Extra Income

There was room between the staked-out vines to plant cuttings; according to Columella, as many as 26,000 of them, per acre of vineyard. Initially, these were reserve stocks that could replace any failing vines; after that, however, they could become nursery plants which were marketable in their own right just two years later. The vintner could expect a bonus of about 5000 sestertii per acre of initial planting this way.