"The practice is to add a quantity of rennet, equal to the size of an olive, to two _congii_ of milk to make it curdle. The rennet taken from the stomachs of the hare and the kid is better than that from lambs, but some use as a ferment the milk of the fig tree mixed with vinegar, and some times sprinkled with other vegetable products. In parts of Greece this is called [Greek: opos], elsewhere [Greek: dakruos]." "I am prepared to believe," I said, "that the fig tree standing beside the chapel of the goddess Rumina[154] was planted by shepherds for the purpose you mention, for there is it the practice to make libations of milk rather than of wine or to sacrifice suckling pigs. For men used to use the word _rumis_ or _ruma_ where we now say _mamma_, signifying a teat: hence even now suckling lambs are called _subrumi_ from the teat they suck, just as we call suckling pigs _lactantes_ from _lac_, the milk that comes from the teat." Cossinius resumed: "If you sprinkle your cheese with salt it is better to use the mineral than the marine kind. "Concerning the shearing of sheep, the first thing to be looked into before you begin is that the sheep are not suffering from scab or sores, as it is better to wait, if necessary, until they are cured before shearing. "The time to shear is between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice, when the sheep begin to sweat (it is the sweat which gives new clipped wool its name _sucida_). As soon as the sheep are sheared they are smeared with a mixture[155] of wine and oil, some add white wax and hogs' grease. If they are sheep which are kept blanketed, the inside of the blanket should be anointed with this mixture before it is put on again. "If the sheep has suffered any wound during the shearing, it should be treated with liquid tar. "Long wool sheep are usually sheared about the time of the barley harvest: in some places before the hay harvest. "Some men shear their sheep twice a year, as in hither Spain, investing double work because they think they get more wool, just as some men mow their meadows twice a year. Careful shepherds are wont to shear on a mat so as not to lose any of the wool. A clear day should be chosen for the shearing and it is usually done between the fourth and the tenth hours (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) since wool sheared in the hot sun is softer, heavier and of better colour by reason of the sweat of the sheep. Wool which has been collected and packed in bags is called _vellera_ or _velamina_, words derived from _vellere_, to pull, whence it may be concluded that the practice of pulling wool is older than shearing. Those who pull the wool today make a practice of starving their sheep for three days before, because when they are weak the wool yields more readily."