20 1 Method of mounting the mill. The iron pivot which stands on the post must stand straight upright in the centre; it should be fastened firmly on all sides with willow wedges, and lead should be poured over it to prevent it from shaking; if it moves, take it out and fasten it again in the same way, so that it will not move. 2 Make the sockets for the stones of orcite olive wood, and fasten them with lead, being careful to keep them tight. Fix them on the axle. Make one piece bushings, a thumb wide, flanged at both ends and double-nailed to keep them from falling out.
21 1 Make a ten-foot bar as thick as the sockets require, the mid-point to fit between the stones. Drill a hole in the middle as large as the iron pivot, so that the latter may be inserted in it. Insert here an iron casing to fit into the pivot and the bar. 2 Make a hole in the bar, 4 finger-tips square and 3 finger-tips deep, and on the lower side of the bar fasten an iron plate of the breadth of the middle of the bar, perforated to fit over the pivot. After piercing the holes face them on both sides with metal plates, and bend back all four plates to the lower side of the bar; 3 under these plates fasten thin metal strips on both sides, and fasten them together so that the holes in which the small handles are fitted may not spread. At the point where the bar enters the sockets be careful to face them on both sides with four trough-shaped iron plates and fasten them in the middle with nails. Above these plates pierce the bar on the outside for the bolt to fasten the stone. 4 On top of the opening place a one-pound iron collar, 6 fingers wide, pierced on both sides to allow the bolt to enter. All this is for the purpose of preventing the bar from wearing on the stone. Make four rings to place around the stone to keep the bar and the bolt from wearing on the inside. Use elm or beech for the bar. 5 The same smith should make and set the necessary iron work, at a cost of 60 sesterces; you can buy lead for the bar for 4 sesterces; wages of the workman who assembles and sets the sockets with lead, at least 8 sesterces, and the same man should adjust the mill. Total cost, 72 sesterces, exclusive of helpers.
22 1 The mill should be adjusted as follows: Level it so that the stones are set at equal distances from the rims and clearing the bottom of the mortar by a little finger’s breadth; see that the stones do not rub the basin at all. There should be a finger’s breadth between the stone and the column; if the space is greater and the stones are too far distant, 2 wind a cord around the column tightly several times so as to fill in the excessive space. If the stones are set too deep and rub the bottom of the basin too much, place perforated wooden disks over the pivot and on the column and thus regulate the height. In the same way adjust the spread with wooden disks or iron rings until the stones fit accurately.
3 A mill is bought near Suessa for 400 sesterces and fifty pounds of oil. The cost of assembling is 60 sesterces, and the charge for transportation by oxen, with six days’ wages of six men, drivers included, is 72 sesterces. The bar complete costs 72 sesterces, and there is a charge of 25 sesterces for oil; the total cost is 629 sesterces. At Pompeii one is bought complete for 384 sesterces, freight 280 sesterces. It is better to assemble and adjust on the ground, and this will cost 60 sesterces, making a total cost of 724 sesterces. 4 If you are fitting old mills with stones, they should be 1 foot 3 fingers thick at the centre and 1 foot in diameter, with a half-foot square opening; alter them to fit the mill after they have been hauled. These can be bought at the yard of Rufrius for 180 sesterces, and fitted for 30 sesterces. The price is the same at Pompeii.
23 1 Have everything that is needed ready for the vintage; let vats be cleaned, baskets mended and pitched, necessary jars be pitched on rainy days; let hampers be made ready and mended, spelt be ground, salt fish be bought, and windfall olives be salted. 2 Gather the inferior grapes for the sharp wine for the hands to drink, when the time comes. Divide the grapes gathered each day, after cleaning and drying, equally between the jars. If necessary, add to the new wine a fortieth part of must boiled down from untrod grapes, or a pound and a half of salt to the culleus. 3 If you use marble dust, add one pound to the culleus; mix this with must in a vessel and then pour into the jar. If you use resin, pulverize it thoroughly, three pounds to the culleus of must, place it in a basket, and suspend it in the jar of must; shake the basket often so that the resin may dissolve. 4 When you use boiled must or marble dust or resin, stir frequently for twenty days and press down daily. Divide the must of the second pressing and add equally to each jar.
24 1 Directions for making Greek wine: Gather carefully well-ripened Apician grapes, and add to the culleus of must two quadrantals of old sea-water, or a modius of pure salt. If the latter is used, suspend it in a basket and let it dissolve in the must. If you wish to make a straw-coloured wine, take equal parts of yellow and Apician wine and add a thirtieth part of old boiled wine. Add a thirtieth part of concentrated must to any kind of blended wine.
25 1 When the grapes are ripe and gathered, let the first be kept for household use. See that they are not gathered until they are thoroughly ripe and dry, that the wine may not lose its reputation. Sift the fresh husks daily through a bed stretched on cords, or make a sieve for the purpose, and after treading place them in pitched jars or a pitched vat. Have this sealed tight, to feed to cattle through the winter; or if you wish you can soak some of it a while and you will have an after-wine for the hands to drink.
26 After the vintage is over order all the pressing utensils, hampers, baskets, ropes, props, and bars to be stored, each in its proper place. Have the jars containing wine wiped off twice a day, and see that you provide each jar with its own broom with which to wipe off the edges. Thirty days after the gathering, if the fermentation is complete, seal the jars. If you wish to draw off the wine from the lees, this will be the best time to do it.
27 1 Sow clover, vetch, fenugreek, beans and bitter-vetch as forage for cattle. Make a second and a third sowing of forage; then plant the other crops. Dig trenches in fallow ground for olives, elms, vines, and figs, and plant at seed-time. If the ground is dry, transplant olives at seed-time, prune the young olives which had been planted before, and trench the trees.
28 1 In transplanting olives, elms, figs, fruit trees, vines, pines, and cypresses, dig them up carefully, roots and all, with as much of their own soil as possible, and tie them up so that you can transport them. Have them carried in a box or basket. Be careful not to dig them up or transport them when the wind is blowing or when it is raining, for this is especially to be avoided. 2 When you place them in the trench, bed them in top soil, spread dirt over them to the ends of the roots, trample it thoroughly, and pack with rammers and bars as firmly as possible; this is the most important thing. Before transplanting, cut off the tops of trees which are more than five fingers in diameter and smear the scars with dung and wrap them in leaves.
29 1 Divide your manure as follows: Haul one-half for the forage crops, and when you sow these, if this ground is planted with olives, trench and manure them at this time; then sow the forage crops. Add a fourth of the manure around the trenched olives when it is most needed, and cover this manure with soil. Save the last fourth for the meadows, and when most needed, as the west wind is blowing, haul it in the dark of the moon.
30 1 Feed the cattle elm, poplar, oak, and fig leaves as long as these last; and keep the sheep supplied with green leaves as long as you have them. Fold sheep on land which you intend to plant, and feed them leaves there until the forage is full grown. Save as carefully as possible the dry fodder which you have stored against winter, and remember how long winter lasts.
31 1 Let all necessary preparations be made for the olive harvest: Let ripe withes and willow branches be gathered betimes as material for making new baskets and mending old ones. Have dry oak, elm, nut, and fig sticks for making pins buried in the dunghill or in water, and make pins from them when needed. Have oak, ilex, laurel, and elm levers ready. Make the press-beam preferably of black hornbeam. 2 Take out elm, pine, nut, and all other timber which you are felling, when the moon is on the wane, after noon, while there is no south wind. It is ready for cutting when the seed is ripe. Be careful not to haul it or work it in the wet. Timber that has no seed is ready for cutting when the bark peels. Do not handle any timber or vine when the south wind is blowing, unless you are compelled to do so.
32 1 See that you begin early to trim vines and trees. Layer vines into trenches, and, so far as possible, train them to grow vertically. The trees should be trimmed as follows: The branches which you leave should spread out, should be cut straight up, and should not be left too thick. 2 The vines should be well knotted; and be especially careful not to bend them downward along any of the branches and not to tie them too tightly. See that the trees are well “wedded,” and that a sufficient number of vines are planted for them; and wherever it is necessary let these be detached from the trees and buried in the ground, and two years later cut them off from the old stock.
33 1 Have the vineyard treated as follows: Tie a well-knotted vine straight up, keeping it from bending, and make it grow vertically, so far as you can. Leave fruit-bearing shoots and reserve stubs at proper intervals. Train the vines as high as possible and tie them firmly, but without choking them. Cultivate as follows: at seed-time trench the soil around the crown of the vine, 2 and after pruning cultivate around it. Begin ploughing, and run straight furrows back and forth. Set out young vines as early as possible, then harrow; prune the old ones very slightly, or rather, if you need cuttings, layer the branches and take off the cuttings two years later. The proper time for cutting back the young plant is when it is strong. 3 If there are gaps in the rows, run furrows and plant rooted cuttings, keep the furrows clear of shade, and cultivate frequently. In an old vineyard sow clover if the soil is lean (do not sow anything that will form a head), and around the roots apply manure, straw, grape dregs, or anything of the sort, to make it stronger. 4 When the vine begins to form leaves, thin them. Tie up the young vines at frequent intervals to keep the stems from breaking, and when they begin to climb the props tie the tender branches loosely, and turn them so that they will grow vertically. When the grapes begin to turn, tie up the vines, strip the leaves so as to expose the grapes, and dig around the stocks.
5 Cut willows at the proper time, strip the bark, and tie them in tight bundles. Save the bark, and when you need it for the vines, steep some of it in water to make tapes. Save the withes for making baskets.
34 1 I return to the matter of planting. Plant the coldest and most humid ground first, and then the rest of the ground in turn to the warmest, which should come last. 2 Do not work ground which is cariosa at all. Lupine will do well in soil that is reddish, and also in ground that is dark, or hard, or poor, or sandy, or not wet. Sow spelt preferably in soil that is chalky, or swampy, or red, or humid. Plant wheat in soil that is dry, free from weeds, and sunny.
35 1 Plant beans in strong soil which is protected from storms; vetch and fenugreek in places as clear of weeds as possible. Wheat and winter wheat should be sown on high, open ground, where the sun shines longest. Lentils should be planted in unfertile and reddish soil, free of weeds; 2 barley in new ground, or ground which does not need to lie fallow. Spring wheat should be planted in ground in which you cannot ripen the regular variety, or in ground which, because of its strength, does not need to lie fallow. Plant turnips, kohlrabi seed, and radishes in land well manured or naturally strong.
36 Fertilizers for crops: Spread pigeon dung on meadow, garden, and field crops. Save carefully goat, sheep, cattle, and all other dung. Spread or pour amurca around trees, an amphora to the larger, an urn to the smaller, diluted with half its volume of water, after running a shallow trench around them.
37 1 Things which are harmful to crops: If you work land which is cariosa; chick peas are harmful, because they are torn out by the roots and are salty; barley, fenugreek, bitter vetch, and all crops which are pulled out by the roots, exhaust the soil. Do not bury olive seeds in land intended for crops.
2 Crops which fertilize land: Lupines, beans, and vetch.
You may make compost of straw, lupines, chaff, bean stalks, husks, and ilex and oak leaves. Pull up the elder and hemlock bushes which grow in the grain fields, and the high grass and sedge around the willow bed; use them for bedding down sheep, and decayed leaves for cattle. Separate part of the olive seeds and throw them into a pit, add water, and mix them thoroughly with a shovel. Make trenches around the olive trees and apply this mixture, adding also burned seeds. 3 If a vine is unhealthy, cut its shoots into small bits and plough or spade them in around it.
The following is evening work for winter: Work up into vine poles and stakes the wood which was brought under cover the day before to dry out; make faggots; and clear out manure. Do not touch timber except in the dark of the moon, or in its last phase. 4 The best time to take out timber which you dig up or fell is during the seven days following the full moon. Above all things, do not work, or fell, or, if you can avoid it, even touch timber which is wet, or frosted, or covered with dew. 5 Hoe and weed grain twice, and strip the wild oats. Remove the twigs from the prunings of vines and trees, and make them into bundles; and heap the vine and fig sticks for the forge, and the split wood for the use of the master.
38 1 Build the lime-kiln ten feet across, twenty feet from top to bottom, sloping the sides in to a width of three feet at the top. If you burn with only one door, make a pit inside large enough to hold the ashes, so that it will not be necessary to clear them out. Be careful in the construction of the kiln; see that the grate covers the entire bottom of the kiln. 2 If you burn with two doors there will be no need of a pit; when it becomes necessary to take out the ashes, clear through one door while the fire is in the other. Be careful to keep the fire burning constantly, and do not let it die down at night or at any other time. Charge the kiln only with good stone, as white and uniform as possible. 3 In building the kiln, let the throat run straight down. When you have dug deep enough, make a bed for the kiln so as to give to it the greatest possible depth and the least exposure to the wind. If you lack a spot for building a kiln of sufficient depth, run up the top with brick, or face the top on the outside with field stone set in mortar. 4 When it is fired, if the flame comes out at any point but the circular top, stop the orifice with mortar. Keep the wind, and especially the south wind, from reaching the door. The calcining of the stones at the top will show that the whole has calcined; also, the calcined stones at the bottom will settle, and the flame will be less smoky when it comes out.
If you cannot sell your firewood and faggots, and have no stone to burn for lime, make charcoal of the firewood, and burn in the field the faggots and brush you do not need. Where you have burned them plant poppies.
39 1 When the weather is bad and no other work can be done, clear out manure for the compost heap; clean thoroughly the ox stalls, sheep pens, barnyard, and farmstead; and mend wine-jars with lead, or hoop them with thoroughly dried oak wood. If you mend it carefully, or hoop it tightly, closing the cracks with cement and pitching it thoroughly, you can make any jar serve as a wine-jar. Make a cement for a wine-jar as follows: Take one pound of wax, one pound of resin, and two-thirds of a pound of sulphur, and mix in a new vessel. 2 Add pulverized gypsum sufficient to make it of the consistency of a plaster, and mend the jar with it. To make the colour uniform after mending, mix two parts of crude chalk and one of lime, form into small bricks, bake in the oven, pulverize, and apply to the jar.
In rainy weather try to find something to do indoors. Clean up rather than be idle. Remember that even though work stops, expenses run on none the less.