LIBER XVII · CAPUT 3
THE INFLUENCE OF WEATHER UPON THE TREES: WHAT IS THE PROPER SITUATION FOR THE VINE
Latine · Mayhoff 1906
quidam caelum terrae parere cogunt, ut, quae in siccis serantur, orientem ac septentriones spectent, quae in umidis, meridiem. nec non ex ipsis vitibus causas mutuantur in frigidis praecoces serendo, ut maturitas antecedat algorem, quae poma vitesque rorem oderint, contra ortus, ut statim auferat sol, quae ament, ad occasus vel etiam ad septentriones, ut diutius eo fruantur. ceteri fere rationem naturae secuti in aquilonem obversas vites et arbores poni suasere. odoratiorem etiam fieri talem fructum Democritus putat.
English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57
There are some persons who employ a method of making the question of weather dependent upon the nature of the soil; thus in the case of a vineyard, for instance, in a dry locality, they give it an eastern or a northern aspect; but where it is planted on a humid site, it is made to face the south. From the varieties of the vine also, they borrow various modifications in reference to site; taking care to plant the early vine in a cold locality, in order that the fruit may ripen before the frosts come on; while such fruit trees and vines as have an antipathy to dews are exposed to the east, that the sun may carry off their humidity at the earliest moment. On the other hand, such as manifest a partiality to dews are planted with a western or even a northern aspect, to give them an opportunity of enjoying them all the longer. Others, again, borrowing their notions pretty nearly from Nature, have recommended that vines and trees should be planted facing the north-east; indeed Democritus is of opinion, that by so doing the fruit will be all the more odoriferous.