Varro[438] has given no other sign but this[439] for our guidance in sowing the bean. Some persons are of opinion that it should be sown at full moon, the lentil between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth day of the moon, and the vetch on the same days of the moon; and they assure us that if this is done they will be exempt from the attacks of slugs. Some say, however, that if wanted for fodder, they may be sown at these periods, but if for seed, in the spring. There is another sign, more evident still, supplied us by the marvellous foresight of Nature, with reference to which we will give the words employed by Cicero[440] himself: “The lentisk, ever green and ever bent Beneath its fruits, affords a threefold crop: Thrice teeming, thrice it warns us when to plough.” One of the periods here alluded to, is the same that is now under consideration, being the appropriate time also for sowing flax and the poppy.[441] With reference to this last, Cato gives the following advice: “Burn, upon land where corn has been grown, the twigs and branches which are of no use to you, and when that is done, sow the poppy there.” The wild poppy, which is of an utility that is quite marvellous, is boiled in honey as a remedy for diseases in the throat,[442] while the cultivated kind is a powerful narcotic. Thus much in reference to winter sowing. CHAP. 62.—WORK TO BE DONE IN THE COUNTRY IN EACH MONTH RESPECTIVELY. And now, in order to complete what we may call in some measure an abridgment of the operations of agriculture, it is as well to add that it will be a good plan at the same period to manure the roots of trees, and to mould up the vines—a single hand being sufficient for one jugerum. Where, too, the nature of the locality will allow it, the vines, and the trees upon which they are trained, should be lopped, and the soil turned up with the mattock for seed plots; trenches, too, should be opened out, and the water drained from off the fields, and the presses[443] should be well washed and put away. Never put eggs beneath the hen between the calends of November[444] and the winter solstice:[445] during all the summer and up to the calends of November, you may put thirteen under the hen; but the number must be smaller in winter, not less than nine, however. Democritus is of opinion, that the winter will turn out of the same character[446] as the weather on the day of the winter solstice and the three succeeding days; the same too with the summer and the weather at the summer solstice. About the winter solstice, for about twice seven days mostly, while the halcyon[447] is sitting, the winds are lulled, and the weather serene;[448] but in this case, as in all others, the influence of the stars must only be judged of by the result, and we must not expect the changes of the weather, as if out upon their recognizances,[449] to make their appearance exactly on certain predetermined days. CHAP. 63.—WORK TO BE DONE AT THE WINTER SOLSTICE.