CHAP. 37. (15.)—the vetch. The vetch, too, enriches the soil, and its cultivation entails no labour on the agriculturist. It is sown after the ground has been but once turned up, and requires neither hoeing nor manuring; nothing at all, indeed, except harrowing. There are three periods for sowing it; the first is about the setting of Arcturus, when it is intended for feeding cattle in the month of December, while in the blade; this crop, too, is the best of all for seed, for, although grazed upon, it will bear just as well. The second crop is sown in the month of January, and the last in March; this last being the best crop for fodder. Of all the seeds this is the one that thrives best in a dry soil; still, however, it manifests no repugnance to a shaded locality. This grain, if gathered when quite ripe, produces a chaff superior to that of any other. If sown near vines supported by trees, the vetch will draw away the juices from the vines, and make them languid. chap. 38.—the fitch. The cultivation of the fitch," too, is attended with no difficulty. It requires weeding, however, more than the vetch. Like it, the fitch has certain medicinal properties; for we find the fact still kept in remembrance by some letters of his, that the late Emperor Augustus was cured by its agency. Five modii will sow as much ground as a yoke of oxen can plough in a day. If sown in the month of March," it is injurious, they my, to oxen: and when sown in autumn, it is apt to produce head-ache. If, however, it is put in the ground at the beginning of spring, it will be productive of no bad results. 03 CHAP. 39. (16.)—silicia. Silicia, or, in other words, fenugreek, is sown after a light ploughing" merely, the furrows being no more than some four Bn Vicia sativa of Linnæus. Or orobus, the Ervum ervilia of Linnæus. 90 It is thought by many that the ervum is unwholesome, being produc tive of muscular weakness. The blade of it is said to act as a poison on pigs. However, we find the farina, or meal, extolled by some persons for its medicinal qualities; and if we are to trust to the advertisements in the newspapers, it is rising rapidly in esteem. See B. xxii. c. 73. From Columella, B. ii. c. 11. 9 "Scarificatio." fingers in depth; the less the pains that are bestowed upon it the better it will thrive-a singular fact that there should be anything that profits from neglect. The kinds, however, that are known assecale" and "farrago" require harrowing only. CHAP. 40.-SECALE OR ASIA. The people of Taurinum, at the foot of the Alps, give to secale the name of "asia;" it is a very inferior grain, and is only employed to avert positive famine. It is prolific, but has a straw of remarkable thinness; it is also black and sombre-looking, but weighs extremely heavy. Spelt is mixed. with this grain to modify its bitterness," and even then it is very disagreeable to the stomach. It will grow upon any soil, and yields a hundred-fold; it is employed also as a manure for enriching the land. chap. 41.—farrago: the cracca. Farrago, a mixture made of the refuse of "far," or spelt, is sown very thick, the vetch being sometimes mingled with it; in Africa, this mixture is sometimes made with barley. All these mixtures, however, are only intended for cattle, and the same is the case with the cracca," 97 a degenerate kind of leguminous plant. Pigeons, it is said, are so remarkably fond of this grain, that they will never leave the place where it has been given to them. chap. 42.—ocinum: ervelia. Among the ancients there was a sort of fodder, to which Cato" gives the name of "ocinum;" it was employed by them to stop scouring in oxen. This was a mixture of various kinds of fodder, cut green before the frosts came on. Mamilius Sura, however, explains the term differently, and says that ten modii of beans, two of vetches, and the same quantity of ervilia,** were mixed and sown in autumn on a jugerum of land. He 94 Probably the Secale cereale of Linnaeus, cultivated rye. 95 It is now held in high esteem in many parts of Europe. 96 Rye has no bitterness, and this assertion has led some to doubt if it is identical with the "secale" of Pliny. Perhaps identical with the Vicia cracca of Linnæus. 98 In c. 54 and 60, and elsewhere. See B. xvii. c. 35. 98. Probably, fitches. states, also, that it is a still better plan to mix some Greek oats with it, the grain of which never falls to the ground; this mixture, according to him, was ocinum, and was usually sown as a food for oxen. Varro informs us that it received its name on account of the celerity with which it springs up, from the Greek news, "quickly." CHAP. 43.-LUCERNE. Lucerne is by nature an exotic to Greece even, it having been first introduced into that country from Media, at the time of the Persian wars with King Darius; still it deserves to be mentioned among the very first of these productions. So superior are its qualities, that a single sowing will last more. than thirty years. It resembles trefoil in appearance, but the stalk and leaves are articulated. The longer it grows in the stalk, the narrower is the leaf. Amphilochus has devoted a whole book to this subject and the cytisus. The ground in which it is sown, being first cleaned and cleared of stones, is turned up in the autumn, after which it is ploughed and harrowed. It is then harrowed a second and a third time, at intervals of five days; after which manure is laid upon it. This seed requires either a soil that is dry, but full of nutriment, or else a well-watered one. After the ground has been thus prepared, the seed is put in in the month of May;6 for if sown earlier, it is in danger from the frosts. It is necessary to sow the seed very thick, so that all the ground may be occupied, and no room left for weeds to shoot up in the intervals; a result which may he secured by sowing twenty modii to the jugerum. The seed must be stirred at once with the rake, to prevent the sun from scorching it, and it should be covered over with earth as speedily as possible. If the soil is naturally damp or weedy, the lucerne will be overpowered, and the spot 99 Fée suggests that this may be the Avena sterilis, or else the Avena fatua of Linnæus. De Re Rust. B. i. c. 31. 2 44 Medica," in Latin, a kind of clover, the Medicago sativa of Linnæus. 3 Fee is inclined to doubt this. Pliny exggerates here: Columella, B. ii. c. 11, says, only "ten :" a field, however, sown with it will last, with a fresh sowing, as long as twenty years. See B. xiii. c. 47. 6 Columella, B. ii. c. 11, says April. degenerate into an ordinary pasture; it is necessary, therefore, directly the crop is an inch in height, to disengage it from all weeds, by hand, in preference to the weeding-hook. It is cut when it is just beginning to flower, and this is repeated as often as it throws out new blossoms; which happens mostly six times in the year, and four at the very least. Care should be taken to prevent it from running to seed, as it is much more valuable as fodder, up to the third year. It should be hoed in the spring, and cleared of all other plants; and in the third year the surface should be well worked with the weeding-hook. By adopting this method, the weeds will be effectually destroyed, though without detriment to the lucerne, in consequence of the depth of its roots. If the weeds should happen to get ahead of it, the only remedy is to turn it up repeatedly with the plough, until the roots of the weeds are thoroughly destroyed. This fodder should never be given to cattle to satiety, otherwise it may be necessary to let blood; it is best, too, when used while green. When dry, it becomes tough and ligneous, and falls away at last into a thin, useless dust. As to the cytisus, which also occupies the very foremost rank among the fodders, we have already spoken of it at sufficient length when describing the shrubs. It remains for us now to complete our account of all the cereals, and we shall here devote a portion of it to the diseases to which they are subject. 8 CHAP. 44. (17.)—the diseases of grain: the oat. The foremost feature of disease in wheat is the oat.9 Barley, too, will degenerate into the oat; so much so, in fact, that the oat has become an equivalent for corn; for the people of Germany are in the habit of sowing it, and make their porridge of nothing else. This degeneracy is owing more particularly to humidity of soil and climate; and a second cause is a weakness in the seed, the result of its being retained too long in the ground before it makes its appearance above it. The same, too, will 7 By the aid of careful watering, as many as eight to fourteen cuttings are obtained in the year, in Italy and Spain. In the north of Europe there is but one crop. 8 In B. xiii. c. 47. 9 He borrows this notion of the oat being wheat in a diseased state, from Theophrastus. Singularly enough, it was adopted by the learned Buffon. be the consequence, if the seed is decayed when put in the ground. This may be known, however, the moment it makes its appearance, from which it is quite evident that the defect lies in the root. There is another form of disease, too, which closely resembles the oat, and which supervenes when the grain, already developed to its full size, but not ripe, is struck by a noxious blast, before it has acquired its proper body and strength; in this case, the seed pines away in the ear, by a kind of abortion, as it were, and totally disappears. 12 The wind is injurious to wheat and barley, at three 10 periods of the year in particular: when they are in blossom, directly the blossom has passed off, and just as the seed is beginning to ripen. In this last case, the grain wastes away, while in the two former ones it is prevented from being developed. Gleams of sunshine, every now and then, from the midst of clouds, are injurious to corn. Maggots, too, breed 1 in the roots, when the rains that follow the seed-time are succeeded by a sudden heat, which encloses the humidity in the ground. Maggots make their appearance,12 also, in the grain, when the ear ferments through heat succeeding a fall of rain. There is a small beetle, too, known by the name of "cantharis," which eats away the blade. All these insects die, however, as soon as their nutriment fails them. Oil, pitch, and grease are prejudicial to grain, and care should be taken not to let them come in contact with the seed that is sown. Rain is only beneficial to grain while in the blade; it is injurious to wheat and barley while they are in blossom, but is not detrimental to the leguminous plants, with the exception of the chick-pea. When grain is beginning to ripen, rain is injurious, and to barley in particular. There is a white grass 15 that grows in the fields, very similar to panic in appearance, but fatal to cattle. As to 14 10 From Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. viii. c. 10. 11 This but rarely happens in our climates, as Fée remarks. 12 The grains are sometimes, though rarely, found devoured on the stalk, by a kind of larvæ. 13 Some coleopterous insect, probably, now unknown, and not the Cantharis vesicatoria, or "Spanish fly," as some have imagined. Dioscorides and Athenæus state to the same effect as Pliny. 14 The proper influence of the humidity of the earth would naturally be impeded by a coating of these substances. 15 This plant has not been identified; but none of the gramineous plants are noxious to cattle, with the exception of the seed of darnel. |