Or thou on crops not thine shalt gaze and grieve, Now learn what arms industrious peasants wield, To sow the furrow'd glebe, and clothe the field: 180 The share, the crooked plough's strong beam, the wain That slowly rolls on Ceres to her fane: 185 190 just planted, and watching for them in all the stages of their growth they contrive to draw the longest wheaten straws out of the closest made stacks. The impudent familiarity of the sparrow should not be suffered to disgust us; who by the destruction of insect eggs almost repays the debt to vegetation contracted by his voraciousness.-Stawell. 182 In the feasts of Ceres at Rome her statue was carried about in a cart or wagon.-Martyn. 183 The tribulum, or tribula, was an instrument used by the ancients to thrash their corn. It was a plank set with stones or pieces of iron, with a weight laid on it, and so was drawn over the corn by oxen.-Martyn. Immediately preceding the revolution they trampled out the grain with oxen, in France, and preferred that mode to the flail. Burning the straw to obtain the grain was an ancient practice in Ireland. See Young's Tour in France, quoted by Stawell. 184 The fan, or van, the instrument that separates the wheat from the chaff, is a proper emblem of separating the virtuous from the wicked. In the drawings of the ancient paintings by Bellori there are two that seem to relate to initiations, and in each of them is the vannus. In one, the person that is initiating stands in a devout posture, and with a veil on, the old mark of devotion; while two that were formerly initiated hold the van over his head. In the other, there is a person holding the van, with a young infant in it. "Whose fan is in his hand, and he shall thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Luke iii. 17.-Holdsworth and Spence, quoted by Warton. Double the earth-boards that the glebe divide, And seasons into use, and binds their pores. 195 200 With ponderous roller smooth the level floor, And bind with chalky cement o'er and o'er, Lest weeds spring up, and as it wears away The tiny mouse creep through its chinks to-day. There rise his granaries, there the blind mole works, 205 There the lone toad within its hollow lurks, Some medicate the beans, with previous toil Steep them in nitre, and dark lees of oil; 211 215 208 It is an error that the ant lays up corn, or any food whatever, for winter use.-T. A. Knight. 209 The blossoms of all trees are formed in the preceding year, and are a much better proof that a good season has passed than that one is to come.-T. A. Knight. 217 On a vu plusieurs fois, en conséquence de la préparation des semences, un seul grain pousser sept ou huit tiges, dont chacun portoit un épi de plus de cinquante grains. Le nombre de tiges sur un même pied s'est quelquefois trouvé prodigieux; on en a compté jusqu'à trente, soixante, et près de cent. Un But false their swell, and oft the chosen seed, 220 225 Thus if the boatman who long-labouring plied The stubborn oar that scarcely stemm'd the tide, Once, once relax, the stream's o'erwhelming force Drives him, whirl'd backwards, down its headlong course. Nor less intent, Arcturus' train behold, The Kid's bright beams, and Dragon's lucid fold, 230 grain de seigle, qui avoit crû sous les débris d'une couche de mon jardin, m'a donné 14 épis et 833 grains. Pline raconte qu'on avoit envoyé d'Afrique à Auguste un grain qui avoit poussé 400 tiges, et que Néron en avoit reçu un sur lequel on en comptoit 560.-Pluche, quoted by De Lille. 218 Saline bodies, particularly a strong solution of common salt, appear to destroy one species of parasitical plant-that which constitutes smut in corn. But modern experience proves that nothing of this kind has any influence on the (probably) very numerous family of parasitical plants which produce diseases on corn and fruit-trees.-T. A. Knight. 224 There is an old opinion that the earth is fond of variety of seed, and the farmers generally change their seed of every kind within a short period, to prevent degeneration. With some, however, this principle is exploded, who deem it more reasonable to cull the best seed from their own every year, as has been observed by Mr. Bakewell with respect to his breeding cattle.Letter on Husbandry in Lord Kaimes's Life. It has been intimated that plants acquire certain habits, which they preserve for a time, though removed to different soils and climates: this disposition may and has been taken advantage of. The Siberian wheat, habituated to a rapid vegetation, in a season of momentary warmth, retains the impression of its climate. Fruit-trees that are forced will vegetate under the same premature impulse, even after the cause is removed. The corn of a southern aspect will ripen early, though changed to a more unfavourable situation.-Stawell. 231 Arcturus is a star of the first magnitude, in the sign Boötes Than the bold crew that sweep the Euxine o'er, 235 240 When Taurus' golden horns the year unbar, And Sirius "'gins to pale" his yielding star, Then beans and lucerne claim the mellow soil, 245 And millet springing from thy yearly toil. But if thy labour from the cultur'd plain Exact rich wheat, strong spelt, and bearded grain, Trust not the furrow, nor with lavish haste The promise of the year untimely waste, 250 the Kids, two stars on the left arm of Auriga, whose rising portended storms: the Dragon, a constellation between the two Bears. 234 Abydos is situated on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont. 235-237 The time mentioned by Virgil for the sowing of barley is from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice. This perhaps may seem strange to an English reader, it being our custom to sow it in the spring; but it is certain that in warmer climates they sow it at the latter end of the year; whence it happens that their barley harvest is considerably sooner than their wheat harvest. Thus we find, in the book of Exodus, the flax and the barley were destroyed by the hail, because the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in seed; but the wheat and the rye escaped, because they were not yet come up.-Martyn. 243 C'est par le Belier que commence l'année astronomique; mais comme c'est au mois d'Avril que la Nature ouvre son sein, Virgile a jugé à-propos de faire ouvrir l'année rurale par le signe du Taureau, où le soleil entre le 22 Avril. Virgile donne au Taureau deux cornes dorées, à cause d'une étoile brillante qu'il a au bout de chacune de ses deux cornes.-De Lille. 245 The lucerne was introduced from Media into Greece by Darius, in the Persian war. 246 Le sainfoin dure plusieurs années; le millet, au contraireveut être semé tous les ans.-De Lille. VIR. VOL. I.-H 255 Before the Pleiades from the dawn retire, 260 265 Five zones the heav'n surround: the centre glows 270 252 Ariadne, daughter of Minos, king of Crete. At the celebration of her nuptials with Bacchus, in the island of Naxos, where she was abandoned by Theseus, Venus presented her with a crown, which was translated to the heavens. 253 Maia is one of the Pleiades: the poet puts a part for the whole. He speaks here against sowing too early; and we are informed by Columella that it was an old proverb among the farmers, that an early sowing often deceives our expectations, but seldom a late one.-Martyn. Too early sowing is apt in this country to produce much straw and little wheat.- T. A. Knight. 255 Pelusium is a town Egypt, which gives name to one of the seven mouths of the Nile: the best lentils are said to grow in that country.-Martyn. 257 Boötes, a northern constellation, near the tail of the Great Bear. Arcturus (in this constellation) sets, according to Columella, on the 29th of October.-Martyn. 271 Virgil says that the North Pole is elevated, because that |