FRUIT OF OLD.
41
The gay embroidery of the laughing vine.
Work there, and you shall prove it kind enow
To beasts, and patient of the talon'd plough: 266
Such Capua tills, and slopes Vesuvian show,
And Clanius, deaf to lorn Acerra's woe.
Now hearken how to test the soil; and if
Thou wouldst discern light staple from the stiff,
(Since one is best for corn and one for vines, 271
The stiff for grain, the light for noble wines:)
Beforehand let a proper place be found,
Then sink a shaft deep in the solid ground,
Then shovel back the mould without delay, 275
And stamp the surface level as you may:
Light soil it is, if still the pit shall gape,
A soil for cattle and the genial grape.
But if the clods forswear their old abode,
And overpile the brim when all are stow'd, 280
The soil is close—look out for hummocks here,
And stubborn chines, and yoke your strongest steer.
A salt, and what is call'd a bitter earth,
Has little sympathy with Cereal birth;
No plough shall temper it, nor shalt thou find
The vines or apples true unto their kind. 286
Work there, and you shall prove it kind enow
To beasts, and patient of the talon'd plough: 266
Such Capua tills, and slopes Vesuvian show,
And Clanius, deaf to lorn Acerra's woe.
Now hearken how to test the soil; and if
Thou wouldst discern light staple from the stiff,
(Since one is best for corn and one for vines, 271
The stiff for grain, the light for noble wines:)
Beforehand let a proper place be found,
Then sink a shaft deep in the solid ground,
Then shovel back the mould without delay, 275
And stamp the surface level as you may:
Light soil it is, if still the pit shall gape,
A soil for cattle and the genial grape.
But if the clods forswear their old abode,
And overpile the brim when all are stow'd, 280
The soil is close—look out for hummocks here,
And stubborn chines, and yoke your strongest steer.
A salt, and what is call'd a bitter earth,
Has little sympathy with Cereal birth;
No plough shall temper it, nor shalt thou find
The vines or apples true unto their kind. 286
