quarters of the moon," said Agrius, "and what bearing
have they on agriculture?"

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

ANOTHER CALENDAR OF SIX AGRICULTURAL SEASONS

"There is another division of the year," said Stolo, "which takes
account of both the sun and the moon, namely: into six seasons,
because almost all the cultivated fruits of the earth come to maturity
and reach the vat or the granary after five successive agricultural
operations and are put to use by a sixth, and these are, first, the
preparing (_praeparandum_); second, the planting (_serendum_); third,
the cultivating of the growing crop (_nutricandum_); fourth, the
ingathering (_legendum_); fifth, the storing (_condendum_), and sixth,
the consuming (_promendum_)."

1 deg. PREPARING TIME

_Of tillage_

In the matter of preparation there are different things to be done for
different crops, as, if you wish to make an orchard or an arbustum,
you trench and grub and plough; if you plant grain, you plough and
harrow; while, if you cultivate trees, you mulch their roots by
breaking the earth with a mattock, more or less according to the
nature of the tree, for some trees, like the cypress, have a small,
and others like the plane tree have a large, root system (for example,
that in the Lyceum at Athens described by Theophastus, which, when
it was still a young tree, had a spread of roots to the extent of 33
cubits). If you break the ground with a plough and cattle, it is well
to work the land a second time before you sow your seed. So, if you
are making a meadow the preparation is to close it to the stock, and
this is usually done when the pear tree is in bloom: if it is an
irrigated meadow the preparation is to turn in the water at the proper
time.

_Of manuring_

XXXVIII. As part of this same operation should be considered what
places in a field need manure and what kind of manure you can use
to the greatest advantage, for the several kinds have different
qualities. Cas