CHAP. 52. (23.)—THE METHOD OF SOWING MORE THAN ONCE IN THE YEAR.

If the soil is of that nature which we have already[1] spoken of as "tender,"[2] after a crop of barley has been grown upon it, millet may be sown, and after the millet has been got in, rape. In succession to these, again, barley may be put in, or else wheat, as in Campania; and it will be quite enough, in such case, to plough the ground when the seed is sown. There is another rotation again—when the ground has been cropped with spelt,[3] it should lie fallow the four winter months; after which, spring beans should be put in, to keep it occupied till the time comes for cropping it with winter beans. Where the soil is too rich, it may lie fallow one year, care being taken after sowing it with corn to crop it with the leguminous plants the third year.[4] Where, on the other hand, it is too thin, the land should lie fallow up to the third year even. Some persons recommend that corn should never be sown except in land which has lain fallow the year before.

1. In B. xvii. c. 3.

2. Tenerum.

3. Adoreum.

4. "Tertio" may possibly mean the "third time," i. e. for every third crop.