When winter frosts constrain the field with cold, The fainty root can take no steady hold. But, when the golden spring reveals the year, And the white bird returns, whom serpents fear, That season deem the best to plant thy vines: Next that, is when autumnal warmth declines, Ere heat is quite decayed, or cold begun, Or Capricorn admits the winter sun. The spring adorns the woods, renews the leaves; The womb of earth the genial seed receives: For then almighty Jove descends, and pours Into his buxom bride his fruitful showers; And, mixing his large limbs with hers, he feeds Her births with kindly juice, and fosters teeming seeds. Then joyous birds frequent the lonely grove, And beasts, by nature stung, renew their love. Then fields the blades of buried corn disclose; } And, while the balmy western spirit blows, } Earth to the breath her bosom dares expose. } With kindly moisture then the plants abound; The grass securely springs above the ground; The tender twig shoots upward to the skies, And on the faith of the new sun relies. The swerving vines on the tall elms prevail; Unhurt by southern showers, or northern hail, They spread their gems, the genial warmth to share, And boldly trust their buds in open air. In this soft season, (let me dare to sing,) } The world was hatched by heaven's imperial king-- } In prime of all the year, and holidays of spring. } Then did the new creation first appear; Nor other was the tenor of the year, When laughing heaven did the great birth attend; And eastern winds their wintery breath suspend: Then sheep first saw the sun in open fields; And savage beasts were sent to stock the wilds; And golden stars flew up to light the skies; And man's relentless race from stony quarries rise. Nor could the tender new creation bear The excessive heats or coldness of the year, But, chilled by winter, or by summer fired, The middle temper of the spring required, When warmth and moisture did at once abound, And heaven's indulgence brooded on the ground. For what remains, in depth of earth secure Thy covered plants, and dung with hot manure; And shells and gravel in the ground inclose; For through their hollow chinks the water flows, Which, thus imbibed, returns in misty dews, And, steaming up, the rising plant renews. Some husbandmen, of late, have found the way, } A hilly heap of stones above to lay, } And press the plants with shards of potters' clay. } This fence against immoderate rain they found, Or when the Dog-star cleaves the thirsty ground. Be mindful, when thou hast entombed the shoot, With store of earth around to feed the root; With iron teeth of rakes and prongs, to move The crusted earth, and loosen it above. Then exercise thy sturdy steers to plough