PALLADIUS RUTILIUS

Situs Position/Site of the lands should not be flat, so that it becomes stagnant; nor too steep, so that it washes away; nor buried, so that it settles in the bottom of a deep valley; nor so high that it excessively suffers from storms and heat. But a balanced moderation is always useful: either an open plain that drains rainwater as the slope allows; or a hill gently inclined along its sides; or a valley with a certain moderation, lowered with openness to the air; or a mountain protected by the obstruction of another peak, and freed from the most troublesome winds by some aid, or even high and rough, but wooded and grassy. But since there are many types of land, such as rich or poor, dense or loose, dry or moist, and most of these are flawed, yet—due to the difference in seeds, it is often most necessary, as I said above, to choose a rich and loose field, which demands the least labor and yields the greatest fruit. Of secondary merit is the dense soil, which requires great labor, yet responds to one’s desires. But that is the worst kind which is dry and dense at the same time, or poor and cold: this field must be shunned like a plague.

VI.

But when you have carefully evaluated these things, which are natural and cannot be remedied by human effort, it is appropriate for you to execute the part that remains: industry. The greatest concern of which will be that you should hold, above all, the maxims I have set forth below from all rural work. The presence of the master is the progress of the field. The color of the earth should not be greatly desired, because it is an uncertain author of quality. Commit the finest types of all cuttings or crops to your lands, but only those tested by experience. For in a new kind of seed, before experimentation, hope should not be placed entirely. Seeds degenerate more quickly in moist places than in dry ones: therefore, selection must be provided for often.