Soc. It would not do. There would be too much mud.

Isch. Well then, what would you say to summer?

Soc. The soil will be too hard in summer for a plough and a pair of
oxen to break up.

Isch. It looks as if spring-time were the season to begin this work,
then? What do you say?

Soc. I say, one may expect the soil broken up at that season of the
year to crumble[12] best.

[12] {kheisthai} = laxari, dissolvi, to be most friable, to scatter
readily.

Isch. Yes, and grasses[13] turned over at that season, Socrates, serve
to supply the soil already with manure; while as they have not shed
their seed as yet, they cannot vegetate.[14] I am supposing that you
recognise a further fact: to form good land, a fallow must be clean
and clear of undergrowth and weeds,[15] and baked as much as possible
by exposure to the sun.[16]

[13] "Herbage," whether grass or other plants, "grass," "clover," etc;
Theophr. "Hist. Pl." i. 3. 1; Holden, "green crops."

[14] Lit. "and not as yet have shed their seed so as to spring into
blade."

[15] Or, "quitch."