Advice about Fields

Lands fat or lean, thick or rare, dry or moist, and not without defects, are good for divers seeds; but my advice is to choose the fat and moist. Its work is least and its fruit is best. And next the thick and rank is best; but eschew the thick and dry and let it alone.
Till all the field or all the field is lost; wheat sown thrice in too fat land will, wonderful to say, change into other corn ...
To till a field one must have diligence and leave no part unsown; but plough it up altogether. A little well tilled will repay expenses well, so undertake as much as you can easily do.
But after it is burnt do not go near it for five years; and after that you will see that it, as richer land, will grow and thrive.

Palladius, On Husbandrie, N. Trubner & Co., London, 1873-1879.