Columella: DE RE RUSTICA LIBRI XII

I. Cum de vineis conserendis librum a me scriptum, Publi Silvine, compluribus agricolationis studiosis relegisses, quosdam repertos esse ais, qui cetera quidem nostra praecepta laudassent, unum tamen atque alterum reprehendissent: quippe seminibus vineaticis nimium me profundos censuisse fieri scribes adiecto dodrante super altitudinem bipedaneam, quam Celsus et Atticus prodiderant; singulasque viviradices singulis adminiculis parum prudenter contribuisse, cum permiserint iidem illi auctores minore sumptu geminis materiis unius seminis diductis duo continua per ordinem vestire pedamenta; quae utraque reprehensio avaram magis habet aestimationem, quam veram. Etenim (ut quod prius proposui, prius refellam) si contenti bipedanea scrobe futuri sumus, quid ita censemus altius pastinare tam humili mensura vitem posituri? Dicet aliquis, ut sit inferior tenera subiacens terra, quae non arceat, nec duritie sua repellat novas irrepentes radiculas.

1. When you had reread, Publius Silvinus, the book written by me on planting vineyards, you say that certain men were found who, though they praised our other precepts, nevertheless reprehended one thing and another: namely, you will write that I judged the pits for vineyard plantings to be made too deep, with the addition of three-quarters of a foot over the two-foot depth which Celsus and Atticus had handed down; and that I somewhat imprudently assigned single live-rooted vines to single props, whereas those same authors allow, at less expense, by doubling the timbers and dividing the stock of one planting, to clothe two continuous trellis-frames in order; both criticisms have a more miserly valuation than a true one. For indeed (so that I may refute first what I proposed first), if we are going to be content with a two-foot trench, why do we think we should trench deeper when we are going to set the vine at so low a measure? Someone will say, so that there may be beneath a softer underlying earth, which will not ward off nor by its hardness repel the new little roots that creep in.

Istud quidem contingere potest etiam , si ager bipalio moveatur, et deprimatur scrobis in regesto, quod est fermentatum, plus dupondio semisse. Nam semper in plano refusius egesta humus tumidior est, quam gradus soli crudi. Nec sane positio seminum praealtum sibi cubile substerni desiderat; verum abunde est semipedaneam consitis resolutam vitibus terram subicere, quae velut hospitali atque etiam materno sinu recipiat incrementa virentium.

That indeed can happen even if the field is worked with the two-spade, and the pit is sunk into the backfill, which is “fermented,” by more than 2½; for on the level the soil that has been cast out and then more loosely poured back is always more swollen than the level of raw ground. Nor, to be sure, does the placing of the cuttings desire that an over-deep couch be laid beneath; rather, it is enough to underlay for the planted vines a half-foot of loosened soil, which, as with a hospitable and even maternal bosom, may receive the increments of the growing things.

Exemplum eius rei capiamus in arbusto, ubi cum scrobes defodimus, admodum exiguum pulveris viviradici subicimus. Verior igitur causa est depressius paastinandi, quoniam iugata vineta melius consurgunt altioribus demissa scrobibus. Nam bipedanei vix etiam provincialibus agricolis approbari possunt, apud quos humili statu vitis plerumque iuxta terram coercetur, cum quae iugo destinantur, altiore fundamento stabilienda sit, si modo, quando scandit excelsius, plus alimenti terraeque desiderat.

Let us take an example of this matter in the arbustum, where, when we dig pits, we place a very small amount of powdery soil beneath the viveradix (nursery-root). Therefore the truer cause for digging more deeply—pastination—is that yoked (trellised) vineyards rise up better with pits sunk to greater depths. For two‑foot pits can scarcely be approved even by provincial husbandmen, among whom the vine, in a low state, is for the most part coerced close to the ground; whereas that which is destined for the yoke ought to be stabilized by a higher foundation, if indeed, when it climbs more loftily, it requires more nourishment and earth.

Et ideo in maritandis arboribus nemo minorem tripedanea scrobem vitibus comparat. Ceterum illa parum prosunt agricolarum studio praecipua commoda humilis positionis, quod et celeriter adolescant semina, quae non fatigentur multo soli pressa pondere, fiantque uberiora quae leviter suspensa sint. Nam utraque ista Iulii Attici ratio convincitur exemplo arbustivae positionis, quae scilicet multo validiorem fertilioremque stirpem reddit; quod non facerent, si laborarent altius demersa semina.

And therefore, in marrying trees, no one provides for the vines a pit smaller than three feet. Moreover, those chief advantages of a low position profit the farmers’ endeavor but little: namely, that both the seedlings grow up more quickly, since they are not wearied, pressed by a great weight of soil, and that those which are lightly suspended become more fruitful. For both these arguments of Julius Atticus are refuted by the example of the arbustive position, which, to be sure, renders a stock much stronger and more fertile; which they would not do, if the seeds, sunk deeper, were to labor.

Quid, quod repastinata humus, dum est recens soluta laxataque, velut fermento quodam intumescit? Cum deinde non longissimam cepit vetustatem, condensata subsidit ac velut innatantes radices vitium summo solo destituit? Hoc autem minus accidit nostrae sationi, in qua maiore mensura vitis demittitur.

What of the fact that the repastinated soil, while it is freshly loosened and relaxed, swells, as if by a certain ferment? When thereafter it has taken on not a very long age, compacted, it subsides and, as it were, leaves the roots of the vines, floating as if on the surface, destitute upon the topmost soil? This, however, happens less with our planting, in which the vine is let down to a greater measure (deeper).

Nam quod in profundo semina frigore laborare dicuntur, non quoque non diffitemur. Sed non est dupondii et dodrantis latitudo, quae istud efficere possit, cum praesertim, quod paulo ante rettulimus, depressior arbustivae vitis satio tamen effugiat praedictum incommodum.

For as to the fact that in the profound depth the seeds are said to labor under frigidity, we do not, for our part, disown it either. But a latitude of two and three quarters is not such as to be able to effect this, since especially—as we related a little before—the more depressed planting of the arbustive vine nevertheless escapes the aforesaid incommodity.

II. Alterum illud, quod minori impensa duos palos unius seminis flagellis censent maritari, falsissimum est. Sive enim caput ipsum demortuum est, duo viduantur statumina, et mox viviradices totidem substituendae sunt, quae numero suo rationem cultoris onerant; sive vivit, et ut saepe evenit, vel nigri est generis vel parum fertilis, non in uno, sed in pluribus pedamentis fructus claudicat. Quamquam etiam generosae stirpis vitem sic in duos palos divisam rerum rusticarum prudentiores existimant minus fertilem fore, quia cratem factura sit.

2. That other notion, that with lesser expense two poles should be married to the tendrils of a single cutting, is most false. For if the stock itself is dead, the two posts are widowed, and soon just as many live-roots must be substituted, which by their number burden the cultivator’s account; or if it lives, and, as often happens, is either of the black kind or too little fertile, the yield limps not on one, but on several supports. Moreover, even a vine of noble stock divided thus onto two poles the more prudent in rural affairs reckon will be less fertile, because it will make a hurdle-work.

Et idcirco veteres vineas mergis propagare potius, quam totas sternere, idem ipse Atticus praecipit; quoniam mergi mox facile radicantur, ita ut quaeque vitis suis radicibus tamquam propriis fundamentis innitatur. Haec autem, quae toto est prostrata corpore, cum inferius solum quasi cancellavit atque irretivit, cratem facit, et pluribus radicibus inter se connexis angitur, nec aliter quam si multis palmitibus gravata deficit. Quare per omnia praetulerim duobus potius seminibus depositis, quam unico periclitari, nec id velut compendium consectari, quod in utramque partem longe maius afferre possit dispendium.

And therefore that same Atticus enjoins rather to propagate old vineyards by layers, than to lay them all entirely prostrate; since layers soon are easily rooted, so that each vine rests upon its own roots as upon proper foundations. But this vine which is cast down with its whole body, when beneath it has, as it were, latticed and ensnared the soil, makes a lattice, and is choked by many roots interconnected among themselves, and fails no otherwise than if weighed down by many shoots. Wherefore in all respects I would prefer two plants to be set down rather than to risk a single one, nor to pursue that as a saving which can bring a far greater loss in either direction.

Sed iam prioris libri disputatio repetit a nobis promissum sequentis exordium.

But now the disputation of the prior book calls for from us the promised exordium of the following book.

III. In omni genere impensarum, sicut ait Graecinus, plerique nova opera fortius auspicantur, quam tuentur perfecta. Quidam, inquit, ab inchoato domos exstruunt, nec peraedificatis cultum adhibent. Nonnulli strenue fabricant navigia, nec consummata perinde instruunt armamentis ministrisque.

3. In every kind of expenses, as Graecinus says, many inaugurate new works more stoutly than they maintain them when perfected. “Some,” he says, “build houses from the outset, and do not apply adornment to them when they are fully built. Certain others energetically fabricate ships, and, when consummated, do not likewise equip them with armaments and with crews.”

Quosdam emacitas in armentis, quosdam exercet in comparandis mancipiis: de tuendis nulla cura tangit. Multi etiam beneficia quae in amicos contulerunt, levitate destruunt. Ac ne ista, Silvine, miremur, liberos suos nonnulli nuptiis votisque quaesitos avare nutriunt, nec disciplinis aut ceteris corporis excolunt instrumentis.

Some are driven by a buying‑frenzy for herds, others are busied in procuring slaves; as for maintaining them, no care touches them. Many even destroy the benefactions which they have conferred upon friends by levity. And let us not marvel at these things, Silvinus: some nourish their own children—sought by marriage and by vows—avariciously, nor do they cultivate them with disciplines or with the other instruments of the body.

Quid iis colligitur? Scilicet plerumque simili genere peccari etiam ab agricolis, qui pulcherrime positas vineas, antequam pubescant, variis ex causis destituunt: alii sumptum annuum refugientes, et hunc primum reditum certissimum existimantes, impendere nihil, quasi plane fuerit necesse vineas facere, quas mox avaritia desererent. Nonnulli magna potius quam culta vineat possidere pulchrum esse ducunt.

What is gathered from these? Namely, that for the most part a similar kind of fault is committed even by agriculturists, who, though their vineyards are most beautifully laid out, abandon them for various causes before they come into full bearing: some, shunning the annual expense and considering this as the most certain first return—to expend nothing—as if it had been plainly necessary to make vineyards which they would soon after desert through avarice. Some deem it fine to possess a large vineyard rather than a cultivated one.

Cognovi iam pplurimos, qui persuasum haberent agrum bonis ac malis rationibus colendum. At ego, cum omne genus ruris, nisi diligenti cura sciteque exerceatur, fructuosum esse non posse iudicem, tum vel maxime vineas. Res enim est tenera, infirma, iniuriae maxime impatiens, quae plerumque nimia laboret ubertate; consumitur enim, si modum non adhibeas, fecunditate sua.

I have already come to know very many who had it persuaded that a field ought to be cultivated by good and by bad methods. But I—since I judge that every kind of rural land, unless it be exercised with diligent care and skillfully, cannot be fruitful—then most of all vineyards. For the thing is tender, infirm, most intolerant of injury, which for the most part labors under excessive ubertas; for it is consumed, if you do not apply a measure, by its own fecundity.

Cum tamen aliquatenus se confirmavit, et veluti iuvenile robur accepit, neglegentiam sustinet. Novella vero, dum adolescit, nisi omnia iusta perceperit, ad ultimam redigitur maciem, et sic intabescit, ut nullis deinceps impensis recreari possit. Igitur summa cura ponenda sunt quasi fundamenta, et ut membra infantium a primo statim die consitionis formanda; quod nisi fecerimus, omnis impensa in cassum recidat, nec praetermissa cuiusque rei tempestivitas revocari queat.

When, however, it has in some measure confirmed itself and, as it were, has received juvenile vigor, it can bear negligence. The young vine, indeed, while it grows up, unless it has received all things due, is reduced to utter leanness, and so wastes away that by no expenditures thereafter can it be restored. Therefore with utmost care the foundations must be laid, and, as the members of infants, from the very first day of planting things are to be shaped; which, unless we do, every expense falls in vain, nor can the timeliness of each matter, once passed over, be called back.

Experto mihi crede, Silvine, bene positam vineam bonique generis et bono cultore numquam non cum magno fenere gratiam reddidisse. Idque non solum ratione, sed etiam exemplo nobis idem Graecinus declarat eo libro, quem de vineis scripsit, cum refert ex patre suo saepe se audire solitum, Paridium quendam Veterensem vicinum suum duas filias et vineis consitum habuisse fundum; cuius partem tertiam nubenti maiori filiae dedisse in dotem, ac nihilo minus aeque magnos fructus ex duabus partibus eiusdem fundi percipere solitum. Minorem deinde filiam nuptum collocasse in dimidia parte reliqui agri, nec sic ex pristino reditu detraxisse.

Believe me from experience, Silvinus, a well-situated vineyard, of good stock and with a good cultivator, has never not repaid the favor with great interest. And this not only by reasoning, but also by example the same Graecinus makes clear to us in that book which he wrote on vineyards, when he reports that from his father he had often been accustomed to hear that a certain Paridius of Vetera, his neighbor, had two daughters and an estate planted with vines; and that he gave a third part of it as a dowry to his elder daughter when she married, and nonetheless was accustomed to take equally great fruits from the two parts of the same estate. Then he settled his younger daughter in marriage with half of the remaining land, nor even so did he detract from the former revenue.

Quod quid convincit? Melius scilicet postea cultam esse tertiam illam fundi partem, quam antea universam.

What does this convince us of? That, of course, that third part of the estate was afterwards better cultivated than previously the whole of it.

IV. Et nos igitur, Publi Silvine, magno animo vineas ponamus, ac maiore studio colamus. Quarum consitionis sola illa commodissima ratio est, quam priore tradidimus exordio, ut facta in pastinato scrobe, vitis a media fere parte sulci prosternatur, et ad frontem eius ab imo usque recta materies exigatur, calamoque applicetur. Id enim praecipue observandum est, ne similis sit alveo scrobis, sed ut expressis angulis velut ad perpendiculum frontes eius dirigantur.

4. And so let us also, Publius Silvinus, plant vineyards with great spirit, and cultivate them with greater zeal. Of whose planting the only most commodious method is that which we set forth in the earlier exordium: namely, that, a pastinated trench having been made, the vine be laid down from nearly the middle of the furrow, and that toward its face, from the bottom all the way up, a straight materies be drawn out and attached to a reed-stake. For this is especially to be observed, that it not be like the trough of a trench, but that, the angles expressed, its faces be directed as if to the perpendicular.

Nam vitis supina, et velut recumbens in alveo deposita, postea cum ablaqueatur, vulneribus obnoxia est. Nam dum exaltare fortius orbem ablaqueationis fossor studet, obliquam vitem plerumque sauciat, et nonnumquam praecidit. Meminerimus ergo usque ab imo scrobis solo rectum adminiculo sarmentum applicare, et ita in summum perducere.

For a vine lying supine, and as it were reclining, laid down in a trough, afterwards, when it is subjected to ablaqueation, is liable to wounds. For while the digger strives to raise more vigorously the ring of ablaqueation, he often wounds the slanting vine, and sometimes even cuts it off. Therefore let us remember to attach the shoot to a straight prop from the very bottom of the pit’s soil, and so to conduct it up to the top.

Tum cetera, ut priore libro praecepimus. Ac deinde duabus gemmis super exstantibus terram coaequare. Deinde malleolo inter ordines posito crebris fossionibus pastinatum resolvere atque in pulverem redigere.

Then the rest, as we prescribed in the prior book. And then, with two buds standing out above, level the earth. Then, the malleolus-cutting having been set between the rows, by frequent diggings loosen the trenched ground and reduce it to powder.

Sic enim optime et viviradices et reliqua semina, quae deposuerimus, convalescent, simul ac tenera humus nullis herbis irrepentibus humorem stirpibus praebuerit: nec duritia soli novellas adhuc plantas velut arto vinculo compresserit.

Thus indeed most optimally both the rootstocks and the remaining seeds which we have set down will grow strong, as soon as the tender humus, with no weeds creeping in, has furnished moisture to the stocks: nor will the hardness of the soil have compressed the still-new plants as if by a tight bond.

V. Numerus autem vertendi soli bidentibus, ut verum fatear, definiendus non est, cum quanto crebrior sit, plus fossionem conveniat. Sed quoniam impensarum ratio modum postulat, satis plerisque visum est ex Kalendis Martiis usque in Octobres trigesimo quoque die novella vineta confodere, omnesque herbas et praecipue gramina exstirpare, quae nisi manu eliguntur, et in summum reiciuntur, quantulacumque parte adobruta sunt, reviviscunt, et vitium semina ita perurunt, ut scabra atque retorrida efficiant.

5. The number, moreover, of turning the soil with bidents, to confess the truth, is not to be defined, since the more frequent it is, the more it suits the digging. But since the account of expenses demands a limit, it has seemed enough to most to dig over the young vineyards from the Kalends of March up to October on every thirtieth day, and to extirpate all herbs and especially the grasses, which, unless they are selected by hand and thrown up onto the surface, if they are buried by ever so small a part, come back to life, and they so scorch the seeds of the vines that they make them scabrous and shriveled.

VI. Ea porro sive malleolos seu viviradices deposuimus, optimum est ab initio sic formare, ut frequenti pampinatione supervacua detrahamus, nec patiamur plus quam in unam meteriam vires et omne alimentum conferre. Primo tamen bini pampini submittuntur, ut sit alter subsidio, si alter forte deciderit. Cum deinde paulum induruere virgae, tum deteriores singulae detrahuntur.

VI. Moreover, whether we have set down cuttings or live-rootings, it is best from the beginning to shape them thus: that by frequent pampination we remove what is superfluous, and do not allow the strength and all nourishment to be directed to more than a single main stock. At first, however, two shoots are permitted, so that the one may be a reserve if perchance the other should drop off. Then, when the canes have hardened a little, the inferior ones are each removed.

Ac ne quae relictae sunt procellis ventorum decutiantur, molli et laxo vinculo adsurgentes subsequi conveniet, dum claviculis suis quasi quibusdam manibus adminicula comprehendant. Hoc si operarum penuria facere prohibet in malleolo, quem et ipsum pampinare censemus, at certe in ordinariis vitibus utique obtinendum est, ne pluribus flagellis emacientur, nisi si propaginibus futuris prospiciemus; sed ut singulis materiis serviant, quarum incrementa elicere debemus, applicato longiore adminiculo, per quod prorepant in tantum, ut sequentis anni iugum exsuperent, et in fructum curvari possint. Ad quam mensuram cum increverint, cacumina infringenda sunt, ut potius crassitudine convalescant, quam supervacua longitudine attenuentur.

And lest those left behind be shaken off by the storms of the winds, it will be fitting to follow up the ones that are rising with a soft and loose bond, while with their little “clavicles” (tendrils), as with certain hands, they grasp the supports. If a scarcity of workers forbids doing this on the cutting (malleolus)—which we also judge should be leaf-pruned (pampinated)—yet certainly on the standard vines it must by all means be maintained, lest by several whiplike shoots they grow emaciated, unless we are looking ahead to future propagations; but rather that they may serve single canes, whose increments we ought to draw out, by applying a longer support, along which they may creep forward so far as to overtop the yoke of the following year, and be able to be bent into fruit. When they have increased to that measure, the tops are to be broken off, so that they may grow strong rather by thickness than be attenuated by superfluous length.

Idem tamen sarmentum, quod in materiam submittimus, ab imo usque in tres pedes et semissem pampinabimus, et omnes eius intra id spatium nepotes enatos saepius decerpemus. Quicquid deinde supra germinaverit, intactum relinqui oportebit. Magis enim convenit proximo autumno falce deputari superiorem partem, quam aestivo tempore pampinari, quoniam ex eo loco, unde nepotem ademeris, confestim alterum fundit: quo enato, nullus relinquitur oculus in ipsa materia, qui sequenti anno cum fructu germinet.

Nevertheless, the same sarment, which we are submitting into bearing material, we will pampinate from the bottom up to 3 feet and a half, and all its laterals born within that space we shall repeatedly pluck off. Whatever then shall have budded above ought to be left untouched. For it is more fitting that the upper part be cut back with the sickle in the next autumn than to be pampinated in summertime, since from the place whence you have removed a lateral it immediately pours forth another; and with that sprung, no eye is left on the very material to sprout with fruit in the following year.

VII. Omnis autem pampinationis ea est tempestivitas, dum adeo teneri palmites sunt, ut levi tactu digiti decutiantur. Nam si vehementius induruerint, atu maiore nisu convellendi sunt, aut falce deputandi; quod utrumque vitandum est. Alterum, quia lacerat matrem, si revellere coneris; alterum, quia sauciat, quod in viridi et adhuc stirpe immatura fieri noxium est.

VII. But the timeliness of all pampination is this: while the vine-shoots are so tender that they can be shaken off by a light touch of the finger. For if they have hardened more strongly, then they must be torn away with greater effort, or pruned with a sickle; both of which are to be avoided. The former, because it lacerates the mother-stock if you try to tear them off; the latter, because it wounds, which, being done on a green and still immature stem, is harmful.

Neque enim eatenus plaga consistit, qua vestigium fecit acies; sed aestivis caloribus falce vulnus penitus impressum latius inarescit ita, ut non minimam partem de ipso matris corpore enecet. Atque ideo si iam caulibus duris falcem adhiberi necesse est, [ii] paulum ab ipsa matre recedendum est, et velut reseces relinquendi sunt, qui caloris excipiant iniuriam, eatenus qua nascuntur a latere palmites. Ultra enim non serpit vaporis violentia.

For the lesion does not remain only to the extent where the edge made its trace; but in the estival heats a wound driven in deeply by the sickle scorches out more widely, so that it kills no small part of the mother’s very body. And therefore, if now it is necessary for the sickle to be applied to hard stems, [2] one must withdraw a little from the mother herself, and, as it were, stubs are to be left, which may receive the injury of the heat, to the extent to which the shoots are born from the side. For beyond that the violence of the vapor does not creep.

In malleolo similis est ratio pampinandi, et in longitudinem eliciendi materiam, si eo velimus anniculo uti, quod ego saepe feci. Sed si propositum est utique recidere, ut bimo potius utamur, cum ad unum pampinum iam redegeris, et is ipse excesserit pedalem longitudinem, decacuminare conveniet, ut in cervicem potius confirmetur et sit robustior. Atque haec positorum seminum prima cultura est.

In the case of the malleolus (vine-cutting), the method of pampinating and of drawing out the wood (materia) in length is similar, if we wish to use it as one-year-old, which I have often done. But if the plan is in any case to cut back, so that we may rather use it as two-year-old, then, when you have already reduced it to a single shoot and that very shoot has exceeded a foot in length, it will be proper to de-top it, so that it may be strengthened rather at the neck (cervix) and be more robust. And this is the first cultivation of the set cuttings.

VIII. Sequens deinde tempus, ut prodidit Celsus et Atticus, quos iure maxime nostra aetas probavit, post Idus Octobris ampliorem curam deposict. Nam prius quam frigora invadunt, vitis ablaqueanda est. Quod opus adapertas ostendit aestivas radiculas, easque prudens agricola ferro decidit.

8. The following season, as Celsus and Atticus have related—whom our age has most rightly approved—after the Ides of October demands fuller care. For before the cold spells invade, the vine must be ablaqueated. This operation shows the summer rootlets laid bare, and the prudent farmer cuts them off with iron.

Nam si passus est convalescere, inferiores decidunt, atque evenit ut vinea summa parte terreni radices agat, quae et frigore infestentur et caloribus maiorem in modum aestuent, ac vehementer sitire matrem in ortu caniculae cogant. Quare quicquid intra sesquipedem natum est, cum ablaqueaveris, recidendum est. Sed huius non eadem ratio est amputandi, quae traditur in superiore parte vitis.

For if he has allowed it to convalesce, the lower ones fall away, and it comes about that the vine sets roots in the top part of the soil, which are both infested by cold and swelter under heats to a greater degree, and they compel the mother to thirst vehemently at the rising of the Dog-star. Wherefore whatever has grown within a foot and a half, when you have dug away the soil, must be cut back. But the method of amputating this is not the same as is handed down for the upper part of the vine.

Nam minime adlevanda plaga est, minimeque applicandum ferramentum ipsi matri; quoniam si iuxta truncum radicem praecideris, aut ex cicatrice plures enascentur, aut hiemalis, quae ex pluviis consistit in lacusculis ablaqueationis aqua, brumae congelationis nova vulnera peruret, et ad medullam penetrabit. Quod ne fiat, recedere ab ipso codice instar unius digiti spatio conveniet, atque ita radiculas praecidere; quae sic ademptae non amplius pullulant, et a cetera noxa truncum defendunt. Hoc opere consummato, si est hiems in ea regione placida, patens vitis relinquenda est: sin violentior id facere nos prohibet, ante Idus Decembris praedicti lacusculi coaequandi sunt.

For the wound is by no means to be smoothed, nor is the iron implement to be applied to the mother herself; since, if you cut off a root next to the trunk, either more will be born out of the cicatrix, or the hibernal water—which from the rains settles in the little pools of the ablaqueation—the brumal congelation will sear through the new wounds and will penetrate to the marrow. Lest this happen, it will be proper to recede from the stock itself by the space of about one finger, and so to cut off the little roots; which, taken away thus, no longer pullulate, and they defend the trunk from the rest of the harm. With this work completed, if the winter in that region is mild, the vine is to be left open; but if a more violent one forbids us to do that, before the Ides of December the aforesaid little pools are to be leveled.

Si vero etiam praegelida frigora regionis eiius suspecta erunt, aliquid fimi, vel, quod est commodius, columbini stercoris, aut in hunc usum praeparatae veteris urinae senos sestarior, antequam vitem obruas, radicibus superfundes. Sed ablaqueare omnibus autumnis oportebit primo quinquennio, dum vitis convalescat; ubi vero truncus adoleverit, fere triennio intermittendus est eius operis labor. Nam et minus ferro crura vitiuim laeduntur, nec tam celeriter radiculae inveterato iam codice enascuntur.

But if even the very-icy colds of that region are to be suspected, you will pour over the roots, before you bury the vine, some manure, or, what is more convenient, pigeon dung, or six sextarii of old urine prepared for this use. But it will be proper to ablaqueate in every autumn during the first five-year period, while the vine recovers; when however the trunk has grown up, the labor of that operation is to be intermitted at about a three-year interval. For both the shanks of the vines are less injured by iron, and the little roots do not so quickly sprout from a stock now long-inveterate.

IX. Ablaqueationem deinde sequitur talis putatio, ut ex praecepto veterum auctorum vitis ad unam virgulam revocetur, duabus gemmis iuxta terram relictis. Quae putatio non debet secundum articulum fieri, ne reformidet oculus, sed medio fere internodio ea plaga obliqua falce fit, ne, si transversa fuerit cicatrix, caelestem superincidentem aquam contineat. Sed nec ad eam parte, qua est gemma, verum ad posteriorem declinetur, ut in terram potius devexa, quam in germen delacrumet.

9. Then ablaqueation is followed by such pruning, that, according to the precept of the ancient authors, the vine is reduced to a single shoot, with two buds left near the ground. This pruning ought not to be done along the joint, lest the eye take fright, but the cut is made almost in the middle of the internode with a slanting sickle, lest, if the scar be crosswise, it hold the celestial water falling upon it. And let it not incline toward that side where the bud is, but rather to the back side, so that, sloping down into the earth, it may trickle there rather than into the germ.

Namque depluens humor caecat oculum, nec patitur frondescere.

For the moisture raining down blinds the eye, nor does it allow it to leaf out.

X. Putandi autem duo sunt tempora: melius autem, ut ait Mago, vernum, antequam surculus progerminet, quoniam humoris plenus facilem plagam et levem et aequalem accipit, nec falci repugnat. Hunc autem secuti sunt Celsus et Atticus. Nobis neque angusta putatione coercenda semina videntur, nisi si admodum invalida sunt, neque utique verno recidenda.

10. There are, moreover, two times for pruning: better, however, as Mago says, the vernal season, before the shoot sprouts forth, since, being full of moisture, it receives an easy cut, both light and even, and does not resist the pruning-knife. This view, moreover, Celsus and Atticus have followed. To us, the plantings do not seem to be constrained by a narrow pruning, unless they are very weak, nor in any case to be cut back in the spring.

Sed primo quidem anno, quo sunt posita, frequentibus fossionibus omnibus mensibus dum frondent ac pampinationibus adiuvanda sunt, ut robur accipiant, nec plus quam uni materiae serviant. Quam ut educaverint, autumno vel vere, si magis competit, adradenda, et nepotibus, quos pampinator in superiore parte omiserat, liberanda censemus, atque ita in iugum imponenda. Ea enim levis et recta sine cicatrice vinea est, quae se primi anni flagello supra iugum extulit, quod tamen apud paucos agricolas et raro contingit.

But indeed in the first year, when they are set, they must be aided by frequent hoeings every month while they are in leaf and by pampinations, so that they may take on robustness, and not serve more than one piece of wood (cane). When they have brought this up, in autumn or in spring, if that suits better, we judge it should be pared down, and freed from the “grandsons” (laterals) which the pampinator had omitted in the upper part, and thus be placed upon the yoke. For that is a light and straight vine without scar, which has lifted itself above the yoke by the first year’s whip-shoot—something which, however, happens among few farmers and rarely.

Ideoque praedicti auctores primitias vitis resecare censuerunt. Sed nec utique verna omnibus regionibus melior putatio est. Nam ubi caelum frigidum est, ea sine dubio eligenda est.

And therefore the aforesaid authors judged that the first-fruits of the vine should be cut back. But vernal pruning is not in every region the better. For where the climate is cold, that is without doubt to be chosen.

Ubi vero aprica loca sunt mollesque hiemes, optima et maxime naturalis est autumnalis, quo tempore divina quadam lege et aeterna fructum cum fronde stirpes deponunt.

But where the places are sunlit and the winters mild, the autumnal pruning is best and most natural, at which time, by a certain divine and eternal law, the stocks lay down their fruit together with the frondage.

XI. Hoc facere, sive viviradicem sive malleolum conseveris, censeo. Nam illam veterem opinionem damnavit usus, non esse ferro tangendos anniculos malleolos, quoniam reformident. Quod frustra Virgilius et Saserna Stolonesque et Catones timuerunt: qui non solum in eo errabant, quod primi anni capillamenta seminum intacta patiebantur, sed et post biennium, cum viviradix recidenda erat, omnem superficiem amputabant solo tenus iuxta ipsum articulum, ut e duro pullularet.

11. I advise doing this, whether you plant a viviradix or a malleolus. For practice has condemned that old opinion, that yearling malleoli are not to be touched by iron, since they shrink from it. Which fear Vergil and Saserna and the Stolos and the Catos entertained in vain: who erred not only in this, that they allowed the first-year cuttings’ little hairlets to remain untouched, but also after two years, when the viviradix had to be cut back, they amputated the whole surface level with the soil right next to the very joint, so that it might sprout from the hard wood.

Nos autem magister artium docuit usus, primi anni malleolorum formare incrementa, nec pati vitem supervacuis frondibus luxuriantem silvescere; nec rursus in tantum coercere, quantum antiqui preaecipiebant, ut totam superficiem amputemus. Nam id quidem rationi maxime contrarium est, primum quod cum ad terram decideris, semina, velut intolerabili affecta vulnere, pleraque intereunt, nonnulla etiam, quae pertinaciter vixerunt, minus fecundas materias afferunt; siquidem e duro quae pullulant omnium confessione pampinaria saepissime fructu carent. Madia igitur ratio sequenda est, ut neque solo tenus malleolum recidamus, nec rursus in longiorem materiam provocemus; sed adnodato superioris anni pollice, supra ipsam commissuram veteris sarmenti unam vel duas gemmas relinquemus, ex quibus germinet.

But experience, a master of arts, has taught us to shape the increments of first-year cuttings, and not to allow the vine, luxuriating with superfluous leaves, to grow wild; nor again to coerce it so far as the ancients used to prescribe, that we amputate the whole surface. For that indeed is most contrary to reason: first, because when you cut it down to the ground, the shoots, as if afflicted by an intolerable wound, for the most part perish; some also, which have stubbornly survived, bring forth less fecund wood; since those which sprout from the hard wood, by the confession of all, are very often leaf-bearers and lack fruit. Therefore a middle method is to be followed, so that we neither cut the cutting level with the soil, nor, on the other hand, provoke it into longer wood; but, the “thumb” of the previous year being knotted, we will leave one or two buds above the very joint of the old cane, from which it may germinate.

XII. Putationem sequitur iam pedandae vineae cura; verum hic annus nondum vehementem palum aut ridicam desiderat; notatum est a me plerumque teneram vineam melius adminiculo modico quam vehementi palo adquiescere. Itaque aut veteres, ne novae radicem agant, arundines singulis viticulis applicabimus binas, aut si regionis conditio permittit, de vepribus hastilia, quibus adnectantur sengulae transversae perticae in unam partem ordinis: quod genus iugi canterium vocant rustici; plurimum id refert esse, quod paulum infra curvationem vitis prorepens pampinus statim apprehendat, et in transversa potius se fundat, quam in edita, ventosque facilius sustineat subnixus canterio. Idque iugum intra quartum pedem convenit allevari, dum se vinea corroboret.

12. Pruning is now followed by the care of propping the vineyard; but this year does not yet require a strong stake or a ridica; it has been noted by me that a tender vine, for the most part, settles better with a modest support than with a forceful stake. And so we will either apply to each little vine two old reeds—lest new ones take root—or, if the condition of the region permits, shafts from brambles, to which single transverse poles are fastened on one side of the row: the rustics call this kind of yoke a canterium; it matters very much that there be something which the tendril, creeping a little below the bending of the vine, may at once grasp, and that it plant itself rather upon the transverse than upon an elevated upright, and more easily withstand the winds, supported by the canterium. And it is fitting that this yoke be raised within the fourth foot, while the vine strengthens itself.

XIII. Impedationem deinde sequitur alligator. Cuius officium est ut rectam vitem producat in iugum. Quae sive iuxta palum est posita, ut quibusdam placuit auctoribus, observare debebit, qui adnectit, ne in alliganda materia flexum pali, si forte curvus est, sequendum putet - nam ea res uncam vitem facit - sive ut Attico et nonnullis aliis agricolis visum est, inter vitem et palum spatium relinquitur, quod nec mihi displicet, recta arundo adiungenda stirpi est, et ita per crebra retinacula in iugum perducenda.

13. Then impedation is followed by the binder. Whose office it is to bring the vine straight onto the yoke. And whether it is placed next to the stake, as has pleased certain authors, he who ties it ought to observe not, in binding the material, to think that the bend of the stake, if by chance it is crooked, must be followed - for that thing makes the vine hooked - or, as it has seemed to Atticus and some other farmers, a space is left between the vine and the stake, which does not displease me either, a straight reed is to be joined to the stock, and thus through frequent fastenings it is to be led onto the yoke.

Vinculi genus quale sit, quo religantur semina, plurimum refert. Nam dum novella vinea est, quam mollissimo nectenda est, quia si viminibus salicis aut ulmi ligaveris, increscens vitis se ipsa praecidit. Optima est ergo genista, vel paludibus desectus iuncus, aut ulva.

The kind of ligature by which the shoots are bound matters very much. For while the vineyard is young, it must be fastened with the softest possible tie, because if you have bound it with willow or elm withes, the vine, as it grows in, cuts itself off. Therefore the best is broom (genista), or rush cut from the marshes, or sedge.

Non pessime tamen in umbra siccata faciunt in hunc usum arundinum quoque folia.

Not badly, however, the leaves of reeds also, dried in the shade, serve for this use.

XIV. Sed et malleolorum similis cura agenda est, ut ad unam aut duas gemmas deputati autumno vel vere, prius quam germinent, iugentur. Iis, ut dixi, canterius propius a terra, quam vitibus ordinariis submittendus est; neque enim editior esse debet pedali altitudine, ut sit quem teneri adhuc pampini capreolis illigent suis, ne ventis explantentur. Insequitur deinde fossor, qui crebris bidentibus aequaliter et minutim soli terga comminuat.

14. But also care similar to that of the malleoli must be undertaken, so that, cut back to one or two gems (buds), in autumn or in spring, before they germinate, they may be joined (yoked). For these, as I said, the canterius (support-beam) must be set nearer to the ground than for ordinary vines; for it ought not to be higher than a foot in height, so that there may be something to which the still-tender vine-shoots (pampini) may bind themselves with their capreoles (tendrils), lest they be uprooted by the winds. Then there follows the digger, who with frequent bidents (two-pronged hoes) evenly and finely breaks up the backs (clods) of the soil.

Hanc planam fossuram maxime nos probamus. Nam illa, quam in Hispania hibernam appellant, cum terra vitibus detrahitur, et in media spatia interordiniorum confertur, supervacua nobis videtur, quia iam praecessit autumnalis ablaqueatio, quae nudavit summas, et ad inferiores radiculas hibernos transimist imbres. Numerus autem fossionis aut idem esse debet qui primi anni, aut una minus.

We most approve this level trenching. For that other kind, which in Spain they call “winter” trenching, when the earth is drawn off from the vines and heaped into the middle spaces of the inter-rows, seems superfluous to us, because the autumnal ablaqueation has already preceded, which laid bare the upper parts and conveyed the winter showers to the lower rootlets. Moreover, the number of hoeings ought to be either the same as in the first year, or less by one.

Nam utique frequenter solum exercendum est, dum id incremento suo vites inumbrent, nec patiantur herbam subcrescere. Pampinationis eadem debet esse ratio huius anni atque prioris. Adhuc enim compescenda quasi pueritia seminum est, nec plus quam in unum flagellum est submittenda; tanto quidem magis quod tenera eius aetas non sustinet et fetu et materiis onerari.

For indeed the soil must be frequently exercised (cultivated), while the vines with their own increase overshadow it, and they should not allow herbage to grow up beneath. The same rule of pampination (leaf‑stripping) ought to be observed in this year as in the previous. For as yet the, as it were, boyhood of the shoots must be checked, and no more than one cane should be left; all the more because its tender age cannot sustain being burdened both with fruit and with wood.

XV. Sed cum annicula mensiumque sex ad vindemiam perducta est, sublato fructu protinus frequentanda est, et praesidiarii malleoli propagandi sunt, qui in hunc usum fuerant depositi; vel, si ne hi quidem sunt, ex ordinaria vite in alterumi palum mergus est attrahendus. Nam plurimum interest adhuc mova consitione pedamen omne vestiri, nec mox vineam tum subseri, cum fructus capiendus est. Mergi genus est, ubi supra terram iuxta suum adminiculum vitis curvatur, atque ex alto scrobe submersa perducitur ad vacantem palum: tum ex arcu vehementer citat materiam, quae protinus applicata suo pedamento ad iugum evocatur.

15. But when, being a little yearling and six months, it has been brought up to the vintage, with the fruit removed it must at once be gone over frequently, and the presidiary cuttings (malleoli) that had been set aside for this use must be propagated; or, if not even these are at hand, from an ordinary vine a layer must be drawn to another stake. For it matters very much, while the planting is still new, that every prop be clothed, and that the vineyard not be undersown then, when the fruit is to be gathered. The kind of layering is this: where above the ground, next to its own support, the vine is bent, and, submerged from a deep trench, is led through to a vacant stake; then from the arching bend it vigorously quickens the wood, which, once applied at once to its own prop, is called out to the yoke.

Sequente deinde anno insecatur superior pars curvaturae usque ad medullam, ne totas vires matris propagatum flagellum in se trahat, et ut paulatim condiscat suis radicibus ali. Bima deinde praeciditur proxime palmam, quae ex arcu submissa est. Et id quod a matre abscissum recessit, confestim alte circumfoditur, et scrobiculo facto ad imum solum praeciditur adobruiturque, ut et radices deorsum agat, nec ex propinquo neglegenter in summa terra resectum progerminet.

Then, in the following year, the upper part of the curvature is incised down to the medulla, lest the propagated whip draw all the mother’s forces into itself, and so that it may gradually learn to be nourished by its own roots. Then, in its second year, that shoot which was let down from the arch is cut back to about a palm’s breadth. And that which, having been cut off from the mother, has been separated, is immediately trenched deeply all around; and, a little pit having been made, it is cut at the very bottom soil and covered over, so that it may both drive its roots downward, and not sprout on from nearby, carelessly trimmed in the topmost earth.

Tempus autem non aliud magis idoneum est hunc mergum amputandi, quam ab Idibus Octob. in Idus Novemb. ut hibernis mensibus suas radices confirmet.

But no other time is more suitable for amputating this mergus than from the Ides of October to the Ides of November, so that in the winter months it may strengthen its roots.

Nam si vere id fecerimus, quo gemmare palmites incipiunt, matris alimentis subito destitutus languescit.

For if we do this in spring, when the vine-shoots begin to bud, suddenly deprived of the mother’s aliment, it languishes.

XVI. Eadem ratio est in transferendo malleolo. Nam in secundo autumno, si caeli et loci qualitas patitur, commodissime post Idus Octobris exemptus conseritur; sin autem aliqua terrae vel aeris repugnat iniuria, tempestivitas eius in proximum ver differtur. Neque diutius in vineis relinquendus est, ne soli vires absumat et ordinaria semina infestet; quae quanto celerius liberata sunt consortio viviradicum, tanto facilius convalescunt.

16. The same rule holds in transferring the slip. For in the second autumn, if the quality of the sky and the place permits, most conveniently after the Ides of October, once taken up, it is planted; but if some injury of the soil or of the air resists, its seasonableness is deferred to the next spring. Nor must it be left longer in the vineyards, lest it consume the powers of the soil and infest the regular plantings; which, the more quickly they are freed from consortium with the living roots, the more easily they recover.

At in seminario licet trimam atque etiam quadrimam vitem resectam vel anguste putatam custodire, quoniam non consulitur vindemiae. Cum mensem trigesimum excessit posita vinea, id est tertio autumno, vehementioribus statuminibus statim impedanda est, idque non ut libet aut fortuito faciendum. Nam sive prope truncum defigitur palus, pedali tamen spatio recedendum est, ne aut premat radicem aut vulneret, et ut fossor tamen ab omni parte semina circumfodiat; isque palus sic ponendus est, ut frigorum et Aquilonum excipiat violentiam vitemque protegat; sive medio interordinio pangetur, vel defodiendus est, vel prius paxillo perforato solo, altius adigendus, quo facilius et iugum et fructum sustineat.

But in the nursery it is permitted to keep a three-year-old and even a four-year-old vine cut back or narrowly pruned, since no regard is had to the vintage. When the planted vine has passed the thirtieth month, that is, in the third autumn, it must at once be secured with stronger stakes, and this is not to be done as one pleases or by chance. For whether the stake is fixed near the trunk, nevertheless a foot of space must be left, lest it either press the root or wound it, and so that the digger may dig around the plants on every side; and the stake must be set thus, that it may take the violence of cold and of the north winds and protect the vine; or, if it is planted in the middle of the inter-row, it must either be sunk, or, the soil first pierced with a little peg, be driven in deeper, so that it may more easily sustain both the yoke and the fruit.

Nam quanto propius truncum ridica statuitur, etiam leviter defixa stabilior est: quoniam contingens vitem mutua vice sustinetur et sustinet. Statuminibus deinde firmiora iuga sunt alliganda, eaque vel saligneis perticis vel compluribus quasi fasciculis arundinum connectuntur, ut rigorem habeant, nec pandentur onere fructuum. Nam binae iam materiae singulis seminibus submittendae erunt: nisi si tamen gracilitas vitis alicuius angustiorem putationem desiderabit, cuius unus palmes atque idem paucorum oculorum erit relinquendus.

Now the closer the prop-stake is set to the trunk, even if lightly driven in it is steadier: since, touching the vine, by mutual reciprocity it is supported and supports. Next, to the stakes stronger yokes are to be bound, and these are connected either with willow poles or with several, as it were, bundles of reeds, so that they may have rigidity and not be splayed by the burden of the fruits. For by now two canes must be set under each seedling; unless, however, the slenderness of some vine should require a narrower pruning, for which one shoot only, and that of few eyes, is to be left.

XVII. Perticae iugum firmius faciunt, minusque operosum. Arundines pluribus operis iugantur, quoniam et pluribus locis nectuntur. Eaeque inter se conversis cacuminibus vinciendae sunt, ut aequalis crassitudo totius iugi sit.

17. Poles make the yoke (trellis) firmer, and less laborious. Reeds are yoked with more work, since they are connected in more places. And they must be bound to each other with their tips turned opposite, so that the thickness of the whole yoke may be equal.

Nam si cacumina in unum competunt, imbecillitas eius partis gravata pondere iam maturum fructum prosternit et canibus ferisque reddit obnoxium. At cum iugum in fascem pluribus arundinibus alterna cacuminum vice ordinatum est, fere quinquennii praebet usum. Neque enim est alia ratio putationis aut ceterae culturae, quam quae primi biennii.

For if the tips converge into one, the weakness of that part, burdened by the weight, already casts down the ripe fruit and makes it liable to dogs and wild beasts. But when the yoke has been arranged into a bundle with several reeds, in an alternating order of the tips, it affords use for nearly five years. For there is no other method of pruning or of the rest of the cultivation than that of the first biennium.

Nam et autumnalis adlaqueatio sedulo facienda, nec minus vacantibus palis propagines applicandae. Hoc enim opus numquam intermittendum est, quin omnibus instauretur annis. Neque enim ea quae seruuntur a nobis immortalia esse possunt.

For both the autumnal watering must be done sedulously, and no less must propagules be applied to the vacant pales. For this work must never be intermitted, but rather be renewed every year. For the things which are preserved by us cannot be immortal.

Attamen aeternitati eorum sic consulimus, ut demortuis seminibus alia substituamus; nec ad occidionem universum genus perduci patimur complurium annorum neglegentia. Quin etiam crebrae fossiones dandae, quamvis una possit detrahi culturae prioris anni. Pampinationes quoque saepe adhibendae.

Yet we thus provide for their eternity, that, when the seeds have died, we substitute others; nor do we allow the whole kind to be brought to slaughter/destruction by the negligence of several years. Nay rather, frequent diggings must be given, although one may be deducted on account of the cultivation of the previous year. Pampinations also must often be applied.

Neque enim satis est semel aut iterum tota aestate viti detrahere frondem supervacuam. Praecipue autem decutienda sunt omnia, quae infra trunci caput egerminaverint. Item si oculi singuli sub iugo binos pampinos emiserint, quamvis largos fructus ostendant, detrahendi sunt singuli palmites, quo laetior quae superest materia consurgat et reliquum melius educet fructum.

Nor indeed is it enough, once or twice in the whole summer, to strip from the vine the superfluous foliage. But above all, everything that has sprouted below the head of the trunk must be shaken off. Likewise, if single eyes under the yoke have sent forth two pampins (leafy shoots), although they display abundant fruits, single shoots must be removed, in order that the material (wood) which remains may spring up more luxuriant and may bring forth the remaining fruit better.

Post quadragesimum et alterum mensem percepta vindemia sic instituenda est putatio, ut submissis pluribus flagellis vitis in stellam dividatur. Sed putatoris officium est pedali fere spatio citra iugum vitem compescere, ut e capite, quicquid teneri est, per brachia emissum provocetur, et per iugum inflexum praecipitetur ad eam mensuram, quae terram non possit contingere. Sed modus pro viribus trunci servandus est, ne plures palmites submittantur quam quibus vitis sufficere queat.

After the forty-first day, once the vintage has been received, the pruning must be arranged thus: with several canes let down, the vine is to be divided into a star. But it is the pruner’s office to restrain the vine at nearly a foot’s space short of the yoke, so that from the head, whatever is tender, sent out through the arms may be encouraged, and, bent over along the yoke, may be directed downward to such a measure as cannot touch the ground. But a moderation proportioned to the strength of the trunk must be observed, lest more shoots be let down than the vine can suffice to support.

fere autem praedicta aetas laeto solo truncoque tres materias, raro quattuor desiderat, quae per totidem partes ab alligatore dividi debent. Nihil enim refert iugum in stellam decussari atque diduci, nisi et palmites adiungentur. Quam tamen formam non omnes agricolae probaverunt: nam multi simplici ordine fuere contenti.

generally, moreover, the aforesaid age, with rich soil and a vigorous trunk, requires three canes, rarely four, which ought to be divided by the tier into just as many parts. For it avails nothing for the yoke to be decussated and drawn out into a star, unless the vine-shoots also are attached. Which form, however, not all farmers approved: for many were content with a simple arrangement.

Verum stabilior est vinea et oneri sarmentorum et fructui ferendo, quae ex utraque parte iugo devincta pari libramento velut ancoris quibusdam distinetur. Tum etiam per plura brachia materias diffundit, et facilius eas explicat undique subnixa, quam quae in simplici canterio frequentibus palmitibus stipatur. Potest tamen, si vel parum late disposita vinea vel parum fructuosa caelumque non turbidum nec procellosum habeat, uno iugo contenta esse.

But a vineyard is more stable, both for bearing the burden of canes and for carrying fruit, when it is bound to the yoke from either side and is held apart by equal equilibrium, as if by certain anchors. Then too it spreads the canes along more arms, and more easily unfolds them, being supported on all sides, than one which, on a simple rafter, is packed with frequent shoots. Nevertheless, if the vineyard is laid out somewhat narrowly or is rather unfruitful and has a sky that is neither turbid nor tempestuous, it can be content with a single yoke.

Nam ubi magna vis et incursus est pluviarum procellarumque, ubi frequentibus aquis vitis labefactatur, ubi praecipitibus clivis velut pendens plurima praesidia desiderat: ibi quasi quadrato circumfirmanda est agmine. Calidis vero et siccioribus locis in omnem partem iugum porrigendum est, ut prorepentes undique pampini iungantur, et condensati camerae more, terram sitientem obumbrent. Contra pluviis et frigidis et pruinosis regionibus simplices ordines instituendi: nam et sic facilius insolatur humus, et fructus percoquitur, perflatumque salubriorem habet: fossores quoque liberius et aptius iactant bidentes, meliusque perspicitur a custodibus fructus, et commodius legitur a vindemiatore.

For where there is a great force and incursion of rains and tempests, where with frequent waters the vine is shaken loose, where on precipitous slopes, as if hanging, it requires very many safeguards: there it must be secured all around as if with a square formation. But in hot and drier places the yoke should be stretched out in every direction, so that the creeping tendrils joining from all sides, compacted in the manner of a vaulted ceiling, may shade the thirsty earth. By contrast, in rainy and cold and frosty regions simple rows are to be established: for thus the soil is more easily sun-warmed, and the fruit is thoroughly ripened, and it has a healthier airflow: the diggers too more freely and more fitly ply the two-toothed hoes, and the fruit is better seen by the guards, and more conveniently gathered by the grape-harvester.

XVIII. Sed quoquo vineta placuerit ordinare, centenae stirpes per singulos hortos semitis distinguantur; vel, ut quibusdam placet, in semiiugera omnis modus dirimatur. Quae distinctio praeter illud commodum, quod plus solis et venti vitibus praebet, tum etiam oculos et vestigia domini, res agro saluberrimas, facilius admittit, certamque aestimationem in exigendis operibus praebet. Neque enim falli possumus per paria intervalla iugeribus divisis.

18. But however it may please one to arrange the vineyards, let hundreds of stocks be distinguished by paths through each individual garden-plot; or, as it pleases some, let every measure be divided into half-iugera. Which distinction, besides that commodity that it affords more sun and wind to the vines, then also more easily admits the eyes and the footsteps of the master—things most salubrious for a field—and it provides a sure estimation in exacting works. For we cannot be deceived when the iugera are divided by equal intervals.

Quin etiam ipsa hortulorum descriptio quanto est minoribus modulis concisa, fatigationem veluti minuit, exstimulatque eos qui opera moliuntur, et ad festinandum invitat. Nam fere vastitas instantis laboris animos debilitat. Non nihil etiam prodest vires et proventum cuiusque partis vinearum nosse, ut aestimemus, quae magis aut minus colenda sint.

Indeed, the very description of the gardens, the more it is cut up into smaller modules, as it were diminishes fatigue, and it stimulates those who are undertaking the works, and invites to hasten. For generally the vastness of the labor at hand debilitates spirits. It also does no little good to know the strengths and the yield of each part of the vineyards, so that we may estimate which should be cultivated more or less.

Vindemiatoribus quoque hae semitae et iugum pedamentaque sarcientibus opportunam laxitatem praebent, per quam vel frctus vel statumina portentur.

These paths also provide convenient leeway for the grape-harvesters and for those patching the yoke and the props, through which either the fruit or the stakes may be carried.

XIX. De positione iugi, quatenus a terra levandum sit, hoc dixisse abunde est: humillimam esse quattuor pedum, delsissimam septem. Quae tamen in novellis seminibus vitanda est. Neque enim haec prima constitutio vinearum esse debet, sed per annorum longam seriem ad hanc altitudinem vitis perducenda est.

19. On the placement of the yoke, how far it ought to be lifted from the ground, it is enough to have said this: the very lowest is of four feet, the very highest seven. The latter, however, is to be avoided in young plantings. For this should not be the first establishment of vineyards, but over a long series of years the vine must be brought to this height.

Ceterum quanto humidius est solum et caelum, placidioresque venti, tanto est altius attollendum iugum. Nam laetitia vitium patitur celsis evocari, fructusque submotus a terra minus putrescit; et hoc uno modo perflatur ventis, qui nebulam et rorem pestiferum celeriter adsiccant, multumque ad deflirescendum et ad bonitatem vini conferunt. Rursus exilis terra et acclivis torrensque aestu, vel quae vehementibus procellis obnoxia est, humilius iugum poscit.

Moreover, the more humid the soil and sky are, and the more placid the winds, by so much the higher the yoke (trellis) must be lifted. For the luxuriance of the vine allows it to be summoned to the heights, and the fruit, removed from the earth, rots less; and in this one way it is swept through by the winds, which quickly dry the mist and pestiferous dew, and they contribute much both to deflorescence and to the goodness of the wine. Conversely, a meager soil, and a slope torrid with heat, or that which is subject to vehement tempests, asks for a lower yoke.

At si cuncta competunt voto, iusta est altitudo vineae pedum quinque; nec tamen dubium, quin vites tanto melioris saporis praebeant mustum, quanto in editiora iuga consurgunt.

But if all things concur with the desire, the just altitude of the vineyard is five feet; nor, however, is it doubtful that the vines furnish must of so much better savor, the higher they rise to more elevated yokes.

XX. Pedatam vienam iugatamque sequitur alligatoris cura, cui antiquissimum esse debet, ut supra dixi, rectam conservare stirpem, nec flexum ridicae persequi, ne pravitas statuminum ad similitudinem sui vitem configuret. Id non solum ad speciem plurimum refert, sed ad ubertatem et firmitatem perpetuitatemque. Nam rectus truncus similem sui medullam gerit, per quam velut quodam itinere sine flexu atque impedimento facilius terrae matris alimenta meant, et ad summum perveniunt.

20. After the vine has been foot-measured and yoked, the care of the binder follows, whose most ancient duty ought to be, as I said above, to preserve the stock straight, and not to pursue the bend of the ridge, lest the crookedness of the posts configure the vine to a likeness of itself. This matters very much not only for appearance, but for abundance, firmness, and perpetuity. For a straight trunk bears a pith like unto itself, through which, as by a certain pathway, without bend and impediment, the nourishments of mother earth more easily pass and reach the top.

At quae curvae sunt et distortae, non aequaliter alliduntur inhibentibus nodis, et ipso flexu cursum terreni humoris veluti salebris retardante. Quare cum ad summum palum recta vitis extenta est, capistro constringitur, ne fetu gravata subsidat curveturque. Tum ex eo loco quod proximum iugo ligatum est, brachia disponuntur in diversas partes, palmaeque superpositae deorsum versus curvantur vinculo.

But those which are curved and distorted are not pressed evenly by the restraining knots, and by the very bend the course of the earthy moisture is delayed, as if by ruts. Wherefore, when the straight vine has been stretched to the top of the stake, it is bound fast with a halter, lest, weighed down by its fruit, it subside and be bent. Then from that place which is tied nearest to the yoke, the arms are arranged in different directions, and the palms set above are bent downward with a ligature.

Itaque id quod iugo dependet, fructu impletur; rursusque curvatura iuxta vinculum materiam exprimit. uidam eam partem, quam nos praecipitamus, supra iugum porrigunt, et crebris viminibus innexis continent; quos ego minime probandos puto. Nam dependentibus palmitibus neque pluviae neque pruinae grandinesve tantum nocent, quantum religatis et quasi tempestatibus oppositis.

Therefore that which hangs from the yoke is filled with fruit; and, in turn, the curvature next to the bond expresses the matter (sap). Certain men stretch that part, which we cast down, above the yoke, and they hold it with frequent withes interlaced; whom I think by no means to be approved. For with the vine-shoots hanging, neither rains nor hoarfrosts nor hailstones do so much harm as to those bound and, as it were, set in opposition to the tempests.

Iidem tamen palmites prius quam fructus mitescant, variantibus adhuc et acerbis uvis, religari debent, quo minus roribus queant putrescere, aut ventis ferisve vastentur. Iuxta decumanum atque semitas palmites intrinsecus flectendi sunt, ne praetereuntium incursu laedantur. Et hac quidem ratione tempestiva vitis perducitur ad iugum.

The same shoots, however, before the fruit mellows, while the grapes are still varying and unripe, ought to be tied again, so that they may be less able to rot from dews, or be ravaged by winds or wild beasts. Along the decuman line and the footpaths the shoots must be bent inward, lest they be harmed by the incursion of passers-by. And by this method indeed the vine in due season is brought to the yoke.

Nam quae vel infirma vel brevis est, ad duas gemmas recidenda est, quo vehementiorem fundat materiam, quae protinus emicet in iugum.

For that which is either infirm or short must be cut back to two buds, so that it may pour forth more vigorous material (wood), which straightway may spring out to the yoke.

XXI. Quinquennis vineae non alia est putatio, quam ut figuretur, quemadmodum institui dicere supra, neve supervagetur; sed ut caput trunci pedali fere spatio sit inferius iugo, quaternisque brachiis, quae duramenta quidam vocant, dividatur in totidem partes. haec brachia sat erit interim singulis palmitibus in fructum submitti, donec vineae iusti sint roboris. Cum aliquot deinde annis, quasi iuvenilem aetatem ceperint, quot palmites relinqui debeant, incertum est.

21. The pruning of a five-year-old vine is no other than that it be figured (shaped), as I set out to say above, and that it not over-wander; but that the head of the trunk be at about a foot below the yoke, and be divided, with four arms—which some call duramenta—into the same number of parts. These arms it will be enough, for the time being, to furnish with single shoots for fruit, until the vines are of proper (just) strength. When after several years they have, as it were, entered their youthful age, how many shoots ought to be left is uncertain.

Nam loci laetitia plures, exilitas pauciores desiderat. Siquidem luxuriosa vitis nisi fructu compescitur, male deflorescit, et in materiam frondemque effunditur; infirma rursus, cum onerata est, affligitur. Itaque pingui terra singulis brachiis licebit bina iniungere flagella, nec tamen numerosius onerare, quam ut na vitis octo serviat palmitibus; nisi si admodum nimia ubertas plures postulabit.

For the fertility of the place demands more, its exility (meagerness) fewer. Indeed, the luxuriant vine, unless it is checked by fruit, badly defloresces, and pours itself into material (wood) and frondage; the infirm one, in turn, when it is loaded, is afflicted. Therefore, in fat earth it will be permitted to yoke two flagella (canes) to each arm, yet not to burden it more numerously than that one vine should serve eight shoots; unless, if an exceedingly excessive abundance shall demand more.

Illa enim pergulae magis, quam vineae figuram obtinet, quae supra hunc modum materiis distenditur. Nec debemus committere, ut brachia pleniora trunco sint, verum assidue, cum modo e lateribus eorum flagella licuerit submittere, amputanda erunt superiora duramenta, ne iuguum excedant; sed novellis palmis semper vitis renovetur. Quae si satis excreverint, iugo superponantur; sin aliqua earum vel praefracta, vel parum procera fuerit locumque idoneum obtinebit, unde vitis anno sequenti renovari debeat, in pollicem tondeatur, quem quidam custodem, alii resecem, nonnulli praesidiarium appellant, id est, sarmentum gemmarum duarum vel trium, ex quo cum processere frugiferae materiae, quicquid est supra vetusti brachii amputatur, et ita ex novello palmite vitis pullulascit.

For that vine which is stretched out with timbers beyond this measure assumes the figure more of a pergola than of a vineyard. Nor ought we to allow the arms to be fuller than the trunk; rather, continually, whenever it is permitted to train down whips/canes from their sides, the upper “duramenta” must be cut off, lest they exceed the yoke; but let the vine always be renewed by young shoots. If these have grown enough, let them be superposed upon the yoke; but if any of them has either been broken off beforehand, or is too short, and it will hold a suitable place whence the vine ought to be renewed the following year, let it be clipped to a thumb’s length, which some call a “custodian,” others a “resec,” and some a “praesidiary,” that is, a cane of two or three buds, from which, when the fruit-bearing materials have come forth, whatever is above the old arm is cut off, and thus from the new shoot the vine puts forth new growth.

Atque haec ratio bene institutarum vinearum in perpetuum custodienda erit.

And this method of well-established vineyards must be kept in perpetuity.

XXII. Si vero aliter formatas acceperimus vineas, et multorum annorum neglegentia supervenerint iugum, considerandum erit, cuius longitudinis sint duramina, quae excedunt praedictam mensuram. Nam si duorum pedum aut paulo amplius fuerint, poterit adhuc universa vinea sub iugum mitti, si tamen palus trunco est applicitus. Is enim a vite submovetur, et in medio spatio duorum ordinum ad lineam pangitur; transversa deinde vitis ad statumen perducitur atque ita iugo subicitur.

22. But if we have received vines formed otherwise, and the neglect of many years has overrun the yoke, it must be considered of what length are the duraments which exceed the aforesaid measure. For if they are of two feet or a little more, the whole vine can still be sent under the yoke, provided, however, that the stake is applied to the trunk. For it is removed from the vine, and is planted to the line in the middle space of the two rows; then the vine is led crosswise to the prop and thus is subjected to the yoke.

At si duramenta eius longius excesserint, ut in quartum aut etiam in quintum statumen prorepsserint, maiore sumptu restituetur. Mergis namque, qui nobis maxime placent, propagata celerrime provenit. Hoc tamen si vetus et exesa est superficies trunci; at si robusta et integra, minorem operam desiderat.

But if its hardwoods have exceeded farther, so that they have crept on into the fourth or even the fifth post, it will be restored at greater expense. For by mergings (layerings), which most please us, the propagated vine comes on very swiftly. This, however, is the case if the surface of the trunk is old and eaten away; but if it is robust and entire, it requires less labor.

Quippe hiberno tempore ablaqueata fimo satiatur, angusteque deputatur, et intere quartum ac tertium pedem a terra viridissima parte corticis acuto mucrone ferramenti vulneratur. Frequentibus deinde fossuris terra permiscetur, ut incitari vitis possit, et ab ea maxime parte, quae vulnerata est, pampinum fundere. Plerumque autem germen de cicatrice procedit, quod sive pongius prosiluerit, in flagellum submittitur, sive brevius, in pollicem, sive admodum exiguum, in furunculum: is ex quolibet vel minimo capillamento fieri potest.

Indeed, in the hibernal season, after being ablaqueated it is satiated with dung, and it is pruned narrowly; and between the fourth and the third foot from the ground it is wounded, in the very green part of the bark, with the sharp point of the iron. Then, with frequent trenchings the soil is thoroughly intermixed, so that the vine may be incited, and especially from that part which has been wounded to pour forth a pampinous shoot. For the most part, however, the bud proceeds from the scar, which, if it has leapt forth longer, is trained into a flagellum; if shorter, into a thumb; if very small indeed, into a little furuncle: this can be made from any capillament, even the least.

Nam ubi unius aut alterius folii pampinus prorepsit e duro, dummodo ad maturitatem perveniat, sequente vere si non annodatus neque adrasus est, vehementem fundit materiam: quae cum convaluit et quasi brachium fecit, licet tunc supervagatam partem duramenti recidere, et ita reliquam iugo subicere. Multi sequentes compendium temporis, tales vineas supra quartum pedem detruncant, nihil reformidantes eiusmodi resectionem: quoniam fere plurimarum stirpium natura sic se commodat, ut iuxta cicatricem novellis frondibus repullescant. Sed haec quidem ratio minime nobis placet, siquidem vastior plaga nisi habeat superpositam valentem materiam, qua possit inolescere, solis halitu torretur; mox deinde roribus et imbribus putrescit.

For when the vine-shoot of one or of another leaf has crept forth from the hard wood, provided it attains to maturity, in the following spring, if it has been neither knotted nor shaved back, it pours out vehement material; which, when it has convalesced and has, as it were, made a brachium (arm), it is then permitted to cut off the over-ranging portion of the hard wood, and so to subject the remainder to the yoke. Many, pursuing a saving of time, truncate such vines above the fourth foot, fearing nothing from a resection of this sort: since the nature of very many stocks accommodates itself thus, that beside the cicatrix they sprout again with new fronds. But this method by no means pleases us, since a more extensive lesion, unless it have superposed upon it strong material by which it may ingrow, is parched by the halitus of the sun; soon thereafter, from dews and rains, it putrefies.

Attamen cum est utique vinea recidenda, prius ablaqueare, deinde paulum infra terram convenit amputare, ut superiecta humus vim solis arceat, et e radicibus novellos prorumpentes caules transmittat, qui possint vel sua maritare statumina, vel siqua sunt vidua in propinquo, propaginibus vestire. Haec autem ita fieri debebunt, si vineae altius positae nec in summo labantes radices habebunt, et si boni generis erunt. Namque aliter incassum dependitur opera, quoniam degeneres etiam renovatae pristinum servabunt ingenium; at quae summa parte terrae, vix adhaerebunt, et deficient ante quam convalescant.

Nevertheless, when the vine is in any case to be cut back, it is proper first to trench around, then to amputate a little below the ground, so that the superimposed earth may ward off the force of the sun and may transmit from the roots the young shoots bursting forth, which can either marry their own stakes, or, if there are any widowed ones nearby, clothe them with layerings. But these things ought to be done thus, if the vines will be set deeper and will not have roots wavering on the surface, and if they will be of good stock. For otherwise the labor is expended in vain, since the degenerate, even when renewed, will keep their former nature; and those which, at the top part of the earth, will scarcely cling, will fail before they grow strong.

Altera ergo vinea fructuosis potius surculis inserenda erit, altera funditus exstirpanda et reserenda, si modo soli bonitas suadebit. Cuius cum vitio consenuit, nullo modo restituendam censemus. Loci porro vitia sunt, quae fere ad internecionem vineta perducunt, macies et sterilitas terrae, salsa vel amara uligo, praeceps et praerupta positio, nimium opaca et soli aversa vallis, arenosus etiam tofus, vel plus iusto ieiunus sabulo, nec minus terreno carens ac nuda glarea, et siqua est proprietas similis, quae vitem non alit.

Therefore, one vineyard will have to be grafted rather with fruitful shoots, the other utterly extirpated and replanted, if only the goodness of the soil will recommend it. When it has grown old together with the soil’s defect, we judge it by no means to be restored. Moreover, the vices of the place, which almost bring vineyards to extermination, are: meagerness and sterility of the earth; saline or bitter damp; a headlong and precipitous position; a valley too opaque (shady) and averse to the sun; even sandy tufa; or more than is just lean in sand; and, no less, gravel bare and lacking soil; and any similar property which does not nourish the vine.

Ceterum si vacat his et horum similibus incommodis, potest ea ratione fieri restibilis vinea, quam priore libor praecepimus. Illa rursus mali generis vineta, quae quamvis robusta sint, propter sterilitatem fructu carent, ut diximus, emendantur insitione facta, da qua suo loco disseremus, cum ad eam disputationem pervenerimus.

Moreover, if it is free from these inconveniences and from similar ones, the vineyard can be made restorable by that method which we prescribed in the previous book. Those vineyards, on the other hand, of a bad kind, which, although robust, lack fruit because of sterility, as we have said, are emended by insition (grafting), about which we shall discourse in its proper place, when we have come to that discussion.

XXIII. Nunc quoniam parum videmur de putatione vinearum locuti, maxime necessariam partem propositi operis diligentius persequemur. Placet ergo, si mitis ac temperata permittit in ea regione, quam colimus, caeli clementia, facta vindemia secundum Idus Octobris auspicari putationem: cum tamen aequinoctiales pluviae praecesserint, et sarmenta iustam maturitatem ceperint. Nam siccitas seriorem putationem facit.

23. Now, since we seem to have spoken too little about the pruning of vineyards, we will pursue more diligently the most necessary part of the proposed work. Accordingly, if the mild and temperate clemency of the sky permits in the region which we cultivate, with the vintage finished, we should inaugurate the pruning right after the Ides of October; provided, however, that the equinoctial rains have gone before, and the canes have taken on proper maturity. For drought makes the pruning later.

Sin autem caeli status frigidus et pruinosus hiemis violentiam denuntiat, in Idus Febr. han curam differemus. Atque id licebit facere, si erit exiguus possessionis modus: nam ubi ruris vastitas electionem nobis temporis negat, valentissimam quamque partem vineti frigoribus, macerrimam vere vel autumno, quin etiam per brumam meridiano axi oppositas vites, aquiloni, per ver et autumnum deputari conveniet.

But if the state of the sky, frigid and frosty, announces the violence of winter, we shall defer this care to the Ides of February. And it will be permitted to do this, if the measure of the possession is exiguous; for where the vastness of the countryside denies us an election of time, it will be fitting that each very strongest part of the vineyard be pruned in the frosts, the most lean in spring or in autumn; nay even, through bruma, the vines set opposite to the meridian axis, exposed to Aquilo, should be pruned, and in spring and autumn the rest.

Nec dubium quin sit horum virgultorum natura talis, ut quanto maturius detonsa sint, plus materiae, quanto serius, plus fructus efferant.

Nor is there any doubt that the nature of these shoots is such that, the earlier they are shorn, the more material they produce; the later, the more fruit they bear.

XXIV. Quandoque igitur vinitor hoc opus obibit, tria praecipue custodiat. Primum, ut quam maxime fructui consulat. Deinde, ut in annum sequentem quam laetissimas iam hinc eligat materias; tum etiam, ut quam longissimam perennitatem stirpi acquirat.

24. Whenever therefore the vinedresser will undertake this work, let him especially observe three things. First, that he look out as much as possible for the fruit. Then, that for the following year he already from here choose the most luxuriant materials; then also, that he acquire the longest possible perennity for the stock.

Nam quicquid ex his omittitur, magnum affert domino dispendium. Vitis autem cum sit per quattuor divisa partes, totidem caeli regiones aspicit. Quae declinationes cum contrarias inter se qualitates habeant, variam quoque postulant ordinationem pro conditione suae positionis in partibus vitium.

For whatever of these is omitted brings great dispend to the owner. Moreover, since the vine is divided through four parts, it faces just so many regions of the sky. And these declinations, since they have mutually contrary qualities, also demand a varied ordination, according to the condition of their position in the parts of the vines.

Igitur ea brachia, quae septentrionibus obiecta sunt, paucissimas plagas accipere debent, et magis si putabuntur ingruentibus frigoribus, quibus cicatrices inuruntur. Itaque una tantummodo materia iugo proxima, et unus infra eam custos erit submittendus, qui vitem mox in annum renovet. At e contrario per meridiem plures palmites submittantur, qui laborantem matrem fervoribus aestivis opacent, nec patiantur ante maturitatem fructum inarescere.

Therefore those arms which are exposed to the north ought to receive the fewest cuts—and all the more if they are to be pruned with cold snaps impending, by which the scars are seared. And so only a single cane, nearest to the yoke, and one keeper below it, must be set, to renew the vine straightway for the next year. But on the contrary, toward the south let more shoots be set, to shade the laboring mother from the estival fervors, and not allow the fruit to dry up before ripeness.

Orientis atque occidentis haud sane magnaa est in putatione differentia, quoniam solem pari horarum numero sub utroque axe vitis accipit. Modus itaque materiarum is erit, quem dictabit humi atque ipsius stirpis laetitia. Haec in universum: illa per partes custodienda sunt.

As to east and west, there is truly not a great difference in pruning, since the vine receives the sun with an equal number of hours under either axis. Therefore the measure of the materials will be that which the liveliness (vigor) of the ground and of the stock itself dictates. These things in general: those must be observed in their several parts.

Nam ut ab ima vite quasi a quibusdam fundamentis incipiam, semper circa crus dolabella dimovenda est. Et si soboles, quam rustici suffraginem vocant, radicibus adhaeret, diligenter explantanda ferroque allevanda est, ut hibernas aquas respuat. Nam praestat ex vulnere sobolem repullescentem vellere, quam nodosam et scabram plagam relinquere.

For, to begin from the lowest part of the vine, as it were from certain foundations, the soil must always be loosened around the shank by means of the dolabella (a mattock). And if an offshoot, which the rustics call the “suffrago,” clings to the roots, it must be carefully explanted and eased up with the iron, so that it may spit off the hibernal waters. For it is better to pluck out from the wound the offshoot sprouting anew, than to leave a knotted and scabrous lesion.

Hoc enim modo celeriter cicatricem ducit, illo cavatur atque putrescit. Percuratis deinde quasi pedibus crura ipsa truncique circumspiciendi sunt, ne aut pampinarius palmes internatus aut verucae similis furunculus relinquatur: nisi si iugo superiecta vitis desiderabit ab inferiore parte revocari. Si vero trunci pars secta solis afflatu peraruit, aut aquis noxiisve animalibus, quae per medullas irrepunt, cavata vitis est, dolabella conveniet expurgare quicquid emortuum est: deinde falce eradi vivo tenus, ut a viridi cortice ducat cicatricem.

For in this way it quickly draws a cicatrix, in that other it is hollowed and putrefies. The “feet” having then been cared for, the very shanks and the trunk must be inspected all around, lest either a leafy shoot ingrown for the vine-leaves or a wart-like little boil be left behind: unless the vine thrown over the yoke will require to be called back from the lower side. But if a part of the trunk, cut, has been thoroughly dried by the breath of the sun, or the vine has been hollowed by waters or by noxious animals which creep through the marrows, it will be proper with the dolabella to expurgate whatever is lifeless: then with the sickle to scrape out down to the living, so that it may draw a cicatrix from the green cortex.

Neque est difficile mox allevatas plagas terra, quam prius amurca madefeceris, linere. Nam et teredinem formicamque prohibet, solem etiam et pluviam arcet eiusmodi litura, propter quae celerius coalescit, et fructum viridem conservat. Cortex quoque per summa trunci dependens, corpore tenus deliberandus est, quod et melius vitis quasi sordibus liberata convalescit, et minus vino caedis affert.

Nor is it difficult soon to smear with earth the wounds, which you will previously have moistened with amurca. For such a daubing both keeps off the wood-worm and the ant, and also wards off sun and rain; because of which it more quickly grows together, and it preserves the green fruit. The bark too, hanging down along the upper parts of the trunk, must be stripped off down to the body, since the vine, as if freed from filth, recovers better, and it brings less “wine of the cut.”

Iam vero muscus, qui more compedis crura vitium devincta comprimit, situque et veterno macerat, ferro destringendus et eradendus est. Atque haec in ima parte vitis. Nec minus ea, quae in capite servanda sint, deinceps praecipiantur.

Now indeed the moss, which, in the manner of a fetter, compresses the shanks of the vines when they are bound fast, and macerates them with mold and long-standing mustiness, must be scraped and eradicated with iron. And these things concern the lowest part of the vine. No less, let those things which are to be observed in the head be prescribed next.

Plagae, quas in duro vitis accipit, obliquae rotundaeque fieri debent. Nam citius coalescunt, et quamdiu cicatricem non obduxerunt, commodius aquam fundunt; transversae plus humoris et recipiunt et continent. Eam culpam maxime vinitor fugito.

The wounds which the vine receives in the hard wood ought to be made oblique and rotund; for they coalesce more quickly, and, so long as they have not been overlaid by a scar, they more conveniently pour out water; transverse ones both receive and retain more moisture. Vintner, especially shun that fault.

Sarmenta lata, vetera, male nata, contorta, deorsum spectantia recidito; novella et fructuaria submittito. Brachia tenera et viridia servato; arida et vetera falce amputato. Ungues custodum annotinos resecato.

Cut back the vine-shoots that are broad, old, ill-born, contorted, and looking downward; let the young and fruit-bearing be put in. Keep the tender and green arms; with the sickle amputate the dry and old. Resect the year-old claws of the keepers.

In quattuor ferme pedes supra terram vitem elatam totidem brachiis componito, quorum singula spectent decussati iugi partes. Tum singulis vel unum flagellum, si macrior vitis erit, vel duo, si pinguior, brachio cuique submittito, eaque iugo superposita praecipitato. Sed meminisse oportebit, ne in eadem linea unoque latere brachii esse duas materias pluresve patiamur.

At about four feet above the ground, set the vine, once raised, with just so many arms—four—each one facing the parts of the trellis arranged decussate. Then to each arm assign either one shoot, if the vine will be leaner, or two, if fatter, and, once laid upon the yoke, train them downward. But it must be remembered not to allow two or more canes to be in the same line and on the one side of an arm.

Namque id maxime vitem infestat, ubi non omnis pars brachii pari vice laborat, neque aequa portione succum proli suae dispensat, sed ab uno latere exsugitur. Quo fit ut ea vena, cuius omnis humor absumitur, velut icta fulgure arescat. Vocatur etiam focaneus palmes, qui solet in bifurco medius prorepere, et idcirco cum praedicto vocabulo rustici appellant, quod inter duo brachia, qua se dividit vitis, enatus velut fauces obsidet, atque utriusque duramenti trahens alimenta praeripit.

For this most of all infests the vine, when not every part of the arm labors by an equal turn, nor dispenses the juice to its progeny in an equal portion, but is sucked from one side. Whence it happens that that vein, whose whole moisture is consumed, dries up as if smitten by a thunderbolt. There is also what is called the focaneus shoot (palmes), which is wont to creep forward in the middle of a bifork; and therefore the rustics also call it by the aforesaid name, because between the two arms, where the vine divides, being born, it besets like the fauces (throat), and, drawing the nourishment of each duramen (hardwood), snatches it away.

Hunc ergo tamquam aemulum diligenter iidem amputant, et adnodant, priusquam corroboretur.Si tamen ita praevaluit, ut alterutrum brachium afflixerit, id quod imbecillius est, tollitur, et ipse focaneus submittitur. Reciso enim brachio, aequaliter utrique parti vires mater subministrat. Igitur caput vitis pede infra iugum constituito, unde se pandant quattuor, ut dixi, brachia, in quibus quotannis vitis renovetur, amputatis veteribus et submissis novis palmis, quarum delectus scite faciendus est.

Therefore they, as it were an emulator, diligently prune this one away, and tie it on, before it is corroborated.If, however, it has so prevailed as to have afflicted either arm, that which is more imbecile is taken away, and the focaneus itself is submitted. For with the arm resected, the mother-stock supplies forces equally to each part. Therefore set the head of the vine a foot beneath the yoke, whence there spread, as I said, four arms, on which each year the vine is renewed, the old shoots amputated and new palms submitted, whose selection must be made skillfully.

Nam ubi magna materiarum facultas est, putator custodire debet, ne aut proximas duro, id est a trunco et capite vitis relinquat, aut rursus extremas. Nam illae minimum vindemiae conferunt, quoniam exiguum fructum praebent, similes scilicet pampinariis; hae vitem exhauriunt, quia nimio fetu onerant, et usque in alterum ac tertium palum, quod vitiosum esse diximus, se extendunt. Quare media in brachio commodissime palmae submittentur, quae nec spem vindemiae destituant, nec emacient stirpem suam.

For where there is a great abundance of wood, the pruner must take care not to leave either those shoots nearest to the hard wood, that is, to the trunk and head of the vine, or, on the other hand, the farthest ones. For the former contribute the least to the vintage, since they offer scant fruit, being, to be sure, like pampinary shoots; the latter exhaust the vine, because they overload it with excessive fecundity, and extend themselves even to the second and third stake, which we have said is faulty. Wherefore the shoots in the middle of the arm will be most suitably left, which neither abandon the hope of the vintage nor emaciate their own stock.

Nonnulli fructus avidius eliciunt, extrema et media flagella submittendo, nec minus proximum duro sarmentum in custodem resecando; quod faciendum, nisi permittentibus soli et trunci viribus, minime censeo. Nam ita se induunt uvis, ut nequeant maturitatem capere, si benignitas terrae atque ipsius trunci laetitia non adsit. Subsidiarius idemque custos in pollicem resecari non debet, cum palmae, ex quibus proximi fructus sperantur, idoneo loco sitae sunt.

Some draw out the fruits more avidly, by setting the outermost and the middle whips, and likewise by cutting back the shoot nearest the hard wood into a keeper (guardian) spur; which I judge should by no means be done, unless the powers of the soil and of the trunk permit. For in this way they load themselves with grapes, so that they cannot attain ripeness, if the benignity of the earth and the very trunk’s luxuriance be not present. The auxiliary and likewise the keeper ought not to be cut back to a thumb, when the palms (fruiting canes), from which the next fruits are hoped, are set in a suitable place.

Nam ubi ligaveris eas, et ini terram spectantes deflexeris, infra vinculum materias exprimes. At si longius quam ritus agricolarum permittit a capite vitis emicuerit, et brachiis in aliena iugorum compluvia perrepserit, custodem validum et quam maximum iuxta truncum duorum articulorum vel trium relinquemus, ex quo quasi pollice proximo anno citata materia formentur in brachium: ut sic recisa vitis ac renovata intra iugum contineatur. Sed in submittendo custode haec maxime sunt observanda.

For when you have tied them, and have bent them down looking toward the earth, you will squeeze out the canes below the binding. But if it has shot forth farther from the head of the vine than the rite of the farmers permits, and with its arms has crept into the alien gutters of the yokes, we shall leave a strong keeper, as large as possible, next to the trunk, of two or three articulations, from which, as it were from a thumb, in the next year the quickened wood may be formed into an arm: so that the vine, thus cut back and renewed, may be contained within the yoke. But in submitting the keeper these things are most of all to be observed.

Primum ne resupina caelum, sed prona potius plaga terram spectet: sic enim et gelicidiis ipsa se protegit, et ab sole obumbratur. Deinde ne sagittae, sed nec ungulae quidem similis fiat resectio: nam illa celerius et latius emoritur, haec tardius et angustius reformidat. Quodque etiam usurpari vitiosissime animadveerto, maxime vitandum est.

First, let it not be resupine toward the sky, but rather let the prone surface look toward the earth: for thus it both protects itself against freezes and is over-shadowed from the sun. Next, let the resection not be like an arrow, nor indeed even like a hoof: for the former perishes more quickly and more broadly, the latter shrinks back more slowly and more narrowly. And what I also observe to be most faultily practiced is most of all to be avoided.

Nam dum serviunt decori, quo sit brevior custos et similis pollici, iuxta articulum sarmentum recidunt. Id autem plurimum officit, quoniam secundum plagam posita gemma pruinis et frigore, tum deinde aestu laborat. Optimum est igitur medio fere internodio subsidiarium tondere palmitem, devexamque resectionem facere post gemmam, ne, ut iam antea diximus, superlacrimet et gemmantem caecet oculum.

For while they serve decor, so that the custodian be shorter and like a thumb, they cut back the shoot right next to the joint. This, however, does very great harm, since the bud set adjacent to the wound suffers from hoarfrost and cold, then thereafter from heat. Therefore it is best to clip the subsidiary vine-shoot at about the middle of the internode, and to make a sloping resection beyond the bud, lest, as we have already said, it over-weep and blind the budding eye.

Si resecis facultas non erit, circumspiciendus est furunculus, qui, quamvis angustissime praecisus in modum verrucae, proximo vere materiam exigat, quam vel ini brachium vel in fructuarium remittamus. Si neque is reperiatur, saucianda ferro est atque exulceranda vitis in ea parte, qua pampinum studemus elicere. Iam vero ipsos palmites, quos vindemiae praeparamus, claviculis ac nepotibus liberandos magnopere censeo.

If there will be no opportunity for cuttings, one must look around for a little “boil” (knob), which, although very narrowly cut in the manner of a wart, in the next spring will demand material, which we may direct either into an arm or into a fruit-bearing rod. If neither is found, the vine must be wounded with iron and exulcerated in that part where we are eager to elicit a leaf-shoot. And indeed the very shoots which we prepare for the vintage, I strongly judge should be freed from tendrils and from laterals (“grandson” shoots).

Sed in iis recidendis alia condicio est, atque alia in iis, quae procedunt e trunco. Nam quicquid est, quod e duro prominet, vehementius applicata falce adnodatur et eraditur, quo celerius obducat cicatricem. Rursus quicquid e tenero processit, sicut nepos, parcius detondetur, quoniam fere coniunctam gerit ab latere gemmam, cui consulendum est, ne falce destringatur.

But in cutting these back there is one condition, and another in those which proceed from the trunk. For whatever it is that projects from the hard wood is, with the pruning-hook applied, more vigorously cut back to the node and eradicated, so that a cicatrix may more quickly draw over. Conversely, whatever has advanced from the tender wood, as a nepos (a side-shoot), should be shorn more sparingly, since it bears a bud almost conjoined on its side, which must be cared for, lest it be stripped by the sickle.

Pressius enim si adnodes applicato ferro, aut tota tollitur, aut convulneratur. Propter quod palmes, quem mox in germinationem citaverit, imbecillis ac minus fructuosus erit, tum etiam magis obnoxius ventis, scilicet qui infirmus de cicatrice prorepserit. Ipsius autem materiae, quam submittemus, longitudini modum difficile est imponere.

For if you bind more closely with the iron applied, either the whole is taken away, or it is severely wounded. Because of which the shoot, which it will soon have summoned into germination, will be feeble and less fruitful, and then also more obnoxious to the winds, namely one which, weak, has crept forth from the scar. But upon the length of the very material which we shall lay down, it is difficult to impose a measure.

Plerique tamen in tantum provocant, ut curvata et praecipitata per iugum nequeat terram contingere. Nos subtilius dispicienda illa censemus: primum vitis habitum; nam si robusta est, ampliores materias sustinet; deinde soli quoque pinguitudinem; quae nisi adest, quamvis validissimam vitem celeriter necabimus procerioribus emaciatam flagellis. Sed longipalmites non mensura, verum gemmarum numero aestimantur.

Most, however, drive it to such an extent that, bent and pitched headlong over the yoke, it cannot touch the ground. We think those points must be examined more subtly: first, the habit of the vine; for if it is robust, it sustains more ample wood; then also the fatness of the soil; which, if it is not present, we shall quickly kill even the very strongest vine, emaciated by longer whips. But long-caned vines are assessed not by measure, but by the number of buds.

Nam ubi maiora sunt spatia inter articulos, licet eousque materiam producere, dum paene terram contingat; nihilo minus enim paucis frondescet pampinis. At ubi spissa internodia frequentesque oculi sunt, quamvis breve sarmentum multis palmitibus virescit, et numeroso fetu exuberat. Quare modus talis generis necessario maxime est adhibendus, ne procerioribus fructuariis oneretur, et ut consideret vinitor, proximi anni magna necne fuerit vindemia; nam post largos fructus parcendum est vitibus; et ideo anguste potandum; post exiguos imperandum.

For where the spaces between the joints are larger, it is permitted to extend the cane so far, until it almost touches the ground; for nonetheless it will leaf out with few vine-leaves. But where the internodes are close-packed and the eyes (buds) are frequent, although the shoot be short, it grows vigorous with many shoots, and abounds with numerous fruitage. Wherefore a rule of such a kind must especially be applied of necessity, lest the taller fruit-bearing canes be burdened, and so that the vinedresser consider whether the vintage of the next year will be great or not; for after abundant fruits the vines must be spared; and therefore they must be pruned narrowly; after exiguous ones, they must be compelled.

Super cetera illud etiam censemus, ut duris tenuissimisque et acutissimis ferramentis totum istud opus exsequamur. Obtusa enim et hebes et mollis falx putatorem moratur, eoque minus operis efficit, et plus laboris affert vinitori. Nam sive curvatur acies, quod accidit molli, sive tardius penetrat, quod evenit in retuso et crasso ferramento, maiore nisu est opus.

Beyond the rest, we also judge this: that we should carry out all this work with hard, very slender, and very sharp iron implements. For an obtuse and dull and soft sickle delays the pruner, and thus accomplishes less of the work, and brings more labor to the vintner. For whether the edge is bent—which happens with a soft blade—or it penetrates more slowly—which occurs with a blunted and thick implement—there is need of greater exertion.

Tum etiam plagae asperae atque inaequales vites lacerant. Neque enim uno, sed saepius repetito ictu res transigitur. Quo plerumque fit, ut quod praecidi debeat, praefringatur, et sic vitis laniata scabrataque putrescat humoribus, nec plagae consanentur.

Then too, rough and uneven gashes lacerate the vines. For the matter is not dispatched with a single blow, but with a stroke repeated more often. Whereby it very often happens that what ought to be cut is snapped off, and thus the vine, torn and made scabrous, putrefies with humors, and the wounds do not heal together.

Quare magnopere monendus putator est, ut prolixet aciem ferramenti, et quantum possit novaculae similem reddat. Nec ignoret in quaqua re qua parte falcis utendum sit. Nam plurimos per hanc inscitiam vastare vineta comperi.

Wherefore the pruner must be greatly admonished to lengthen out the edge of the implement, and to render it, as far as he can, like to a razor. Nor let him be ignorant, in each case, which part of the sickle ought to be used. For I have found very many through this ignorance to devastate vineyards.

XXV. Est autem sic disposita vinitoriae falcis figura, ut capulo pars proxima, quae rectam gerit aciem, culter ob similitudinem nominetur; quae flectitur, sinus; quae ab flexu procurrit, scalprum; quae deinde adunca est, rostrum appellatur; cui superposita semiformis lunae species securis dicitur. Eiusque velut apex pronus imminens mucro vocatur. Harum partium quaeque suis muneribus fungitur, si modo vinitor gnarus est iis utendi.

25. Now the figure of the vintner’s pruning-hook is so arranged that the part nearest the handle, which bears a straight edge, is called the knife; the part that is bent, the curve; that which runs out from the bend, the chisel; that which is then hooked, is called the beak; and the half-moon shape set above it is called the axe. And its, as it were, forward-leaning, overhanging apex is called the point. Each of these parts performs its own functions, provided the vinedresser is skilled in using them.

Nam cum in adversum pressa manu desecare quid debet, cultro utitur; cum retrahere, sinu; cum allevare, scalpro; cum incavare, rostro; cum ictu caedere, securi; cum in angusto aliquid expurgare, mucrone. Maior autem pars operis in vinea ductim potius quam caesim facienda est. Nam ea plaga quae sic efficitur, uno vestigio allevatur.

For when, with his hand pressed in opposition, he ought to cut off something, he uses the knife; when to draw back, the curve; when to raise/relieve, the chisel; when to hollow, the beak; when to hew with a blow, the axe; when to clean out something in a narrow place, the point. Moreover, the greater part of the work in the vineyard ought to be done by a drawing-stroke rather than by a chopping-stroke. For the wound that is produced thus is lifted away in a single pass.

Prius enim putator applicat ferrum, atque ita quae destinavit praecidit. Qui caesim vitem petit, si frustratus est, quod saepe evenit, pluribus ictibus stirpem vilnerat. Tutior igitur et utilior putatio est quae, ut rettuli, ductu falcis, non ictu conficitur.

For first the pruner applies the iron, and thus cuts off what he has intended. He who seeks the vine with a chopping stroke, if he is frustrated—which often happens—wounds the stock with multiple blows. Therefore the pruning is safer and more useful which, as I have related, is accomplished by drawing the sickle, not by a blow.

XXVI. Hac peracta, sequitur, ut ante iam diximus, adminiculandae iugandaeque vineae cura, cui stabiliendae melior est ridica palo, neque ea quaelibet: nam est praecipua cuneis fissa olea, quercus et suber, ac si qua sunt similia robora; tertium obtinet locum pedamen teres, idque maxime probatur ex iunipero, tum ex lauru et cupressu. Recte etiam faciunt ad eam rem silvestres pinus, atque etiam sambuci probabiles usu statuminis. Haec eorumque similia pedamenta post putationem retractanda sunt, partesque eorum putres dedolandae acuendaeque; atque alia convertenda, quae proceritatem habent; alia submovenda, quae vel cariosa vel iusto breviora sunt, eorumque in vicem idonea reponenda, iacentia statuenda, declinata corrigenda.

26. This done, there follows, as we have already said above, the care of propping and yoking the vine; for stabilizing it, a cleft rail is better than a stake, and not just any: for foremost is olive split with wedges, then oak and cork, and whatever similar hardwoods there are; third place is held by a rounded prop, and that is most approved when of juniper, then of laurel and cypress. Wild pines also serve well for that purpose, and even elders are acceptable for the use as stanchions. These supports and the like must be gone over again after pruning, their rotten parts to be pared down and sharpened; and some must be turned about, those which have height; others removed, which are either carious (rotten) or shorter than is proper, and in their stead suitable ones put back; those lying prone set upright; those leaning corrected.

Iugo, si non erit opus novo, sarturae recentia vincula inserantur: si restituendum videbitur, ante quam vitis palo applicetur, perticis vel arundinibus connectatur, ac tum demum, sicut in novella praecipimus, vitem iuxta caput, infraque brachia colligemus cum ridica; idque facere non oportebit omnibus annis eodem loco, ne vinculum incidat et truncum strangulet. Brachia deinde sub stella quadripartito locabimus, tenerosque palmites super iugum ligabimus nihil repugnantes naturae, sed ut quisquis obsequetur, leviter curvabitur, ne deflexus frangatur, neve iam tumentes gemmae detergeantur. Atque ubi duae materiae per unam partem iugi mittentur, media pertica interveniat, diremptaeque palmae per iugorum compluvia decurrant, et velut mersae cacuminibus in terram despiciant.

For the yoke, if there will be no need of a new one, let fresh bonds for mending be inserted; if it shall seem that it must be restored, before the vine is applied to the stake, let it be connected with poles or reeds; and then at last, just as we prescribe for a young plantation, we will tie the vine near the head and beneath the arms with a ridica; and it will not be proper to do this every year in the same place, lest the bond cut in and strangle the trunk. Then we shall place the arms fourfold under the “star,” and we shall tie the tender shoots over the yoke, in no way resisting nature, but so that whichever follows it will be bent lightly, lest, being deflected, it be broken, and lest the buds now swelling be rubbed off. And where two canes are sent along one side of the yoke, let a middle pole intervene, and let the separated fronds run down through the gutters of the yokes, and, as if submerged with their tips, let them look down into the earth.

Id ut scite fiat, meminerit alligator, ne torqueat sarmentum, sed tantum inflexum devinciat, et ut omnis materia, quae nondum potest praecipitari, iugo superponatur, ut potius innixa perticae, quam e vinculo dependeat. Saepe enim notavi per imprudentiam rusticos subicere iugo palmam, et ita colligare, ut solo vimine suspendant. Quae vinea cum accipit pampini et uvarum pondus, infringitur.

That this may be done skillfully, let the binder remember not to twist the shoot, but only to bind it fast when merely bent; and that all the wood which cannot yet be precipitated be laid upon the yoke, so that it lean upon the pole rather than hang from the tie. For I have often noted, through imprudence, countrymen to put the branch beneath the yoke, and to fasten it in such a way that they suspend it by the withy alone. A vine thus, when it receives the weight of leafy shoots and grapes, is broken.

XXVII. Sic deinde ordinata vineta festinabimus emundare, sarmentisque et calamentis liberare. Quae sicco tamen solo legenda sunt, ne lutosa humus inculcata maiorem fossori laborem praebeat, qui protinus adhuc silentibus vineis inducendus est. Nam si palmis incientibus progemmantibusque fossorem immiseris, magnam partem vindemiae decusserit.

27. Thus then, the vineyards having been ordered in this way, we shall hasten to cleanse them and to free them from sarments and tendrils. Which, however, are to be gathered with the soil dry, lest the muddy ground, when trampled, present greater toil to the digger, who must be brought in forthwith while the vines are still silent. For if you let in the digger when the shoots are beginning and budding, he will shake down a great part of the vintage.

Igitur ante quam germinent, per divortium veris atque hiemis quam altissime fodiendae vineae sunt, quo laetius atque hilarius pullulent, eaeque ubi se frondibus et uvis vestierint, teneris caulibus nec dum adultis modus adhibendus est. Idemque vinitor, qui ante ferro, nunc manu decutiet, umbrasque compescet, ac supervacuos pampinos deturbabit. Nam id plurimum refert non inscite facere, siquidem vel magis pampinatio, quam putatio vitibus consulit.

Therefore, before they germinate, at the divorce of spring and winter the vines must be dug as deep as possible, so that they may sprout more luxuriantly and more briskly; and when they have clothed themselves with leaves and grapes, restraint must be applied to the tender stalks not yet adult. And the same vinedresser, who before with iron, now with the hand will strip off, will check the shading growth, and will drive off the superfluous leaf-shoots. For it matters greatly to do this not unskilfully, since leafing—pampination—even more than pruning is of service to the vines.

Nam illa quamvis multum iuvat, sauciat tamen et resecat: haec clementius sine vulnere medetur; et anni sequentis expeditiorem putationem facit. Tum etiam vitem minus cicatricosam reddit. Quoniam id ex quo viride et tenerum decerptum est, celeriter consanescit.

For that one, although it helps much, nevertheless wounds and cuts back; this one more clemently treats without a wound; and it makes the pruning of the following year more expeditious. Then also it renders the vine less cicatricose. Since that part from which the green and tender growth has been plucked quickly heals up.

Super haec materiae, quae fructum habent, melius convalescunt, et uvae commodius insolatae percoquuntur. Quare prudentis est, ac maxime callentis vinitoris aestimare ac dispicere, quibus locis in annum debeat materias submittere; nec orbos tantum detrahere palmites, verum etiam frugiferos, si supra modum se numerus eorum profunderit, siquidem evenit, ut quidam oculi trigeminis palmis egerminent, quibus binos detrahere oportet, quo commodius singulos alumnos educent. Est enim sapientis rustici reputare num maiore fructu vitis se induerit, quam ut perferre eum possit.

Moreover, the canes which have fruit recover better, and the grapes, more conveniently insolated, are thoroughly ripened. Wherefore it is the part of a prudent man, and especially of a very practiced vinedresser, to estimate and discern in what places he ought to lay down the canes for the next year; and not only to remove the barren shoots, but even the fructiferous ones, if their number has spread beyond measure, since it happens that certain eyes (buds) sprout triple shoots, from which it is proper to remove two, so that they may more conveniently rear single nurslings. For it is of a wise rustic to consider whether the vine has clothed itself with a greater burden of fruit than it can bear.

Itaque non solum frondem supervacuum debet decerpere, quod semper faciendum est, verum interdum partem aliquam fetus decutere, ut ubere suo gravatam vitem levet. Idque faciet variis de causis pampinator industrius, etiam si non erit maior fructus, quam ut maturescere queat. Si autem continuis superioribus annis dapsili proventu fatigata vitis fuerit, requiescere ac refici par erit, et sic futurae materiae consulendum.

Therefore he ought not only to pluck the superfluous frondage, which is always to be done, but sometimes also to shake off some portion of the offspring (fruit), so as to lighten the vine weighed down by its own uberty. And an industrious vine-dresser will do this for various causes, even if the crop will not be greater than what can ripen. But if in the successive previous years the vine has been wearied by a lavish yield, it will be proper to let it rest and be refreshed, and thus provision must be made for the future canes.

Nam cacumina flagellorum confringere luxuriae comprimendae causa, vel dura parte trunci sitos pampinos submovere, nisi ad renovandam vitem unus atque alter servandus est, tum e capite quicquid inter brachia viret explantare, atque eos, qui per ipsa duramenta steriles nequiquam matrem opacant, palmites detergere, cuiuslibet vel pueri est officium.

For to break off the tips of the whip-shoots for the purpose of checking luxuriance, or to remove the pampins set on the hard part of the trunk—unless one or another is to be preserved for renewing the vine—then to explant from the head whatever is green between the arms, and to cleanse the shoots which, along those very hard parts, sterilely and to no purpose shade the mother-stock, is the duty of anyone, even of a boy.

XXVIII. Tempus autem pampinationis ante quam florem vitis ostendat, maxime est eligendum; sed et postea licet eandem repetere. Medium igitur eorum dierum spatium, quo acini formantur, vinearum nobis aditum negat. Quippe florentem fructum movere non expedit; pubescentem vero et quasi adolescentem convenit religare, foliisque omnibus nudare, tum et crebris fossionibus implere: nam fit uberior pluverationibus.

28. The time of pampination, however, is to be chosen chiefly before the vine shows the flower; but even afterward it is permitted to repeat the same. Therefore the middle interval of those days during which the berries are formed denies us access to the vineyards. For it is not expedient to move the flowering fruit; but the pubescent and, as it were, adolescent it is fitting to tie back, and to strip bare of all leaves, then also to supply with frequent diggings: for it becomes more abundant by rainfalls.

Nec infitior plerosque ante me rusticarum rerum magistros tribus fossuris contentos fuisse. Ex quibus Graecinus, qui sic refert: potest videri satis esse constitutam vineam vineam ter fodere. Celsus quoque et Atticus consentiunt, tres esse motus in vite seu potius in omni surculo naturales: unum, quo germinet; alterum, quo floreat; tertium, quo maturescat.

Nor do I deny that most masters of rustic affairs (agriculture) before me were content with three diggings (fossions). Of whom is Graecinus, who reports thus: it can seem sufficient to dig an established vineyard three times. Celsus too and Atticus agree that there are three motions in the vine, or rather natural in every shoot: one, by which it germinates; a second, by which it flowers; a third, by which it matures.

Hos ergo motus censent fossionibus concitari. Non enim natura quod vult satis efficit, nisi eam labore cum studio iuveris. Atque haec colendarum vinearum cura finitur vindemia.

They therefore judge that these motions are stirred up by fossions. For nature does not sufficiently effect what she wills, unless you aid her with labor and zeal. And this care for the cultivation of vineyards is concluded with the vintage.

XXIX. Redeo nunc ad eam partem disputationis, qua sum professus vitium inserendarum tuendarumque insitionum praecepta. Tempus inserendi Iulius Atticus tradidit ex Calend. Novembr.

29. I return now to that part of the disputation, in which I have professed the precepts for inserting and tending the graftings of vines. The time for inserting, Julius Atticus has transmitted, is from the Kalends of November.

in Calendas Iunias, quoad posse custodiri surculum sine germine affirmat. Eoque debemus intellegere nullam partem anni excipi, si sit sarmenti silentis facultas. Id porro in aliis stirpiuim generibus, quae firmioris et succosioris libri sunt, posse fieri sane concesserim.

to the Kalends of June (June 1), he affirms that a scion can be kept without a bud. And from this we ought to understand that no part of the year is to be excepted, if there is the capacity for a dormant cutting. Moreover, I would indeed concede that this can be done in other kinds of stocks, which are of stronger and more sappy bark.

In vitibus nimis temere tot mensium rusticis insitionem permissam dissimulare non est fidei meae; non quod ignorem brumae temporibus aliquando insitam vitem comprehendere. Sed non quid in uno vel altero experimento casu fiat, verum quid certa ratione plerumque proveniat, discentibus praecipere debemus. Etenim si exiguo numero periclitandum sit, in quo maior cura temeritati medetur, possum aliquatenus connivere.

In the case of vines, to dissemble that grafting over so many months has been too rashly permitted by rustics is not consistent with my good faith; not that I am unaware that at times, in the season of winter, a grafted vine takes hold. But we ought to prescribe to learners not what in one or another experiment happens by chance, but what for the most part, by certain reason, comes to pass. For indeed, if trial is to be made with a small number, in which greater care remedies rashness, I can to some extent overlook it.

Cum vero vastitas operis etiam diligentissimi agricolae curam distendit, omnem scrupulum submovere debemus. Est enim contrarium, quod Atticus praecipit. Nam idem per brumam negat recte putari vineam.

But since the vastness of the task stretches the care of even the most diligent farmer, we ought to remove every scruple. For it is contrary to what Atticus prescribes. For that same man denies that the vineyard is rightly pruned in the brumal season.

Quae res quamvis minus laedat vitem, merito tamen fieri prohibetur, quod frigoribus omnis surculus rigore torpet; nec propter gelicidia corticem movet, ut cicatricem consanet. Atqui idem Atticus non prohibet eodem ipso tempore inserere; quod tamen totius obtruncatione vitis et cum eiusdem resectionis fissura praecipit fieri. Verior itaque ratio est inserendi tepentibus iam diebus post hiemem, cum et gemma se et cortex naturaliter novet, nec frigus ingruit, quod possit aut surculum insitum aut fissurae plagam inurere.

Although this practice harms the vine less, yet it is rightly prohibited, because in frosts every shoot is torpid with rigor; nor, on account of ice-storms, does it shift its bark, so that the cicatrix may knit. And yet the same Atticus does not forbid grafting at that very time; but he enjoins that it be done with the whole vine in truncation and with a fissure made by that same resection. Truer reasoning, therefore, is for grafting when the days are already tepid after winter, when both the bud and the bark renew themselves naturally, and cold does not press in, which could sear either the grafted shoot or the wound of the fissure.

Permiserim tamen festinantibus autumno vitem inserere, quia non dissimilis est eius aeris qualitas vernae. Sed quocumque quis tempore destinaverit inserere, non aliam sciat esse curam surculis explorandis, quam quae tradita est priore libro, cum de malleolis eligendis praecepimus. Quos ubi generosos et fecundos et quam maturissimos viti detraxit, diem quoque tepidum silentemque a ventis eligat.

I would nevertheless permit those who are in haste to graft the vine in autumn, because the quality of its air is not dissimilar to the vernal. But at whatever time anyone has determined to graft, let him know there is no other care for examining the slips than that which was transmitted in the prior book, when we prescribed about choosing malleoli. When he has taken from the vine those that are of generous and fecund stock and as mature as possible, let him also choose a tepid day, silent from winds.

Tum consideret surculum teretem solidique corporis, nec fungosae medullae, crebris etiam gemmis et brevibus internodiis; nam plurimum interest non esse longum sarmentum, quod inseratur; et rursus plures oculos, quibus egerminet, inesse. Itaque si sunt longa internodia, necesse est ad unam vel summum duas gemmas recidere surculum, <ne proceriorem faciamus quam> ut tempestates <et> ventos et imbres immobilis pati possit. Inseritur autem vitis vel recisa vel integra perforata terebra.

Then let him consider a shoot smooth and of a solid body, and not of spongy pith, with frequent buds also and short internodes; for it matters very much that the rod to be grafted not be long; and, on the other hand, that there be more eyes, by which it may germinate. Therefore, if the internodes are long, it is necessary to cut back the shoot to one or at most two buds, <lest we make it taller than> that it, immobile, can endure storms <and> winds and rains. The vine, moreover, is grafted either resected, or whole, perforated with a borer.

Sed illa frequentior et paene omnibus agricolis cognita insitio; haec rarior et paucis usurpata. De ea igitur prius disseram, quae magis in consuetudine est. Reciditur vitis plerumque supra terram, nonnumquam tamen et infra, quo loco magis solida est atque enodis.

But that grafting is more frequent and almost known to all farmers; this one rarer and employed by few. About that, then, I will discourse first, which is more in customary use. The vine is cut back for the most part above the ground, yet sometimes also below, in the place where it is more solid and without nodes.

Cum supra terram insita est, surculus adobruitur cacumine tenus; at cum editior a terra est, fissura diligenter subacto luto linitur, atque superposito musco ligatur, quod et calores et pluvias arceat. Temperatur ita surculus, ut calamo non absimilis coagmentet fissuram, sub qua nodus in vite desideratur, qui quasi alliget eam fissuram, nec rimam patiatur ultra procedere. Is nodus etiam si quattuor digitis a refectione abfuerit, illigari tamen eum prius quam vitis findatur conveniet, ne, cum scalpro factum fuerit iter surculo, plus iusto plaga hiet.

When it is grafted above the ground, the shoot is earthed over up to the tip; but when it is higher from the ground, the fissure is diligently smeared with well-kneaded mud, and, with moss set over it, is bound, which wards off both heats and rains. The shoot is tempered thus, so that, not unlike a reed, it may coapt the fissure, beneath which a node on the vine is desired, which as it were may bind that fissure, and not allow the crack to proceed further. That node, even if it should be four fingers distant from the refection, nevertheless it will be fitting to bind it before the vine is split, lest, when a path has been made with the chisel for the shoot, the wound gape more than is right.

Calamus adradi non amplius tribus digitis debet; [allevari] atque is ab ea parte, qua raditur, ut sit levis. Eaque rasura ita deducitur, ut medullam contingat uno latere, atque altero paulo ultra corticem destringatur, figureturque in speciem cunei, sic ut ab ima parte acutus surculus, latere altero sit tenuior atque altero plenior; perque tenuiorem partem insertus eo latere arctetur quo est plenior, et utrimque contingat fissuram. Nam nisi cortex cortici sic applicetur, ut nullo loco transluceat, nequit coalescere.

The reed ought to be shaved to a length of no more than three finger-breadths; [to be thinned], and on the side where it is shaved, let it be smooth. And that shaving is drawn down in such a way that it touches the medulla (pith) on one side, and on the other is scraped a little beyond the bark, and is figured into the form of a wedge, such that from the lowest part the scion is pointed, and on one side thinner and on the other fuller; and, inserted by the thinner part, let it be tightened on that side on which it is fuller, and let it touch the fissure on both sides. For unless bark is applied to bark so that it is translucent in no place, it cannot coalesce.

Vinculi genus ad insitionem non unum est; alii viminibus obstringunt; nonnulli circumdant libro fissuram; plurimi ligant iunco, quod est aptissimum. Nam vimen, cum inaruit, penetrat et insecat corticem. Propter quod molliora vincula magis probamus, quae cum circumvenere truncum, adactis arundineis cuneolis arctantur.

The kind of binding for grafting is not a single one; some bind with withes; some wrap the fissure with the inner bark; most tie with rush, which is the most apt. For a withe, when it has dried, penetrates and cuts into the bark. On account of which we approve softer bonds more, which, when they have encircled the trunk, are tightened with little wedges of reed driven in.

Sed antiquissimum est, et ante haec ablaqueari vitem, radicesque summas vel soboles amputari; et post haec adobrui truncum. Isque cum comprehendit, aliam rursus exigit curam. Nam saepius pampinandus est, cum germinat, frequentiusque detrahendae sunt soboles, quae a lateribus radicibusque prorepunt.

But the most ancient practice is, before these things, that the vine be trenched around, and that the highest roots or offshoots be amputated; and after these, that the trunk be earthed up. And when it has taken hold, it again requires another care. For it must be leaf-pruned more often when it germinates, and more frequently the offshoots which creep forth from the sides and from the roots must be taken away.

Tum quod ex insito profundit subligandum, ne vento surculus [motus] labefactetur, aut explantetur tener pampinus. Qui cum excrevit, nepotibus orbandus est, nisi si propter penuriam et calvitium loci submittitur in propagines. Autumnus deinde falcem maturis palmitibus admovet.

Then what the graft puts forth must be tied up, lest by the wind the little shoot, [moved], be shaken loose, or the tender vine-leaf be pulled out by the roots. Which, when it has grown up, must be deprived of “nephews” (suckers/side-shoots), unless, on account of the scarcity and baldness of the place, it is set down into propagines (layerings). Autumn then applies the sickle to the ripe canes.

Sed putationis custoditur ea ratio, ut ubi nulla desideratur propago, unus surculus evocetur in iugum, alter ita recidatur, ut adaequetur plaga trunco, sic tamen, ne quid radatur e duro. Pampinandum non aliter est, quam in novella viviradice; putandum vero sic, ut usque in quartum annum parcius imperetur, dum plaga trunci ducat cicatricem. Atque haec per fissuram insitarum est ordinatio.

But the method of pruning is kept thus: where no propagation is desired, let one little shoot be led up to the yoke, and let another be cut back so that the wound is made level with the trunk—yet so that nothing is scraped from the hard-wood. Leaf-pruning (pampination) is to be done in no other way than as in a young live-root vine; but pruning indeed thus, that up to the fourth year a sparer command be exercised, while the trunk’s wound draws a cicatrix. And this is the ordering for vines grafted by cleft.

In illa autem, quae fit per terebrationem, primum ex vicino fructuosissimam oportet considerare vitem, ex qua velut traducem inhaerentem matri palmitem attrahas, et per foramen transmittas. Haec enim tutior et certior est insitio, quoniam, etsi proximo vere non comprehendit, sequente certe, cum increvit, coniungi cogitur, et mox a matre reciditur, atque ipsa superficies insitae vitis usque ad receptum surculum obtruncatur. Huius traducis si non est facultas, tum detractum viti quam recentissimum eligitur sarmentum, et leviter circumrasum, ut cortex tantum detrahatur, aptatur foramini, atque ita luto circumlinitur resecta vitis, ut totus truncus alienigenis surculis serviat.

In that method, however, which is done through terebration (boring), first one ought to consider the most fruitful vine from nearby, from which you draw a shoot, as it were a tradux adhering to the mother, and pass it through the hole. For this insition (grafting) is safer and more certain, since, even if it does not take hold in the next spring, surely in the following one, when it has increased, it is compelled to be joined; and soon it is cut back from the mother, and the very surface of the grafted vine is lopped off up to the received shoot. If there is no possibility of this tradux, then a cane (sarment) taken from the vine as very fresh as possible is chosen, and lightly scraped around, so that only the bark is removed; it is fitted to the opening, and the vine, having been cut back, is thus smeared around with mud, so that the whole trunk may serve foreign shoots.

Quod quidem non fit in traduce, qui a materno sustinetur ubere, dum inolescat. Sed aliud est ferramentum, quo priores vitem perforabant, aliud quod ipse usu nunc magis aptum comperi. Nam antiqua terebra, quam solam veteres agricolae noverant, scobem faciebat, perurebatque eam partem, quam perforaverat.

But this indeed is not done in the case of a layer, which is sustained by the maternal udder until it grows in. But one is the iron-tool with which the earlier men used to perforate the vine, another is that which I myself by use have now found more apt. For the ancient terebra (auger), which alone the old husbandmen knew, made shavings, and even scorched that part which it had perforated.

Deusta porro raro revirescebat, vel cum priore coalescebat, <in eaque> nec insitus surculus comprehendebat. Tum etiam scobis numquam sic eximebatur, ut non inhaereret foramini. Ea porro interventu suo prohibebat corpus surculi corpori vitis applicari.

The scorched part, moreover, rarely grew green again, or it coalesced with the former, <and in it> the grafted shoot did not take. Then too the sawdust was never removed in such a way that it did not adhere to the hole. This, moreover, by its intervention, prevented the body of the scion from being applied to the body of the vine.

Nos terebram, quam Gallicam dicimus, ad hanc insitionem commenti longe habiliorem utilioremque comperimus: nam sic excavat truncum, ne foramen inurat, quippe non scobem, sed ramenta facit, quibus exemptis plaga levis relinquitur, quae facilius omni parte sedentem surculum contingat, nulla interveniente lanugine, quam excitabat antiqua terebra. [Igitur secundum vernum aequinoctium perfectam vitium insitionem habeto, locisque aridis et siccis nigram vitem inserito, humidis albam.] Neque est ulla eius propagandi necessitas, si modo tam mediocris est crassitudo trunci, ut incrementum insiti plagam possit contingere; [et] nisi tamen vacuus locus demortui capitis vitem reposcit. Quod cum ita est, alter ex duobus surculis mergitur, alter eductus ad iugum in fructum submittitur.

We have devised for this grafting the auger which we call Gallic, and have found it far more handy and more useful: for it hollows out the trunk in such a way as not to scorch the hole, since it makes not sawdust but shavings; when these are removed, a light wound is left, which may more easily touch the scion sitting on every side, with no down intervening, which the old auger used to stir up. [Therefore, just after the vernal equinox, have the grafting of vines done, and in arid and dry places insert the black vine, in moist the white.] Nor is there any necessity of propagating it, provided only that the thickness of the trunk is so moderate that the growth of the graft can reach the wound; [and] unless, however, the empty place of a dead head demands a vine. When this is so, one of the two scions is layered, the other, drawn up to the yoke, is put in for fruiting.

Neque inutile est ex ea vite, quam merseris, enascentes in arcu propaginis pampinos educare, quos possis mox, si ita competet, vel propagare vel ad fructum relinquere.

Nor is it unuseful to train, from that vine which you have layered, the pampinous shoots of the layer arising in an arch, which you can soon, if it so is fitting, either propagate or leave for fruit.

XXX. Quoniam constituendis colendisque vineis, quae videbantur utiliter praecipi posse, disseruimus, pedaminum iugorumque et viminum prospiciendorum tradenda ratio est. Haec enim quasi quaedam dotes vineis ante praeparantur. Quibus si deficitur agricola, causam faciendi vineta non habet, cum omnia, quae sunt necessaria, extra fundum quaerenda sint; nec emptionis tantum (sicut ait Atticus) pretium onerat vitis rationem, sed est etiam comparatio molestissima.

30. Since we have discoursed on establishing and cultivating vineyards the things which seemed able to be usefully prescribed, the method of providing props, yokes, and withes is to be handed down. For these, as it were certain dowries, are prepared beforehand for the vines. If the farmer is deficient in these, he has no reason for making vineyards, since all the things that are necessary would have to be sought outside the estate; and not only the price of purchase (as Atticus says) burdens the vineyard’s accounting, but the procurement itself is most troublesome.

Convehenda sunt enim tempore iniquissimo hiberno. Quare salices viminales atque arundineta vulgaresque silvae, vel consulto sitae [e] castaneis, prius facienda sunt. Salicum viminalium (ut Atticus putat) singula iugera sufficere possunt quinis et vigenis iugeribus ligandae vineae; arundineti singula iugera vigenis iugandis; castaneti iugerum totidem palandis, quot arundineti iugandis.

For they must be conveyed in the most iniquitous winter season. Wherefore osier willows and reed-beds and common woods, or plantations deliberately set with [e] chestnuts, must first be established. Of osier willows (as Atticus thinks) single iugera can suffice for twenty-five iugera of vineyard to be tied; of reed-bed, single iugera for twenty to be tied; of chestnut-grove, as many iugera for staking as of reed-bed for tying.

Salicem vel riguus ager vel uliginosus optime, nec incommode tamen alit planus et pinguis. Atque is debet converti bipalio; ita enim praecipiunt veteres, in duos pedes et semissem pastinare salicto destinatum solum. Nec refert cuius generis vimen seras, dum sit lentissimum.

Either an irrigated (riguous) field or a marshy (uliginous) one nourishes willow best, yet a level and rich (fat) soil supports it not incommodiously. And this ought to be turned with the bipalium; for thus the ancients prescribe, to trench to two feet and a half the ground destined for a willow-plot. Nor does it matter of what kind of withy (osier) you plant, provided it be most pliant.

Putant tamen tria esse genera praecipue salicis, Graecae, Gallicae, Sabinae, quam plurimi vocant Amerinam. Graeca flavi coloris est; Gallica obsoleti purpurei et tenuissimi; Amerina salix gracilem virgam et rutilam gerit. Atque hae vel cacuminibus vel taleis deponuntur.

They nevertheless think that there are chiefly three kinds of willow: the Greek, the Gallic, and the Sabine, which very many call the Amerine. The Greek is of yellow color; the Gallic of a faded purple and very slender; the Amerine willow bears a slender, reddish-golden rod. And these are set either by the tips or by cuttings.

Perticae cacuminum modicae plenitudinis, quae tamen dipondiarii orbiculi crassitudinem non excedat, optime panguntur eousque dum ad solidum demittantur. Taleae sesquipedales terreno immersae paululum obruuntur. Riguus locus spatia laxiora desiderat, eaque senum pedum per quincuncem recte faciunt; siccaneus spissiora, sic ut sit facilis accessus colentibus ea. Quinum pedum interordinia esse abunde est, ut tamen in ipsa linea consitionis alterna vacuis intermissis bipedaneis spatiis consistant semina.

Pole-tops of moderate fullness, which nevertheless should not exceed the thickness of a little dupondius-disk, are best planted, driven in so far until they are let down to firm ground. Cuttings a foot-and-a-half long, sunk into the soil, are covered over a little. An irrigated place desires wider spaces, and six-foot intervals in quincunx do well; a dry place, denser ones, yet so that access is easy for those cultivating them. Inter-row spaces of five feet are sufficient, provided, however, that on the very line of planting the sets stand with alternating empty two-foot spaces intermitted.

Satio est eorum priusquam germinent, dum silent virgae, quas arboribus detrahi siccas convenit. Nam roscidas si recideris, parum prospere proveniunt. Ideo pluvii dies in exputanda salice vitantur.

The planting of them is before they germinate, while the rods are dormant, which it is proper to remove from the trees dry. For if you cut them dewy, they come up not very prosperously. Therefore rainy days are avoided in pruning the willow.

Fodienda sunt primo triennio salicta crebrius, ut novella vineta. Cum deinde convaluerint, tribus fossuris contenta sunt; aliter culta celeriter deficiunt. Nam quamvis adhibeatur cura, plurimae salices interimunt.

Willow-beds must be hoed more frequently in the first three years, like young vineyards. When thereafter they have grown strong, they are content with three diggings; if cultivated otherwise, they quickly fail. For although care is applied, very many willows die off.

Quarum in locum ex propinquo mergi propagari debent, curvatis et defossis cacuminibus, quibus restituatur quicquid intercidit. Anniculus deinde mergus decidatur a stirpe, ut suis radicibus tamquam vitis ali possit.

In place of those which have failed, layerings ought to be propagated from nearby, with the tips bent and buried, by which whatever has perished may be restored. Then the one-year-old layer should be cut off from the stock, so that, like a vine, it may be nourished by its own roots.

XXXI. Perarida loca, quae genus id virgultorum nonrecipiunt, genistam postulant. Eius cum sit satis firmum, tum etiam lentissimum est vinculum. Seritur autem semine, quod cum est natum, vel defertur bima viviradix, vel relicta cum id tempus excessit, omnibus annis more segetis iuxta terram demeti potest; cetera vincula, qualia sunt ex rubo, maiorem operam, sed in egeno tamen necessariam exigunt.

31. Very arid places, which do not receive that kind of shrubbery, require genista (broom). Its binding is not only sufficiently firm, but also very pliant. It is sown, moreover, by seed; and when that has sprung up, either a two-year live-root is transplanted, or, if that time has been passed and it is left, it can be mown every year close to the ground in the manner of a crop; other bindings, such as those from bramble, demand greater labor, but in need are nevertheless necessary.

Perticalis fere salix eundem agrum, quem viminalis, desiderat; melior tamen riguo provenit; atque ea taleis conseritur, et cum germinavit, ad unam perticam submittitur, crebroque foditur, atque exherbatur, nec minus quam vinea pampinatur, ut in longitudinem [ramorum] potius quam in latitudinem evocetur. Sic culta quarto demum anno caeditur. Nam quae vinculis praeparatur, potest annicula praecidi ad semissem supra duos pedes, ut e trunco fruticet, et in brachia velut humilis vinea disponatur; si tamen siccior fuerit ager, bima potius resecabitur.

The pole-willow almost desires the same field as the viminal willow; yet it comes up better in irrigated ground; and it is set with cuttings, and when it has germinated, it is trained to a single pole, and is frequently hoed and weeded, and is pruned no less than a vineyard, so that it may be drawn out in length [of branches] rather than in breadth. Thus cultivated, it is cut only in the fourth year. For that which is prepared for bindings can, when one year old, be cut back to a half above two feet (that is, to two and a half feet), so that it may bush out from the trunk and be arranged into arms, like a low vine; if, however, the field shall have been drier, it will rather be cut back in its second year.

XXXII. Arundo minus alte pastinato, melius tamen bipalio seritur. Ea cum sit vivacissima, nec recuset ullum locum, prosperius resoluto, quam denso; humido, quam sicco; vallibus, quam clivis; fluminum ripis et limitibus ac vepretis commodius quam mediis agris deponitur. Seritur bulbus radicis, [seritur] et talea calami, nec minus toto prosternitur corpore.

32. The reed is planted with the ground less deeply trenched, yet it is better planted to a two-spade depth. Since it is most long-lived and refuses no place, it thrives better in loosened than in dense soil, in moist than in dry, in valleys than on slopes; and it is more suitably set on riverbanks and on boundaries and in thickets than in the middle of fields. The bulb of the root is planted, [planted] also a cutting of the cane, and no less the whole body is laid down flat.

Bulbus tripedaneis intervacantibus spatiis obrutus anno celerius maturam perticam praebet; talea et tota arundo serius praeddicto tempore evenit. Sed sive recisa in dupondium et semissem talea, sive totae arundines prostratae deponantur, exstent earum cacumina oportet; quod si obruta sunt, totae putrescunt. Sed cultus arundinetis primo triennio non alius est, quam ceteris.

The bulb, buried with interval-spaces of three feet left vacant, provides a mature pole more quickly—within a year; the cutting and the whole reed come about later than the aforesaid time. But whether a cutting, trimmed to two and a half feet, or whole reeds laid down are planted, their tips ought to protrude; if they are buried, they wholly putrefy. But the cultivation of reed-beds in the first triennium is no different than for others.

Cum deinde consenuit, repastinandum est. Ea est autem senectus, cum vel exhaurit situ et inertia plurium annorum, vel ita densatum est, ut gracilis et cannae similis arundo prodeat. Sed illud de integro refodi debet; hoc potest intercidi et disrarari, quod opus rustici stipationem vocant; quae tamen resectio arundineti caeca est, quia non apparet in terra quid aut tollendum sit aut relinquendum; tolerabilius tamen arundo castratur ante quam caeditur; quatenus calami velut indices demonstrant, quid eruendum sit.

Then, when it has grown old, it must be repastinated. Now its old age is when either it is exhausted by mould (situs) and the inertia of many years, or it has been so densified that a slender reed, like a cane, comes forth. But the former ought to be dug up anew; the latter can be cut through and rarefied (thinned), a work which the rustic calls stipation; yet this resection of the reed-bed is blind, because it does not appear in the ground what ought to be removed or what left; still, the reed-bed is more tolerably castrated before it is cut down, inasmuch as the calami, as it were indices, point out what ought to be uprooted.

Tempus repastinandi et conserendi est prius quam oculi arundinum egerminent. Caeditur deinde post brumam: nam usque in id tempus incrementum capit. Ac tum compescitur, cum obriguit hiberno frigore.

The time for re-digging and planting is before the eyes (buds) of the reeds sprout. Then it is cut after the winter solstice; for up to that time it takes on increment. And then it is checked, when it has stiffened with hibernal cold.

Fodiendum quoties et vineta. Sed [et] macies eius cinere vel alio stercore iuvanda est, propter quod caesum plerique incendunt arundinetum.

It is to be dug as often as the vineyards [are]. But [also] its leanness should be aided with ash or other manure, on account of which many burn the reed-bed after it has been cut down.

XXXIII. Castanea roboribus proxima est, et ideo stabiliendis vineis habilis. Tum in repastinato nux posita celeriter emicat, et post quinquennium caesa more salicti recreatur, neque in palum formata fere usque in alteram caesionem perennat. Ea pullam terram et resolutam desiderat; sabulonem humidum vel refractum tofum non respuit; opaco et septentrionali clivo laetatur; spissum solum et rubricosum reformidat.

33. The chestnut is next to the oaks, and therefore handy for stabilizing vineyards. Then a nut set in repastinated ground swiftly springs forth, and after five years, when cut, it is renewed after the manner of a willow-bed; nor, when formed into a stake, does it generally endure on to a second cutting. It desires dark and loosened earth; it does not spurn moist sandy ground or broken tufa; it rejoices in a shady and northern slope; it shrinks from compact and reddish soil.

Seritur ab Novembri mense per totam hiemem sicca terra et repastinata in altitudinem dupondii et semissis. Nuces in ordinem semipedalibus; ordinem autem quinum pedum spatiis dirimuntur. In altitudinem dodrantis castanea depressis sulcis committitur.

It is sown from the month of November through the whole winter, in dry and repastinated soil, to a depth of two and a half feet. The nuts are set in a row at half‑foot intervals; the rows, however, are separated by spaces of five feet. The chestnut is committed in furrows sunk to a depth of three‑quarters of a foot.

Qui ubi nucibus sunt consiti, priusquam complanentur, breves arundines ab latere castanearum panguntur, ut per hos sationis indices tutius fodi et runcari possint. Simul atque semina stilaverint, etiam bima transferri queunt, intervelluntur, ac bini pedes arbusculis vacui relinquuntur, ne densitas plantas emaciet. Spissius autem semen propter varios casus deponitur.

Where, when they are planted with nuts, before they are leveled, short reeds are driven in at the side of the chestnuts, so that by these indices of the sowing they may be more safely dug and weeded. As soon as the seeds have sprouted, even two‑year‑olds can be transferred; they are thinned out, and two feet are left empty for the saplings, lest density emaciate the plants. The seed, however, is set more closely on account of various contingencies.

Nam interdum prius quam enascatur, aut siccitatibus nux inarescit, aut aquarum abundantia putrescit, interdum subterraneis animalibus sicuti muribus et talpis infestatur. Propter quae saepe novella castaneta calvescunt; atque ubi frequentanda sunt, melius ex vicino, si competit, mergi more pertica declinata propagatur, quam exempta reseritur. Haec enim velut immota sua sede vehementer germinat.

For sometimes before it has even sprouted, either the nut withers from aridities, or from an abundance of waters it putrefies, sometimes it is infested by subterranean animals such as mice and moles. On account of which the young chestnut-plantations often grow bald; and where they must be made frequent again, it is better, from what is nearby, if it is suitable, to be propagated by layering, in the manner of a pole bent down, than to be replanted after being taken up. For this, as if unmoved from its own seat, germinates vehemently.

At quae radicibus exempta et deposita est, biennio reformidat. Propter quod compertum est commodius nucibus quam viviradicibus eiusmodi silvas institui. Spatia huiusce sationis, quae supra scripta sunt, capita castanearum recipiunt MMDCCCLXXX, cuius summae, sicut ait Atticus, ex facili iugera singula praebebunt statuminum duodena milia.

But that which has been taken up by the roots and set down, for a biennium hangs back. Wherefore it has been found more advantageous to establish such woods by nuts rather than by live-rooted stock. The spacings of this sowing, which have been written above, admit 2,880 chestnut stools; of which total, as Atticus says, each iugerum will readily furnish twelve thousand stakes.

Etenim taleae propius stirpem recisae quadrifidas plerumque, ac deinde secundae taleae eiusdem arboris bifidas ridicas subministrant; quod genus fissilis adminiculi manet diutius quam teres palus. Cultus idem est [fossionis positionisque] qui vineae. Supputari debet bima, quin etiam trima; nam bis ferro repetenda est veris principio, ut incitetur eius proceritas.

For indeed cuttings, pruned nearer to the stock, are for the most part split into four; and then the second cuttings of the same tree furnish props split in two; this kind of fissile adminicle lasts longer than a terete stake. The cultivation is the same [of digging and positioning] as that of the vine. It ought to be pruned in its second year, or even in its third; for it must be gone over twice with the iron at the beginning of spring, so that its tallness may be incited.

Potest etiam quercus simili ratione seri; verum biennio tardius quam castanea deciditur. Propter quod ratio postulat tempus potius lucrari, nisi si dumosi glareosique montes, atque ea genera terrae, quae supra diximus, glandem magis quam castaneam postulabunt. Haec de vineis Italicis vinearumque instrumentis, quantum reor, non inutiliter et abunde disserui, mox agricolarum provincialium vineaticos nec minus nostratis et Gallici arbusti cultus traditurus.

An oak too can be sown by a similar method; but it is cut two years later than the chestnut. Therefore reason dictates that one should rather gain time—unless brambly and gravelly mountains, and those kinds of soil which we mentioned above, will demand acorn rather than chestnut. On these matters of Italian vineyards and the instruments of vineyards, as I suppose, I have discoursed not unusefully and in abundance; soon I shall set forth the vineyard practices of provincial farmers, and no less the cultivations of our own land and of the Gallic arbustum.