[41.1] “As to the proper season for grafting, this must be especially observed: that some plants which formerly were grafted in spring are now grafted in mid-summer also, such as the fig, which, as the wood is not hard, requires warm weather; it is for this reason that fig groves cannot be planted in cold localities. Moisture is harmful to a fresh graft, for it causes the tender shoot to decay quickly, [2] and hence it is the common view that this tree is best grafted in the dog days. In the case of plants which are not so soft, however, a vessel is fastened above the graft in such a way that water may drip slowly to keep the shoot from drying out before it unites with the tree. The bark of the shoot must be kept uninjured, and the shoot itself be sharpened in such a way as not to bare the pith. To prevent moisture or excessive heat from injuring it on the surface its be smeared with clay and tied up with bark. [3] For this reason the vine is cut off three days before grafting, so that any excessive moisture in it may run out before it is grafted; or else a cut is made in the branch on which the graft is made a little lower than the graft, so as to allow casual water to run off. On the other hand, figs, pomegranates, and plants of a drier nature are grafted at once. In other graftings, such as of figs, care must be taken that the shoot contains a bud.
[4] “Of these four forms of propagation it is better to use quicksets in the case of some slow-growing plants, as is the practice in fig groves; for the natural seed of the fig is on the inside of the fruit which we eat, in the form of very small grains. As the seedling can scarcely spring from these small grains — for all things which are small and dry grow slowly, while those which are of looser texture are also of more rapid growth, as, for instance, the female grows more rapidly than the male, a rule which holds good also in plants to some extent, the fig, the pomegranate, and the vine being, on account of their feminine softness, of rapid growth, while, on the other hand, the palm, the cypress, and the olive are of slow growth; [5] for in this respect the humid [are quicker] than the dry — it is therefore better to plant in the nursery shoots from the fig tree than grains from the fruit; unless this is impracticable, as when you wish to ship seeds overseas or import them thence. In this case we pass a string through the figs when they are ripe for eating, and after they have dried they are tied in bundles and may be sent where we will; and there they are planted in a nursery and reproduce. [6] It was in this manner that the Chian, Chalcidian, Lydian, African, and other varieties of over-sea figs were imported into Italy. For a similar reason, the seed of the olive being a nut, we prefer to plant in our nurseries the cuttings which I have described, as the stem was found to spring more slowly from the olive nut than from others.
[42.1] “Be especially careful not to plant in ground that is very dry or very wet, but rather in moderately moist ground. Authorities state that the proper amount of alfalfa is a modius and a half to the iugerum, if the ground is by nature moderately moist; the method of sowing is to broadcast the seed, as is done in sowing forage crops and grain.
[43.1] “Snail-clover is sowed on land that has been thoroughly worked, like cabbage seed; then it is transplanted at intervals of a foot and a half, or, when the plant is more mature, shoots are detached, and it is set out in planting as above.
[44.1] “Beans are sowed 4 modii to the iugerum, wheat 5, barley 6, spelt 10, the amount being a little more or less in some localities; more being sowed on rich ground and less on thin. You should therefore note the amount that is usually sowed in the district and follow this practice; for the locality and the type of soil is so important that the same seed in one district yields tenfold and in another fifteen-fold — as at some places in Etruria. [2] Around Sybaris in Italy the normal yield is said to be even a hundred to one, and a like yield is reported near Gadara in Syria, and for the district of Byzacium in Africa. It also makes a great difference whether the planting is on virgin soil or on what is called restibilis — land cultivated every year — or on vervactum, which is allowed sometimes to lie fallow between crops.” [3] “In Olynthia,” remarked Agrius, “they say that the land is cropped every year, but in such a way that a richer crop is produced every other year.” “Land ought to be left every other year with somewhat lighter crops,” rejoined Licinius; “I mean by that crops which are less exhausting to the land.”
“Tell us now,” said Agrius, “of the third step, the nurture and feeding of the plant.” [4] “All plants,” resumed Stolo, “grow in the soil, and when mature conceive, and when the time of gestation is complete bear fruit or ear, or the like; and the seed returns whence it came. Thus, if you pluck the blossom or an unripe pear, or the like, no second one will grown on the same spot in the same year, as the same plant cannot have two periods of gestation. For trees and plants, just as women, have a definite period from conception to birth.
[45.1] “Barley usually appears in seven days, wheat not much later; legumes usually in four or five days, except the bean, which is somewhat slower in appearing. Millet also, and sesame, and similar plants appear in about the same number of days, except in cases where the locality or the weather prevents this from occurring. [2] Seedlings in the nursery should be covered with leaves or straw during the winter if the locality is at all cold, as they are tender; and if rains follow, water must not be allowed to stand anywhere, for frost is baneful to the tender rootlets. [3] Plants do not grow at the same rate below and above ground; thus roots grow faster below than does the part above ground in autumn and in winter because, being covered, they are nourished by the heat of the earth, while the part above ground is checked by the colder air. Wild plants which have not been touched by the planter show that this is true; for roots grow before the plant which comes from them, but they go no deeper than the point to which the sun’s warmth reaches. The growth of roots is determined by two factors: that nature thrusts one kind of wood to a greater distance than another; and that one kind of soil yields more readily than another.
[46.1] “As a result of factors of this kind there are several remarkable differences of character; so that, for instance, the season may be told from the leaves of such trees as the olive, the silver poplar, and the willow, by the direction in which they lie; thus when the leaves of these trees turn over it is said that the summer solstice has passed. No less remarkable is the behaviour of the flowers which are called ‘heliotropes’ from the fact that they face the rising sun in the morning and follow his course until the setting, facing him the whole time.
[47.1] “Plants such as the olive and fig, such, reared in the nursery from shoots and naturally somewhat delicate on top, should be protected at the top by two boards tied right and left; and the weeds should be cleared. These should be pulled while they are young; for after they become dry they resist more strongly, and break off more readily than they yield. On the other hand, growth that springs up on a meadow for haying must not only not be plucked while it is maturing, but also must not be trampled. For this reason flocks, and every sort of animal, including even man, must be kept off a meadow; for the foot of man is death to grass and marks the beginning of a path.
[48.1] “Now, in the case of grain crops, that by which the stalk puts forth the grain is the head. If is this “hornless,” as in barley and wheat, it has three components: the grain, the husk, and the beard — and the sheath, also, when the ear first appears. The hard inner part is called the grain; the husk is its envelope; and the beard is the part which rises from the husk like a long, slender needle, just as if the husk and bead formed a peaked cap for the grain. [2] ‘Beard’ and ‘grain’ are familiar words to most people, but ‘husk’ (gluma) to few; thus the only place where it occurs, to my knowledge, is in Ennius, in his translation of Euhemerus. The word (gluma) seems to be derived from glubere, ‘strip,’ because the grain is stripped (deglubitur) from this envelope; so the same word is used for the envelope of the edible fruit of the fig tree. The beard is called arista from the fact that it is the first part to dry (arescere). The grain is so called from gerere; for the seed is planted that the ear may ‘bea
r’ (gerat) the grain, not the husk of the beard; just as the vine is planted not to bear leaves but grapes. The ear, however, which the peasants, in their old-fashioned way, call speca, seems to have got its name from spes; for it is because they hope (sperant) to have this grow that they plant. [3] An ear which has no bears is said to be ‘hornless,’ as the beard may be said to be the ‘horns’ of the ear. When these are just forming and are not yet quite visible, the green envelope under which they are hidden is called the sheath, being like the sheath in which a sword is encased. The part at the top of the full-grown ear, which is smaller than the grain, is called frit; while the part, also smaller than the grain, at the bottom of the ear where it joins the top of the stalk is called urru.”
[49.1] Stolo paused at this point, and, judging from the fact that no questions were asked that no further discussion of nutrition was desired, he continued: “I shall discuss next the subject of harvesting the ripe crops. First the grass on the hay-meadows should be cut close with the sickle when it ceases to grow and begins to dry out with the heat, and turned with the fork while it is drying out; when it is quite dry it should be made into bundles and hauled to the barn. Then the loose hay from the meadows should be raked up and added to the hay-pile. [2] After doing this you should ‘sickle’ the meadows — that is, cut with the sickle what the mowers have passed over, leaving the field humped, as it were, with tufts of grass. I suppose the verb sicilire, used with meadow as object, is derived from this cutting (sectio).
[50.1] “The word messis is properly employed of the crops which we ‘measure’ (metimur), especially of grain; and this, I suggest, is the derivation of the word. There are three methods of harvesting grain: the first, employed in Umbria, in which the stalk is cut close to the ground with the hook, and each bundle, as it is cut, is laid on the ground. When a number of bundles are formed, they go over them again, and cut the ears from each close to the stalk. The ears are cast into the basket and carried to the threshing-floor, while the straw is left in the field and afterwards stacked. [2] In the second method, employed in Picenum, they use a curved handle of wood with a small iron saw attached to the end; when this catches a bundle of ears it cuts them off and leaves the straw standing in the field to be cut later. In the third method, employed near Rome and in numerous other places, seizing the top with the left hand they cut the straw in the middle; and I suggest that the word messis is derived from this middle (medium) which they cut. The part of the stalk below the hand remains attached to the ground, and is cut later; [3] while the part which is attached to the ear is carried to the threshing-floor in baskets. The name for straw, palea, may be derived from the fact that there, in an uncovered place, it is detached ‘openly’ (palam); some derive the other word, stramentum, from stare, as they do also the word stamen, and others from stratus, because it is ‘spread’ (substernitur) under cattle. The grain should be cut when it is ripe; and on easily worked land it is held that the reaping of one iugerum is approximately a day’s work for one man — this should include the carrying of the reaped ears to the threshing-floor in baskets.
[51.1] “The threshing-floor should be on the place, in a somewhat elevated spot, so that the wind can sweep over it; the size should be determined by the size of the harvest. It should preferably be round, with a slight elevation at the centre, so that, if it rains, water will not stand but be able to run off the floor in the shortest line — and of course in a circle the shortest line is from the centre to the circumference. It should be built of solid dirt, well packed, and especially if it is of clay, so that it may not crack in the heat and allow the grain to hide, or take in water and open the door to mice and ants. For this reason it is customary to coat it with amurca, which is poison to weeds, ants, and moles. [2] Some farmers build up the floor with stone to make it solid, or even pave it. Others, such as the Bagienni, go so far as to build a shelter over the floors, because in that country rain-storms frequently occur at threshing time. When the floor is without a roof and the climate is hot, a shelter should be built hard by, to which the hands may go at midday in hot weather.
[52.1] “On the threshing-floor the largest and best ears should be placed apart, to furnish the best seed, and the grain should be threshed on the floor. This is done in some districts by means of a yoke of steers and a sledge. The latter is constructed either of a board made rough with stones or iron, which separates the grain from the ear when it is dragged by a yoke of steers with the driver or a heavy weight on it; or of a toothed axle running on low wheels, called a Punic cart, the driver sitting on it and driving the steers which drag it — a contrivance in use in Hither Spain and other places. [2] Among other peoples the threshing is done by turning in cattle and driving them around with goads, the grain being separated from the beards by their hoofs. After the threshing the grain should be tossed from the ground when the wind is blowing gently, with winnowing fans or forks. The result is that the lightest part of it, called acus and palea, is fanned outside the floor, while the grain, being heavy, comes clean to the basket.
[53.1] “When the harvest is over the gleaning should be let, or the loose stalks gathered with your own force, or, if the ears left are few and the cost of labour high, it should be pastured. For the thing to be kept in view in this matter is that the expense shall not exceed the profit.
[54.1] “As to vineyards, the vintage should begin when the grapes are ripe; and you must choose the variety of grapes and the part of the vineyard with which to begin. For the early grapes, and the hybrids, the so-called black, ripen much earlier and so must be gathered sooner; and the part of the plantation and vineyard which is sunnier should have its vines stripped first. [2] At the vintage the careful farmer not only gathers but selects his grapes; he gathers for drinking and selects for eating. So those gathered are carried to the wine-yard, thence to go into the empty jar; those selected are carried to a separate basket, to be placed thence in small pots and thrust into jars filled with wine dregs, while others are plunged into the pond in a jar sealed with pitch, and still others go up to their place in the larder. When the grapes have been trodden, the stalks and skins should be placed under the press, so that whatever must remains in them may be pressed out into the same vat. [3] When the flow ceases under the press, some people trim around the edges of the mass and press again; this second pressing is called circumsicium, and the juice is kept separate because it tastes of the knife. The pressed grape-skins are turned into jars and water is added; this liquid is called lora, from the fact that the skins are washed (lota), and it is issued to the labourers in winter instead of wine.
[55.1] “With regard to the olive harvest: the olives which can be reached from the ground or by ladders should be picked rather than shaken down, because the fruit which has been bruised dries out and does not yield so much oil. Those picked with bare fingers are better than those picked with gloves, as the hard gloves not only bruise the berry [2] but also tear the bark from the branches and leave them exposed to the frost. Those which cannot be reached with the hand should be beaten down; but a reed should be used rather than a pole, as the heavier blow renders necessary the work of the tree-doctor. The one who is beating should not strike the olive directly; [3] for an olive struck in this way often tears away the shoot with it, and the fruit of the next year is lost. This is not the least reason for the saying that the olive fails to bear a crop every other year, or does not bear so full a crop. [4] The olive reaches the steading by the same two roads as the grape, one portion for food, and one to gush forth and anoint the body not only within but also without, thus following the master into the bath and into the gymnasium. [5] The portion from which oil is made is usually heaped on a flooring in piles as it comes in from day to day, so that it may mellow a little; and the piles pass in the same order through the jars and the olive vessels to the trapeta, which is an olive-mill fitted with hard stones roughened on the surface. [6] If the olives, after being picked, lie too long in the piles, they spoil from the heat and the oil becom
es rancid; hence, if you cannot work them up promptly they should be aired by moving them about in the piles. [7] The olive yields two products: oil, well known to all, and amurca. As most people are ignorant of the value of the latter, you may see it flowing out from the olive presses on to the fields, and not only blackening the ground but rendering it barren when there is a large quantity of it; whereas, in moderate quantities, this fluid is not only extremely valuable for many purposes, but is especially valuable in agriculture, as it is usually poured around the roots of trees, chiefly olive trees, and where noxious weeds grow in the fields.”
Delphi Complete Works of Varro Page 6