even, that most diminutive of insects, takes its rest during the moon’s conjunction, but toils on, and that during the night as well, when the moon is at the full; the bird, too, called the “parra”[578] disappears upon the day on which Sirius rises, and never reappears until that star has set; while the witwall,[579] on the other hand, makes its appearance on the day of the summer solstice. The moon, however, is productive of no noxious effects at either of these periods, except when the nights are clear, and every movement of the air is lulled; for so long as clouds prevail, or the wind is blowing, the night dews never fall. And then, besides, there are certain remedies to counteract these noxious influences. CHAP. 70.—REMEDIES AGAINST THESE NOXIOUS INFLUENCES. When you have reason to fear these influences, make bonfires in the fields and vineyards of cuttings or heaps of chaff, or else of the weeds that have been rooted up; the smoke[580] will act as a good preservative. The smoke, too, of burning chaff will be an effectual protection against the effects of fogs, when likely to be injurious. Some persons recommend that three crabs should be burnt[581] alive among the trees on which the vines are trained, to prevent these from being attacked by coal blight; while others say that the flesh of the silurus[582] should be burnt in a slow fire, in such a way that the smoke may be dispersed by the wind throughout the vineyard. Varro informs us, that if at the setting of the Lyre, which is the beginning of autumn, a painted grape[583] is consecrated in the midst of the vineyard, the bad weather will not be productive of such disastrous results as it otherwise would. Archibius[584] has stated, in a letter to Antiochus, king of Syria, that if a bramble-frog[585] is buried in a new earthen vessel, in the middle of a corn-field, there will be no storms to cause injury. CHAP. 71.—WORK TO BE DONE AFTER THE SUMMER SOLSTICE. The following are the rural occupations for this interval of time—the ground must have another turning up, and the trees must be cleared about the roots and moulded up, where the heat of the locality requires it. Those plants, however, which are in bud must not be spaded at the roots, except where the soil is particularly rich. The seed-plots, too, must be well cleared with the hoe, the barley-harvest got in, and the threshing-floor prepared for the harvest with chalk, as Cato[586] tells us, slackened with amurca of olives; Virgil[587] makes mention of a method still more laborious even. In general, however, it is considered sufficient to make it perfectly level, and then to cover it with a solution of cow-dung[588] and water; this being thought sufficient to prevent the dust from rising. CHAP. 72. (30.)—THE HARVEST.