnings, so that the mower's scythe may not strike against anything.
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§ 2.17.5 But it is not advisable to cut this vetch until it is entirely ripe and has shed some seed on the ground beneath it. Then the mowers should cut it down, and the ground should next be irrigated if there is a supply of water, but only in case the ground is rather heavy; for in loose soil it is not wise to let in too heavy a flow of water before the ground is packed and bound together by vegetation, because the force of the water washes away the soil and, by exposing the roots, does not allow the grass to gain a foothold.
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§ 2.17.6 It is for this reason that one should not even turn his herds into meadows that are still soft and settling, but should cut the grass with sickles whenever it shoots up; for, as I have said before, cattle plant their hoofs in the soft ground and, cutting off the grass roots, do not allow them to spread and form a dense growth. In the second year, however, we shall allow the smaller animals to be turned in after the haymaking, if only dry weather and the condition of the ground will permit it.
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§ 2.17.7 Then in the third year, when the meadow is quite solid and firm, it will be in condition to receive even the larger cattle. But, in general, care must be taken that after the rising of Favonius in February, about the middle of the month, the poorer spots and especially the higher places be given a coating of manure in which hayseed is mixed; for the more elevated slope supplies nourishment to the land that lies below when a pouring rain or a hand-conducted rivulet carries the liquid manure along with its own waters to the part below. And it is for this reason that wise farmers, even in ploughed land, manure a hillside more heavily than a valley, because, as I have stated, the rains are forever carrying all the richer matter down to the lowland.
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§ 2.18.1 It is best, moreover, that hay be cut before it begins to wither, as a greater quantity of it is harvested and it affords a more agreeable food for cattle. But a middle course should be followed in the curing, that it be gathered neither when very dry nor, on the other hand, while still green — in the one case because it is no better than straw if it has lost all its sap, and in the other because, if it has kept too much of it, it rots in the loft and often, when it becomes heated, it breeds fire and starts a blaze. Sometimes, too, when we have cut our hay a rain surprises us; and if the hay is soaked through it is useless to move it while wet, but better to let the upper side of it dry out in the sun.
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§ 2.18.2 Only then shall we turn it, and, when it is dry on both sides, we shall bring it together in windrows and then bind it up in bundles. And above all we shall lose no time in putting it under cover; or, if it is not convenient for the hay to be carried to the farmstead or tied into bundles, it will be well at any rate that all of it that had been dried out to the proper extent be built up into cocks and that these be topped off with very sharp peaks.
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§ 2.18.3 For by this method hay is very conveniently protected from rains; and even if there is no rain, it is still not amiss to build the aforesaid cocks, so that any moisture remaining in the hay may sweat and dry out in the piles. For this reason wise husbandmen, even in the case of hay brought under cover, do not store it away until they have allowed it to heat and cool for a few days in a loose pile. But now after the haymaking comes attention to the grain harvest; and that we may properly gather it, we must first put in readiness the implements with which the crops are harvested.
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§ 2.19.1 The threshing-floor, too, if it is of earth, to be satisfactorily prepared for threshing should first be scraped, then dug thoroughly, with an admixture of chaff and oil lees which have not been salted, and moistened; for such treatment protects the grain from the ravages of mice and ants. Then, after being smoothed down, it should be packed hard with rammers or with a millstone, and, again strewn with chaff, it should be tramped down and left in this condition to be dried by the sun.
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§ 2.19.2 There are people, however, who set aside for the threshing a piece of meadow land which is exposed to the west wind, and smooth off a threshing-place by cutting beans and throwing them on it; for while the legumes are being trampled out by the cattle the vegetation also is worn away by their hoofs, and in this way the place becomes bare and makes a suitable threshing-floor for grain.
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§ 2.20.1 But when the grain is ripe it should be quickly harvested before it can be parched by the heat of the summer sun, which is most severe at the rising of the Dog-star; for delay is costly — in the first place because it affords plunder for birds and other creatures, and, secondly, because the kernels and even the heads themselves quickly fall as the stalks and beards wither.
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§ 2.20.2 And if wind-storms or cyclones strike it, the greater part of it is lost on the ground; for which reason there should be no delay, but when the crop is even golden yellow, before the grains have entirely hardened and after they have taken on a reddish colour, the harvest should be gathered, so that the grain may grow larger on the floor and in the stack rather than in the field. For it is an established fact that, if cut at the proper time, it makes some growth afterwards.
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§ 2.20.3 There are, furthermore, several methods of reaping: many cut the straw in the middle with cradle-scythes, and these either bill-shaped or toothed; many gather the heads only with forks, and others with combs — an operation which is very easy in a thin crop, but very difficult in a thick one. But if the grain, with a part of the straw, is cut with sickles, it is at once gathered into a pile or carried into the shed, and then after repeated drying in the sun, as opportunity offers, it is threshed.
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§ 2.20.4 If, however, the heads only are cut off they may be carried into the granary and then, drug the winter, be beaten out with flails or trodden out by cattle. But if it is convenient to have the grain threshed on the floor, there is no doubt that this work is better done with horses than with oxen; and if you have few teams you may hitch to them a threshing-sledge and a drag, either of which very easily breaks up the straw. It is better, however, that the heads themselves be beaten with flails and winnowed with fans.
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§ 2.20.5 But when the grain is mixed with the chaff it is cleaned by the wind. The west wind is considered excellent for this purpose, as it blows generally and evenly in the summer months; but to wait for it is the mark of a dilatory farmer, for often, while we are waiting, a raging storm surprises us. Therefore the threshed grain should be heaped on the threshing-floor in such a way that it can be winnowed with any gentle wind. But if the air is quiet in every quarter for many days, the grain should be cleaned with winnowing-fans, for fear that after excessive stillness of the winds a mighty storm may bring to naught the toil of an entire year.
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§ 2.20.6 Then the pure grain, if it is being laid away for a term of years, should be threshed again, for the better it is scoured the less it is preyed upon by weevils; but if it is intended for immediate use, there is no need of a second cleaning and it is sufficient that it be cooled in the shade and so carried to the granary. The handling of legumes, too, differs not at all from that of other grains, for they also are either consumed at once or stored away. And this is the crowning reward of the husbandman — reaping the harvest of the seed that he has entrusted to the earth.
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§ 2.21.1 But inasmuch as our ancestors saw fit to render an account of their leisure hours as well as of their times of non-leisure, I also believe that farmers should be advised of what they should do on holidays and what they should leave undone. For here are things which, as the poet says, Divine and human laws let be performed on festive days: No sacred law forbids to fetch the irrigating rills, A hedge along the field to stretch, for birds a snare to lay, And briars to burn, and bleating flocks to dip in wholesome stream.
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§ 2.21.2 And yet the pontiffs assert that a grain-field should not be fenced on holidays; they also forbid the washing of sheep for the good of the fleece, except as a curative measure. Vergil is instructing us as to the lawfulness of washing the flock in a river on holidays, and for that reason he adds “to dip in wholesome stream” — that is, in a healing stream; for there are ailments because of which it is expedient to bathe the cattle.
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§ 2.21.3 Furthermore, the religious observances of our forefathers permit these tasks also on holidays: the braying of spelt; the cutting of torches; the dipping of candles; the tilling of a leased vineyard; the clearing out and cleaning of fish-ponds, cisterns, and old ditches; the sickling of meadows; the spreading of manure; the storing of hay in the loft; the gathering of the fruits of a leased olive-grove; the spreading of apples, pears and figs to dry; the making of cheese; the carrying of trees for planting, either on our own shoulders or with a pack mule. But it is not permitted to haul them with a yoked animal, nor to plant them after they are transported, nor to open the ground, nor to thin a tree;
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§ 2.21.4 and not to assist in the sowing either unless you have first sacrificed a puppy, nor to cut hay or bind it or haul it; and it is not permissible either by the ordinances of the priests for the vintage to be gathered on feast days, nor to shear sheep, unless you have sacrificed a puppy. It is also lawful to make boiled must and to boil wine. To gather grapes and olives for preserving is likewise lawful. It is not lawful to clothe sheep with skins. Anything that you may do in your garden for the good of your vegetables is lawful. It is not lawful to bury a dead person on public feast days.
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§ 2.21.5 Marcus Porcius Cato says that there are no holidays for mules, horses, and asses; the same authority permits the yoking of oxen for the purpose of hauling wood and grain. We ourselves have read in the books of the pontiffs that only on the holidays called Denicale is it unlawful to have mules in harness, but on other holidays it is lawful. I am well aware that at this point, after my survey of the observances of feast days, some people will miss the customs observed by the ancients in the matter of purificatory ceremonies and other offerings which are made for the good of the crops.
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§ 2.21.6 And I am not declining the task of offering this instruction, but am postponing it for that book which I intend to put together after I have written precepts on the whole science of agriculture. Meanwhile I shall bring the present discussion to an end, having in mind to tell in the next book what ancient authorities have handed down on the subject of vineyards and of tree-plantations, and what I myself have since discovered.
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§ 3.1.1 Book III “Thus far of the tillage of the land,” as says that most excellent poet. For, Publius Silvinus, as we are about to speak on the same topics, there is nothing to keep us from beginning under good omens with the opening words of that most renowned poem. There follows the management of trees, which is a most important part of rural husbandry. They are diverse in kind, and of many shapes; for trees of various sorts, as the same author relates, of their own will come forth, By mortals not constrained; and many, too, grow from seed planted by our own hand.
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§ 3.1.2 But those that are propagated without human aid, the wild and untamed, bear fruits or seeds according to their several natures; while those on which labour is spent are fitted for a greater yield. I must speak first, then, of that kind which supplies us with food. And of this there is a threefold division: for from a small shoot there comes forth either a tree, as the olive; or a shrub, as the palm of the plains; or a third something which we can properly call neither tree nor shrub, as is the vine. p
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§ 3.1.3 This last we rightly set above all other woody plants, not only for the sweetness of its fruits, but also because of the readiness with which in nearly every country and climate, except, however, the icy cold or burning hot, it responds to human care; it thrives on plain as well as hillside, in compact soil no less than in loose, often also in thin land, in fat ground and lean, in dry ground and wet;
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§ 3.1.4 and it alone has the greatest endurance of both sorts of intemperate weather — either under a cold sky or one that is hot and stormy. Nevertheless an important consideration is the variety and the habit of the vine which you propose to cultivate, in relation to the conditions of the region. For its cultivation is not the same in every climate and in every soil, nor is there only one variety of that plant; and which kind is best of all is not easy to say, since experience teaches that to every region its own variety is more or less suited.
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§ 3.1.5 Still the wise farmer will have discovered by test that the kind of vine proper for level country is one which endures mists and frosts without injury; for a hillside, one which withstands drought and wind. He will assign to fat and fertile land a vine that is slender and not too productive by nature; to lean land, a prolific vine; to heavy soil, a vigorous vine that puts forth much wood and foliage; to loose and rich soil, one that has few canes. He will know that it is not proper to commit to a moist place a vine with thin-skinned fruit and unusually large grapes, but one whose fruit is tough-skinned, small, and full of seeds; and that plants of a different nature are properly entrusted to a dry site.
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§ 3.1.6 But in addition to this the proprietor of the place will not be unaware that the nature of the climate — cold or warm, dry or moist, subject to hail and wind or calm, clear or foggy — is a more potent influence.
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§ 3.1.7 To cold or foggy conditions he will adapt two varieties of vine, either the early ripe, whose fruits mature before cold weather, or those with firm and hard berries, whose clusters drop their blossoms during the foggy season and are presently ripened by freezing weather and frosts, as those of other grapes are ripened by warmth. To a windy and unsettled climate also he will boldly commit the same hardy vines and those of the hard-berried variety. On the other hand, he will entrust to a warm climate the more delicate and heavier-bearing sorts. For a dry climate he will select such as are rotted by rains or continual dews; for a dewy one, those that suffer in dry weather; for one subject to hailstorms, those that have tough and broad leaves for the better protection of the fruit. A calm and clear-skied region does not refuse to admit any kind of vine, though most suitably one whose clusters or berries fall quickly.
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§ 3.1.8 But if your own wishes are to be considered in the selection of site and climate for your vineyards, the best soil, as Celsus very rightly believes, is neither too compact nor loose, but closer to the loose type; neither poor nor excessively rich, but nearest to the fertile kind; neither flat nor steep, but like plain-land with a rise; neither dry nor wet, but moderately moist; one which does not abound in springs, either on the surface or in the depths of the earth, but which supplies the roots with moisture close at hand —
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§ 3.1.9 and that neither bitter nor brackish, lest it spoil the flavour of the wine and check the growth of the vine's greenery with a kind of scaly rust, if only we believe Vergil when he says, Unkind to crops is salty ground, and what is bitter called; It is not tamed by ploughman's toil, nor does it keep unstained The good repute of Bacchus' child and other fruits' fair name.
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§ 3.1.10 Furthermore, as I have said before, a vineyard does not want an icy climate nor, on the other hand, one that is burning hot, though it thrives better in warm weather than in cold. It is harmed more by rain than by clear weather, and is more kindly disposed to a dry soil than to one that is subject to too much rain. It delights in moderate and gentle breezes, but is liable to injury from squalls. And this is the character of climate and soil that is most commendable.
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§ 3.2.1 Further, the grape is planted either for eating or for the pouring forth of its juice. It is not profitable to establish vineyards for food unless the plot is so close to a city that conditions warrant the selling of the raw grapes to marketers, as we do other fruit. When this is the case, the early ripe and hard-berried varieties are especially to be planted, and then the Purple and the Bumast (full-breasted), the Dactyl (date-shaped) and the Rhodian, and the Libyan and the Ceraunian; p
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§ 3.2.2 and not only those that can be recommended for agreeableness of flavour, but also those whose appearance can commend them, such as the Stephanitan (coronary), the Tripedanean (three-foot kind), the Unciarian (ounce-weight), and the Cydonitan (quince-grape); likewise those vines whose grapes keep well in winter and are stored in jars, as the Venuculan, and the Numisian, which has recently been proved for this purpose.
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§ 3.2.3 But when our interest is in the wine, a vine is selected which is both heavy in yield and strong in wood, because the one contributes greatly to the income of the husbandman, and the other to the durability of the stock.
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§ 3.2.4 But such a vine is especially good if it does not put forth leaves too quickly, if also it casts its flowers very early in the season and does not ripen too slowly; moreover, if it easily withstands frosts and fog and blight, does not rot in rainy weather, and does not shrivel up in times of drought.
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§ 3.2.5 A vine of this sort, though only moderately fruitful, should be our choice, if only we have a piece of ground where the flavour of the wine is distinguished and costly; for if it is of poor quality or low in price, it is best to plant the most prolific vines, so that our revenues may be increased by the greater quantity of the yield.
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§ 3.2.6 Moreover, in nearly every type of place champaign slopes produce the larger quantity of wine, but hill lands the better flavoured; and in a temperate climate hills that slope to the north are more productive, while those with a southern exposure yield a superior quality. p
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§ 3.2.7 And there is no doubt that the nature of some vines is such that in the quality of their wine they sometimes excel, sometimes are excelled, according to their situation. The Aminean varieties alone, except where the climate is exceedingly cold, and even if they decline in quality in comparison with their best, are said to provide wines of more or less true taste and to surpass all others in flavour.
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§ 3.2.8 Though they bear one name, they are not of the same appearance. We know of two “sister” vines, of which the smaller is earlier and better in casting its blossoms and may be trained to tree and trellis alike. On the tree it requires rich ground; on the trellis, ordinary soil. And it far surpasses the larger variety by reason of its sturdier endurance of rain and wind.
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§ 3.2.9 For the larger sort is quickly spoiled in the blossom, and more so on trellises than on trees; and on this account it is not suitable for vineyards, and hardly fit for an arbustum except in ground that is very rich and vigorous; for it does not thrive in ordinary ground, and much less so in lean ground. It is distinguished by its great amount of rank woody growth and the large size of its leaves, clusters, and berries; it is also longer from joint to joint. In quantity of fruit it is surpassed by the smaller variety; it is not outdone in flavour. And both of these, to be sure, are Aminean vines.
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§ 3.2.10 But there are two other vines, called “twins,” which derive their name from their producing of double clusters; they yield a harsher wine, but keep equally well. The smaller of the two is everywhere very well known, because it covers those most famous slopes of Vesuvius and of Surrentum in Campania. It is sprightly amid the western breezes of summer, but downcast in western winds;
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§ 3.2.11 and so in other sections of Italy it is suitable, not so much for vineyards, as for the arbustum, although in the regions above mentioned it bears the yoke very well. It produces wood and fruit — except for its double clusters — not unlike the smaller “sister” vine, just as the larger “twin” is like the larger “sister”; but the smaller vine is the better in that it is more fruitful even in ordinary soil, for I have already said that the other does not yield except in very rich ground.
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§ 3.2.12 Some also approve very highly the “woolly” Aminean, which acquires this epithet not from the fact that it alone, of all the Aminean varieties, is hoary with down, but because it is especially so. A producer of exceedingly good wine, though mellower than those above mentioned, it also makes a rank growth; and for this reason, because of the compactness of its foliage, it often does not cast its blossoms perfectly, and it also rots quickly after the fruit has matured.
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§ 3.2.13 In addition to the number that we have mentioned, there is included a “single” Aminean not unlike the larger “twin” — a vine of first rank in the appearance of leafy shoots and stock, but somewhat inferior in the flavour of its wine; though even so it ranks next to the most outstanding varieties and is even to be preferred for qualities of its own. For it is more fruitful, it is better in casting its flowers, it bears compact light-coloured clusters of plumper grapes, it does not degenerate in poor land, and consequently it is counted among the most profitable vines.
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§ 3.2.14 The Nomentan vines follow close after the Amineans in excellence of wine, but in productivity they are often loaded full and keep exceedingly well what they have produced. But of these, too, the smaller is the more prolific; its leaf is not so deeply cleft, and its wood is not so red as that of the larger variety — from which colour the vines are called rubellanae. These vines are also called faeciniae from the fact that they make more dregs (faeces) than other varieties.
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§ 3.2.15 Still they make up for this disadvantage in the greater number of their clusters, which they produce even on a trellis but better on a tree. They endure winds and rains valiantly, drop their flowers early, and therefore ripen sooner. They bear up under every adversity except that of heat; for, having small-berried and tough-skinned clusters, they shrivel in high temperatures. They delight most of all in rich land, which can add some fullness to clusters that are naturally scanty and small.
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§ 3.2.16 The Eugenians endure a cold, dewy ground and climate very well as long as they remain on the Alban hills; for in a changed situation they hardly answer to their own name. The same is true of the Allobrogian vines: the agreeableness of their wines is affected by a change of region.
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§ 3.2.17 The three Apian also are recommended for their great qualities; all of them fruitful and quite suitable for the trellis and for trees, though the one with bare leaves is superior. For the two lanate varieties, though of like appearance as to leaves and branches, differ in the quality of their juice, as one of them is slower in acquiring flatness of taste from long keeping.
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§ 3.2.18 They are very prolific in rich ground, and fruitful also in average soil; their fruit ripens early, and for that reason they are very well suited for cold localities; they yield a sweet wine, but are not good for the head, sinews, and veins. If they are not gathered at the proper time they become the prey of rains, winds, and bees; and it is because of this plundering that they are surnamed from the word meaning “ bees ” (apes). And these are the vines most renowned for their precious flavours.
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§ 3.2.19 There are, nevertheless, vines of second quality which can be commended for their growth and fruitfulness, such as the Bituric and the Basilic, the smaller of which the Spaniards call coccolobis, — both of them by far the closest to the very best; for their wine stands long keeping and attains some degree of excellence with age.
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§ 3.2.20 And in fact they surpass in productiveness all that I have mentioned above, and also in hardiness; for they withstand storms and rain with the greatest fortitude, they have a good amount of juice, and do not fail in lean ground. They endure cold weather better than wetness, and wetness better than dryness, and yet they are not bothered by heat.
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§ 3.2.21 Next after these are the Visula and the smaller Argitis, which thrive in ground of middling quality; for they make a rank growth in rich ground because of their excessive vigour, while in lean ground they grow spindling and are devoid of fruit. They have a greater fondness for the trellis than for trees, though the Argitis is productive even on high supports and makes a luxuriant growth of wood and grape clusters.
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§ 3.2.22 The Visula, better suited to very low frames, makes little wood but tough and broad leaves, whose size affords the fruit very good protection against hail; but if this is not gathered as soon as it is ripe, it falls to the ground; and in wet weather it rots even before it falls off.
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§ 3.2.23 There are also the Helvolans, which some call variae (variegated); they are neither purple nor black, and get their name, if I mistake not, from their dun (helvus) shade. The one which is more nearly black is the better as to quantity of wine, while the other is more highly prized in the matter of flavour. In neither of them does the colour of the berries appear to be uniform. Both yield white must in greater or smaller quantity every year. They make a better covering on a tree, though doing well on a trellis. They are productive also in mediocre soil, as are the smaller and larger Pretians. But the latter are commended more highly for the quality of their wine, and they put forth much wood and foliage and ripen quickly.
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§ 3.2.24 The Albuelis, as Celsus says, is more profitable on a hill than on a plain; on a tree than on a trellis; and at the top of the tree than at the lower part. It produces much wood and many clusters. For those Greekling vines — such as the Mareotic, the Thasian, the Psithian, and the Sophortian — though they have an agreeable taste, still in our localities they yield little juice because of the small size of the berries. Nevertheless the black Inerticulan, which certain Greeks call amethystos, may be placed in the second tribe, so to speak, because it makes good wine and is harmless; from this fact, too, it takes its name, because it is considered inactive (iners) in its effect on the sinews, although not dull in taste.
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§ 3.2.25 Celsus makes a third class of those vines which are commended for fruitfulness alone, such as the three Helvenacans, of which the two larger are considered by no means equal to the smaller in the quality and quantity of their must. One of them, which people who live in Gaul call marcus, produces ordinary wine; and the other, which they designate as the “long vine” and also the “white vine,” yields a wine of low grade and of no such quantity as the number of its clusters promises at first glance.
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§ 3.2.26 The smallest and best of the three is very readily recognized by its leaf, for it bears the roundest leaf of all of them; and it is praiseworthy because it endures drought best of all, because it bears cold if only it is free from rain, because in some regions its wine is racked off for long keeping, and especially because it alone gives a good name to even the poorest of soil by reason of its own fertility.
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§ 3.2.27 [ Celsus includes also] such as the Spionian, rich in must but fruitful in the size rather than the number of its clusters; such as the Horconian, the Murgentine, which is the same as the Pompeian, the Numisian, the Venuculan, also called Scirpulan and Sticulan; such as the black Fragellan, the Merican, the Rhaetian, and that most prolific of all vines within our acquaintance, the greater Arcelacan, wrongly considered by many to be the Argitis.
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§ 3.2.28 For as to those that have recently come to my knowledge — I mean the Pergulan, the Irtiolan, and the Fereolan — I could not easily declare with certainty in what class they are to be considered; for, though I know that they are passably fruitful, I have not been able as yet to pass judgment on the quality of the wine that they produce. We have discovered also that there is an early-ripe vine, hitherto unknown to us and called Dracontion after the Greek fashion, which may be compared in fruitfulness and agreeableness to the Arcelacan, the Basilic, and the Bituric vines, and in its high quality to the Aminean.
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§ 3.2.29 There are, besides, many sorts of vines of which we can relate neither the number nor the names with assurance. And, indeed, as the poet says, to know their number is of no concern. One who would know of this might also wish to learn How many grains of Libyan sand by western breeze are stirred.
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§ 3.2.30 For all countries and almost all separate districts of those countries have their peculiar types of vines, which they designate according to their own fashion; some vine-stocks also have changed their names along with the places where they are grown; and some, as I said above, have so far departed from their peculiar character, through a change of place, as to be unrecognizable. And so in our own Italy, not to speak of the whole far-flung world, neighbouring peoples disagree in the names of vines, and their designations vary.
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§ 3.2.31 Therefore it is a mark of the wise teacher not to retard his students with quibbling over a list of names of a sort which it is impossible to master, but in general to lay down as a precept what Celsus says, and Marcus Cato before him — that no kind of vine should be planted except that approved by common report, and that none should be kept for any length of time unless proved by test. And where the many advantages of a particular region invite us to plant a superior vine, we shall search out one of good origin, says Julius Graecinus; where there is nothing at all or not much to encourage us, we shall look rather for fruitfulness, which is not excelled in worth to the same degree that it excels in abundance of yield.
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§ 3.2.32 But as for this opinion, though I myself was of the same mind not long ago, I shall soon tell in the proper place what my more private judgment is. For it is my purpose to teach the method by which vineyards may be managed so as to be at the same time fruitful and productive of a wine that will bring a good price.
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§ 3.3.1 Now, before discoursing on the planting of vines, I think it not out of place to lay down, as a sort of foundation for the coming discussion, the principle that we would have carefully weighed and investigated in advance whether viticulture will enrich the proprietor; for it is well-nigh purposeless as yet to give directions for planting vines, as long as the prior question is not yet affirmatively answered — whether vines should be kept at all. And most people would be doubtful on this point, to such an extent that many would avoid and dread such an ordering of their land, and would consider it preferable to own meadows and pastures, or woodland for cutting;
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§ 3.3.2 for in the matter of ground planted with trees for the support of vines there has been no little dispute even among authorities, Saserna being unfavourable to this kind of land, and Tremelius approving it most highly. But we shall make an appraisal of this opinion in its proper place. Meanwhile those devoted to the study of agriculture must be informed of one thing first of all — that the return from vineyards is a very rich one. And to pass over the old-time fertility of the land, of which Marcus Cato long ago, and Terentius Varro more recently, recorded that each iugerum of vineyard yielded six hundred urnae of wine — for Varro so declares most emphatically in the first book of his Res Rusticae — and that this was the customary yield not in one district alone but also in the country around Faventia and in the Ager Gallicus, which is now annexed to Picenum;
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§ 3.3.3 in our own times, at any rate, the neighbourhood of Nomentum is illumined by a most distinguished reputation; and especially that part owned by Seneca, a man of outstanding genius and erudition, on whose estates it is learned that every iugerum of vineyard has yielded approximately eight cullei. For the things that happened in our Ceretanum seem to have been in the nature of a prodigy, in that a certain vine on your place exceeded the number of two thousand clusters, and with me, that eight hundred grafted stocks of less than two years yielded seven cullei, or that first-class vineyards produced a hundred amphorae to the iugerum, when meadows, pastures, and woodland seem to do very well by the owner if they bring in a hundred sesterces for every iugerum.
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§ 3.3.4 For we can hardly recall a time when grain crops, throughout at least the greater part of Italy, returned a yield of four for one. Why, then, is viticulture in disrepute? Not, indeed, through its own fault, but because of human failings, says Graecinus; in the first place because no one takes pains in searching after cuttings, and for that reason most people plant vineyards of the worst sort; and then they do not nourish their vines, once planted, in such a way as to let them gain strength and shoot out before they wither; and if they do happen to grow, they are careless in the matter of cultivation.
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§ 3.3.5 Even at the very start they think that it makes no difference what kind of ground they plant; or rather they pick out the very worst section of their lands, as though such ground alone were particularly fit for this plant because incapable of producing anything else. Either they do not understand even the method of setting them or else they fail to put it into practice even when they do understand it. Then too, they seldom have the dowry — that is, the equipment — in readiness for their vineyards; though this, if neglected, uses up many days of toil and puts a constant drain on the coffers of the proprietor.
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§ 3.3.6 Most people, in fact, strive for the richest possible yield at the earliest moment; they make no provision for the time to come, but, as if living merely from day to day, they put such demands upon their vines and load them so heavily with young shoots as to show no regard for succeeding generations. After committing all these acts, or at any rate most of them, they would rather do anything at all than admit their own guilt; and they complain that their vineyards do not yield them a return — vineyards which they themselves have ruined through greed, or ignorance, or neglect.
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§ 3.3.7 But any who combine painstaking care with scientific knowledge receive, not forty, or at least thirty according to my reckoning, but, as Graecinus says, though setting the lowest estimate, twenty amphorae from every iugerum, they will easily outdo in the increase of their ancestral estates all those who hold fast to their hay and pot-herbs. And he is not mistaken in this; for, like a careful accountant, he sees, when his calculations are made, that this kind of husbandry is of the greatest advantage to his estate.
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§ 3.3.8 For, admitting that vineyards demand a very generous outlay, still seven iugera require the labour of near more than one vinedresser, upon whom people in general set a low value, thinking that even some malefactor may be acquired from the auction-block; but I, disagreeing with the opinion of the majority, consider a high-priced vinedresser of first importance. And supposing his purchase price to be 6000 or, better, 8000 sesterces, when I estimate the seven iugera of ground as acquired for just as many thousands of sesterces, and that the vineyards with their dowry — that is, with stakes and withes — are set out for 2000 sesterces per iugerum, still the total cost, reckoned to the last farthing, amounts to 29, sesterces.
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§ 3.3.9 Added to this is interest at six per cent. per annum, amounting to 3480 sesterces for the two-year period when the vineyards, in their infancy as it were, are delayed in bearing. The sum total of principal and interest comes to 32, sesterces. And if the husbandman would enter this amount as a debt against his vineyards just as a moneylender does with a debtor, so that the owner may realize the aforementioned six per cent. interest on that total as a perpetual annuity, he should take in 1950 sesterces every year. By this reckoning the return from seven iugera, even according to the estimate of Graecinus, exceeds the interest on 32, sesterces.
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§ 3.3.10 For, assuming that the vineyards are of the very worst sort, still, if taken care of, they will yield certainly one culleus of wine to the iugerum; and even though every forty urns are sold for 300 sesterces, which is the lower market price, nevertheless seven cullei make a total of 2100 sesterces — a sum far in excess of the interest at six per cent.
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§ 3.3.11 And these figures, as we have given them, take account of the calculations of Graecinus. But our own opinion is that vineyards which yield less than three cullei to the iugerum should be rooted out. And, even so, we have made our calculations up to this point as if there were no quicksets to be taken from the trenched ground; though this item alone, at a favourable price, would clear the entire cost of the land, if only the land belongs, not to the provinces, but to Italy.
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§ 3.3.12 And no one should be skeptical of this statement when he distinguishes between my method and that of Julius Atticus; for I am now planting between the rows 20, mallet-shoots to every iugerum of vineyard, while he sets out four thousand fewer. Assuming that his way is the better one, still no ground, even the most unfavourable, will fail to yield a return exceeding the expense incurred;
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§ 3.3.13 since, even though 6000 of the plants die through the carelessness of the vinedresser, still the remaining 10, will be purchased by contract-vineyardists, cheerfully and at a profit, for 3000 sesterces. This sum exceeds by one third the 2000 sesterces which we have named above as the cost of planting one iugerum of vines, and yet our own management has now progressed to the point where husbandmen are not averse to purchasing quicksets from me at a price of six hundred sesterces a thousand.
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§ 3.3.14 But anyone else will hardly go beyond the above-named figure; for no one will readily take our word for it that there is such a quantity of wine upon our small pieces of ground as you, Silvinus, know to be the case. For that reason I have quoted the average and customary price of quicksets, so that those who, through want of knowledge, avoid this branch of husbandry, may be brought over more quickly to my opinion with no dissenting vote.
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§ 3.3.15 Therefore either the revenue from ground prepared for planting or the hope of vintages to come should encourage us in the planting of vines. And now that we have shown that it is consistent with good business to plant them, we shall offer directions for putting them in order.
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§ 3.4.1 One who has it at heart to make plantations of vines should guard especially against the willingness to entrust them to another's care in preference to his own; and he should not buy quicksets. But he should plant at home shoots of the sort most approved, and should make a nursery of vines from which he may clothe his land with vineyards. For foreign cuttings, transplanted from a different locality, are less at home in our soil than are the native varieties, and for that reason, being strangers, so to speak, they dread a change of climate and situation;
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§ 3.4.2 and also they offer no definite assurance of quality, seeing that it is uncertain whether the one who has planted them has set out shoots of a carefully tested and approved variety. Therefore a period of two years must be considered the minimum time within which the quality of the cuttings can certainly show itself; though, as I have said, it has always been of the greatest importance to set out stock of carefully selected origin.
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§ 3.4.3 Next after this he should remember to make a careful choice of site for his vineyards; and when he has come to a decision on this point he should know that the greatest pains must be employed in trenching the ground. After he has finished the trenching he should use no less care in the planting of the vine, and after the planting he should attend with greatest diligence to the matter of cultivation; for this is, so to speak, the chief and crowning point of the investment, since on it rests the decision as to whether it has been better or worse for the proprietor to commit his money to the soil rather than to employ it in idleness. Therefore I shall discuss in their proper order each of those matters which I have proposed.
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§ 3.5.1 A vine-nursery should be established in ground that is neither hungry nor wet, but moist and of medium quality rather than fat; though nearly all authorities have designated a very fertile soil for this purpose. This I consider as not at all to the advantage of the husbandman; for even though the cuttings quickly take root and shoot up when planted in strong soil, yet if transferred to poorer soil when they become quicksets, they wither and cannot grow to maturity.
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§ 3.5.2 Moreover, it is the mark of a wise husbandman to transplant from poorer ground to better rather than from better to poorer. For this reason an intermediate quality is most approved in the choice of a site, because it stands on the border line between good and bad. For if necessity afterwards demands the setting of the young plants at the proper time in lean ground, they will be conscious of no great change when transferred from mediocre to poor soil; or if a more fertile field is to be planted, they gain strength far more quickly in the rich ground.
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§ 3.5.3 On the other hand, it is not at all consistent with reason to make a nursery of vines in the very poorest ground, since the majority of the slips die, and such as do survive are slow in becoming fit for transplanting. A piece of average and moderately dry ground, then, is best suited for the nursery; and it should first be worked with the trenching-spade, which equals the depth of the trenching when the ground is turned up to two and one-half feet. Then, leaving three-foot spaces for the cultivation of the plants, 600 cuttings are to be set in each of the rows which measure 240 feet.
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§ 3.5.4 This number makes a total of 24, plants to the iugerum. But the examination and choice of shoots takes precedence of this care. For, as I have often said before, the planting of the most approved kind of stock is the foundation, so to speak, of the aforesaid matter.
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§ 3.6.1 But the choice must be made with two considerations in mind; for it is not enough merely that the mother vine from which the cuttings are sought should be prolific, but a more discriminating method must be employed, that they may be taken from those parts of her body which are both generative and especially fruitful.
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§ 3.6.2 Moreover, the prolific vine whose offspring we wish to rear should not be valued merely because it puts forth grape clusters in great quantity, for this may be due to the large size of the stock and the great number of fruiting canes; though I should not call that a fruitful vine where only one cluster is seen to each cane. But if a larger number of clusters hang upon every young shoot; if from every eye on its many mature branches it sprouts out with fruit; if, finally, it also puts out from its firm wood a green shoot with some clusters; if, too, it is heavy with the fruit of its secondary shoots; such a vine, fruitful beyond doubt, should be marked out for the gathering of mallet-shoots.
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§ 3.6.3 The mallet-shoot, moreover, is a young shoot growing out of a cane of the year before; it is named according to its resemblance, because, projecting on both sides in that part where it is cut from the old branch, it has the appearance of a mallet. Our opinion is that this should be taken from the most prolific stock every time that the vines are pruned, and carefully planted, with three or four eyes showing above ground, in soil that is moderately moist but not wet; if only it be our first consideration that the vine from which the shoot is taken be not uncertain in its flowering, that its berries have no difficulty in growing big, and that it bear fruit which is neither early nor too late in ripening. For the former is damaged by birds, and the latter by wintry storms as well.

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by Harrison Boyd Ash (1891-1944). Composed ca. 50 CE. Licence: public domain. Source.