CHAP. 56.—THE PROPER TIMES FOR SOWING.
We now come to a subject which has been hitherto deferred
by us, and which requires our most careful attention—the
proper times for sowing. This is a question that depends in
a very great degree upon the stars; and I shall therefore make
it my first care to set forth all the opinions that have been
written in reference to the subject. Hesiod, the first writer
who has given any precepts upon agriculture, speaks of one
period only for sowing—the setting of the Vergiliæ: but then
he wrote in Bœotia, a country of Hellas, where, as we have
already stated,
1 they are still in the habit of sowing at that
period.
It is generally agreed by the most correct writers, that with
the earth, as with the birds and quadrupeds, there are certain
impulses for reproduction; and the epoch for this is fixed by
the Greeks at the time when the earth is warm and moist.
Virgil
2 says that wheat and spelt should be sown at the setting
of the Vergiliæ, barley between the autumnal equinox and
the winter solstice, and vetches,
3 kidney-beans, and lentils at
the setting of Boötes:
4 it is of great importance, therefore,
to ascertain the exact days of the rising and setting of these
constellations, as well as of the others. There are some, again,
who recommend the sowing to be done before the setting of
the Vergiliæ, but only in a dry soil, and in those provinces
where the weather is hot; for the seed, they say,
5 if put in the
ground will keep, there being no moisture to spoil it, and
within a single day after the next fall of rain, will make its
appearance above ground. Others, again, are of opinion that
sowing should begin about seven days after the setting of the
Vergiliæ, a period which is mostly followed by rain. Some
think that cold soils should be sown immediately after the
autumnal equinox, and a warm soil later, so that the blade
may not put forth too luxuriantly before winter.
It is universally agreed, however, that the sowing should
not be done about the period of the winter solstice; for this
very good reason—the winter seeds, if put in before the
winter solstice, will make their appearance above ground on
the seventh day, whereas, if they are sown just after it, they
will hardly appear by the fortieth. There are some, however,
who begin very early, and have a saying to justify their doing
so, to the effect that if seed sown too early often disappoints,
seed put in too late always does so. On the other hand, again,
there are some who maintain that it is better to sow in
spring than in a bad autumn; and they say that if they find
themselves obliged to sow in spring, they would choose the
period that intervenes between the prevalence of the west
winds
6 and the vernal equinox. Some persons, however, take
no notice of the celestial phenomena, and only regulate their
movements by the months. In spring they put in flax, the
oat, and the poppy, up to the feast of the Quinquatria,
7 as we
find done at the present day by the people of Italy beyond the
Padus. There, too, they sow beans and winter-wheat in the
month of November, and spelt at the end of September, up
to the ides of October:
8 others, however, sow this last after
the ides of October, as late as the calends of November.
9
The persons who do this take no notice, consequently, of the
phænomena of Nature, while others, again, lay too much stress
upon them, and hence, by these refined subtleties and distinctions,
only add to their blindness; for here are ignorant
rustics, not only dealing with a branch of learning, but that
branch astronomy! It must still, however, be admitted that
the observation of the heavens plays a very important part in
the operations of agriculture; and Virgil,
10 we find, gives it as
his advice, that before any thing else, we should learn the
theory of the winds, and the revolutions of the stars; for, as he
says, the agriculturist, no less than the mariner, should regulate
his movements thereby. It is an arduous attempt, and
almost beyond all hope of success, to make an endeavour to introduce
the divine science of the heavens to the uninformed
mind of the rustic; still, however, with a view to such vast
practical results as must be derived from this kind of knowledge, I
shall make the attempt. There are some astronomical
difficulties, however, which have been experienced by the
learned even, that ought to be first submitted for consideration,
in order that the mind may feel some encouragement on abandoning the
study of the heavens, and may be acquainted with
facts at least, even though it is still unable to see into futurity.