The turnip[1] of Amiternum, which is pretty nearly of the same nature as the rape, thrives equally well in a cold soil. It is sown just before the calends of March,[2] four sextarii of seed to the jugerum. The more careful growers recommend that the ground should be turned up five times before putting in the turnip, and four for rape, care being taken, in both cases, to manure it well. Rape, they say, will thrive all the better, if it is sown together with some chaff. They will have it, too, that the sower ought to be stripped, and that he should offer up a prayer while sowing, and say: "I sow this for myself and for my neighbours." The proper time for sowing both kinds is the period that intervenes between the festivals[3] of the two divinities, Neptune and Vulcan. It is said, too—and it is the result of very careful observation—that these plants will thrive wonderfully well, if they are sown as many days after the festival of Neptune as the moon was old when the first snow fell the previous winter. They are sown in spring as well, in warm and humid localities.