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L. d'A. van Rooten's illuminating notes:
1. Woe to the earth left to lie fallow. It is not quite clear whether a lack of apples or potatoes is meant.
2. Ouiller (verb). The practice of filling a half empty wine barrel with wine of the same vintage up to capacity. Air tends to sour wine.
3. Fenil. A hay press or baler.
4. Nothing musst be wasted?
5. Terrine refers, of course, to the earthenware cooking pots of French farm kitchens, and apples that need no ladders are, we suppose, windfalls. These must be gathered and made into conserves.
6. Iéna, town in Thuringia, Germany, pop., 70,000. Famous for its manufacture of optical and precision instruments. Also Napoleon I's victory against the Prussians in 1806. In the balance of the line, "to equip a sister with a bolt (or latch)," the poet refers to the use of chastity belts, in this case of German silver. In bold, broad strokes we have here a magnificent portrait of the thrifty, cautious French farmer.
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