plough share has been, for in that
way all the weeds are uprooted and destroyed.

"The spring ploughing should be followed up with frequent stirring
of the soil until it is reduced to dust, so that there may be no
necessity, or very little, of harrowing after the land is seeded: for
the ancient Romans said that a field was badly ploughed which had to
be harrowed after the seed had been sown.

"A farmer should himself make sure that his ploughing has been well
done, not alone by inspection, for the eye is often amused by a smooth
surface which in fact conceals clods, but also by experiment, which is
less likely to be deceived, as by driving a stout stick through the
furrows: if it penetrates the soil readily and without obstruction, it
will be evident that all the land there about is in good order: but if
some part harder than the rest resists the pressure, it will be clear
that the ploughing has been badly done. When the ploughmen see this
done from time to time they are not guilty of clod hopping.

"Hence wet land should be broken up after the Ides of April, and, when
it has been ploughed at that season, it should be worked again, after
an interval of twenty days, about the time of the solstice, which is
the eighth or ninth day before the Kalends of July, and again the
third time about the Kalends of September, for it is not the practice
of experienced farmers to till the land in the interval after the
summer solstice, unless the ground shall have been soaked with a heavy
down-pour of sudden rain, like those of winter, as does some times
happen at this season. In that event there is no reason why the fallow
should not be cultivated during the month of July. But when you do
till at this season beware lest the land be worked while it is muddy:
or when, having been sprinkled by a shower, it is in the condition
which the country people call _varia_ and _cariosa_, that is to say,
when, after a long drought, a light rain has moistened the surface of
the upturned sod but has not soaked to the bottom of the furrow.

"Those plough lands which are cultivated when they are miry are
rendered useless for an entire year--they can be neither seeded nor
harrowed nor hoed--but those which are worked when they are in the
state which has been described as varia, remain sterile for three
years on end. We should, therefore, follow a medium course and plough
when the land neither lacks moisture nor yet is deep in marsh."]

[Footnote 3