Book 5

You have said, Silvinus, that in the earlier books, which I had written to you about establishing and cultivating vineyards, some things were of land, omitted of which those who devote themselves to agriculture felt the want; and indeed I do not deny that, although I carefully studied what the agriculturists of our own age and also the ancients have handed down in written records, there are some topics which I have passed over.

But when I undertook to teach the precepts of husbandry, if I mistake not, I did not assert that I would deal with all but only with very many of those subjects which the vast extent of that science embraces; for it could not fall within the scope of one man's knowledge, and there is no kind of learning and no art which has been completely mastered by a single intellect. Therefore, just as the task of a good sportsman, tracking his prey in a vast forest, is to catch as many wild beasts as he can nor has blame ever attached to anyone if he did not catch them all, so it is amply sufficient for us to have treated of the greatest part of the extensive material with which we have undertaken to deal.

For indeed subjects, which do not properly belong to our profession, are demanded as though they had been left out; for example, only recently, when my friend Marcus Trebellius required from me a method of measuring land he expressed the opinion that it was a kindred and indeed closely connected task for one who was showing how we ought to trench land to give instructions also how we ought to measure the land thus trenched. I replied that this was the duty not of a farmer but of a surveyor, especially as even architects, who must necessarily be acquainted with the methods of measurement, do not deign to reckon the dimensions of buildings which they have themselves planned, but think that there is a function which befits their profession and another function which belongs to those who measure structures after they have been built and reckon up the cost of the finished work by applying a method of calculation.

Therefore I hold that excuse should rather be made for our system of instruction if it only goes as far as to state by what method each of the operations of farming should be carried out and not the area over which it has been performed. But since, Silvinus, you also ask us in a friendly spirit for instructions about measurements, I will comply with your wish, on condition that you harbour no doubt that this is really the business of geometricians rather than of countrymen, and make allowances for any errors that may be committed in a sphere where I do not claim to possess scientific knowledge.

But to return to my subject, the extent of every area is reckoned by measurement in feet, and a foot consists of 16 fingers.

The multiplication of the foot produces successively the pace, the actus, the clima, the iugerum, the stadium and the centurio, and afterward still larger measurements. The pace contains five feet. The smallest actus (as Marcus Varro says) is four feet wide and 120 feet long.

The clima is 60 feet each way. The square actus is bounded by 120 feet each way; when doubled it forms a iugerum, and it has derived the name of iugerum from the fact that it was formed by joining. a This actus the country folk of the province of Baetica call acnua; they also call a breadth of 30 feet and a length of 180 feet a porca. The Gauls give the name candetum to areas of a hundred feet in urban districts but to areas of 150 feet in rural districts; they also call a half-iugerum an arepennis.

Two actus, as I have said, form a iugerum 240 feet long and 120 feet wide, which two numbers multiplied together make 28,800 square feet. Next a stadium contains 125 paces (that is to say 625 feet) which multiplied by eight makes 1000 paces, which amount to 5000 feet. We now call an area of 200 iugera a centuria, as Varro again states; but formerly the centuria was so called because it contained 100 iugera, but afterwards when it was doubled it retained the same name, just as the tribes were so called because the people were divided into three parts but now, though many times more numerous, still keep their old name.

It was proper that we should begin by briefly mentioning these facts first, as being relevant to and closely connected with the system of calculation which we are going to set forth.

Let us now come to our real purpose.We have not put down all the parts of the iugerum but only those which enter into the estimation of work done. For it was needless to follow out the smaller fractions on which no business transaction depends. The iugerum, therefore, as we have said, contains 28,800 square feet, which number of feet is equivalent to 288 scripula. But to begin with the smallest fraction, the half-scripulum, the 576th part of a iugerum, contains 50 feet; it is the half-scripulum of the iugerum. The 288th part of the iugerum contains 100 feet; this is a scripulum. The 144th part contains 200 feet, that is two scripula. The 72nd part contains 400 feet and is a sextula, in which there are four scripula. The 48th part, containing 600 feet, is a sicilicus, in which there

The divisions of a iugerum (continued).

Latin name of the divisions of the iugerum. Number of scripula in each division.

Fractions of iugerum. Roman square feet. English square feet. Semuncia 12 1/24 1,200 1,160·40 Uncia 24 1/12 2,400 2,320·80 Sextans 48 1/6 4,800 4,641·60 Quadrans 72 1/4 7,200 6,962·40 Triens 96 1/3 9,600 9,283·20 Quincunx 120 5/12 12,000 11,604·0 Semis 144 1/2 14,400 13,924·80 Septunx 168 7/12 16,800 16,245·60 Bes 192 2/3 19,200 18,566·40 Dodrans 216 3/4 21,600 20,887·20 Dextans 240 5/6 24,000 23,208·0 Deunx 264 11/12 26,400 25,528·80 Iugerum 288 1 28,800 27,849·60 are six scripula.

The 24th part, containing 1200 feet, is a semi-uncia, in which there are 12 scripula.

The 12th part, containing 2400 feet, is the uncia, in which there are 24 scripula. The 6th part, containing 4800 feet, is a sextans, in which there are 48 scripula. The 4th part, containing 7200 feet is a quadrans, in which there are 72 scripula. The 3rd part, containing 9600 feet, is a triens, in which there are 96 scripula.

The 3rd part plus the 12th part, containing 12,000 feet, is the quincunx, in which there are 120 scripula. The half of a iugerum, containing 14,400 feet, is a semis, in which there are 144 scripula. A half plus a 12th part, containing 16,800 feet, is a septunx, in which there are 168 scripula. Two-thirds of a iugerum, containing 19,200 feet, is a bes, in which there are 192 scripula. Three-quarters, containing 21,600 feet, is a dodrans, in which there are 216 scripula. A half plus a third, containing 24,000 feet, is a dextans, in which there are 240 scripula.

Two-thirds plus a quarter, containing 26,400 feet, is a deunx, in which there are 264 scripula. A iugerum, containing 28,800 feet, is the as,a in which there are 288 scripula. If the form of the iugerum were always rectangular and, when measurements were being taken, were always 240 feet long and 120 feet wide, the calculation would be very quickly done; but since pieces of land of different shapes come to be the subjects of dispute, we will give below specimens of every kind of shape which we will use as patterns.

Every piece of land is square, or long, or wedge-shaped, or triangular, or round, or else presents the form of a semi-circle or of the arc of a circle, sometimes also of a polygon. The measuring of a square is very easy; for, since it has the same number of feet on every one of its sides, two sides are multiplied together and the product of this multiplication we shall say is the number of square feet. For example if an area were 100 feet each way, we multiply 100 by 100 and the result is 10,000.

We shall, therefore, say that the area contains 10,000 square feet, which make a triens (1/3) plus a sextula (1/72)of a iugerum,a and on the basis of this fraction we shall have to calculate the amount of work done.

If it is longer than it is broad (for example let the form of the iugerum have 240 feet of length and 120 of breadth), as I said just now, you will multiply the feet of the breadth with the feet of the length in the following manner: 120 times 240 make 28,800, and we shall say that the iugerum of land contains this number of square feet.

Similarly we shall always multiply the feet of the length with those of the width.

But if the field is wedge-shaped (for instance, suppose it to be 100 feet long and 20 feet broad on one side and 10 feet on the other side) we shall add the two breadths together, making a total of 30 feet. Half of this sum is 15, and by multiplying the longitude by 15 we shall obtain the result of 1500. We shall say then that this is the number of square feet in the wedge-shaped field which will be a semuncia plus three scripula (3/288 of a iugerum). a

But if you have to measure a triangle with three equal sides, you will follow this formula. Suppose the field to be triangular, three hundred feet on every side. Multiply this number by itself and the result is 90,000 feet. Take a third part of this sum, that is

30,000. Likewise take a tenth part, that is 9,000. Add the two numbers together; the result is 39,000. We shall say that this is the total number of square feet in this triangle, which measure makes a iugerum, plus a triens (1/3), plus a sicilicus (1/48). a

But if your field is triangular with unequal sides, as in the figure given below, which has a right angle, the calculation will be ordered differently.Let the line on one side of the right angle be 50 feet long and that on the other side 100 feet. Multiply these two numbers together; 50 times 100 makes 5000; half of this is 2500, which makes an uncia(1/12 of a iugerum) + a scripulum (1/288). b

If the field is to be round, so as to have the appearance of a circle, reckon the number of feet as follows. Let there be a circular area of which the diameter (that is, the measurement across) is 70 feet.

Multiply this number by itself: 70 times 70 makes 4900. Multiply this sum by 11 and the result is 53,900 feet. I subtract a fourteenth part of this sum, namely 3850, and this I declare to be the number of square feet in the circle, which sum amounts to a sexcuncia of a iugerum and two scripula (1/144) and a half scripulum (1/576).a

If the piece of land is to be semi-circular and its base measures 140 feet and the depth of the circular portion is 70 feet, it will be necessary to multiply the depth by the base. 70 times 140 makes 9800. This sum multiplied by 11 makes 107,800, and a fourteenth part of this is 7700. This we shall say is the number of square feet in the semi-circle, which makes a quadrans (1/4) of a iugerum and 5 scripula (5/288). b

But if the area is to be less than a semicircle, we shall measure the arc as follows: let there be an are the base of which measures 16 feet and the depth 4 feet. I add the base to the depth, which together make 20 feet. This I multiply by 4, making 80, of which the half is 40. Again, the half of 16 feet, which form the base, is 8. This I multiply by itself, making 61. I then take a fourteenth part of this, which make 4 feet and a little more. a This you will add to 40, and together they make a total of 44. This I declare to be the number of square feet in the are, which is equivalent to half a scripulum (1/576 of a iugerum) less 1/25 of a scripulum. b

If the area has six angles, it is reduced to square feet in the following manner. Let there be a hexagon, each side of which measures 30 feet. I multiply one side by itself: 30 times 30 makes 900. Of this sum I take one-third, which is 300, a tenth part of which is 90: total 390. This must be multiplied by 6, because there are 6 sides: the product is 2310. We shall say, therefore, that this is the number of square feet. It will, then, be equivalent to an uncia (1/12 of a iugerum) less half a scripulum (1/596) plus 1/10 of a scripulum. a

Having grasped what may be called the first principles of this kind of calculation, we shall have no difficulty about entering upon the measurement of pieces of land, with the various kinds of which it is a long and arduous task to deal at this point. I will now also add, in addition to those which I have already set forth, two rules which husbandmen often employ in the setting out of plants.

Suppose that you have a piece of land 1200 feet long and 120 feet wide, in which vines have to be so arranged that five feet are left between the rows.How many plants, I ask, are necessary when spaces of five feet are required between the plants. I take a fifth of the length, which makes 240, and a fifth of the breadth, which makes 24. To each of these numbers always add one unit, which forms the outermost row, and which they call the angular row;

one number, therefore amounts to 241, the other to 25. Multiply these figures as follows: 25 times 241 makes 6025. This, you will say, is the number of plants required.

Similarly, if you wish to set them six feet apart, you will take a sixth of the longitude (which is 1200), that is 200, and a sixth of the breadth (which is 120), that is 20. To each of these figures you will add what I called the angular units. The numbers are

201 and 21. These sums you will multiply together, 21 times 201, and you will get 4221. This, you will say, is the number of plants required.

Similarly, if you wish to set them seven feet apart, you will take a seventh of the length and of the breadth and you will add the angular units, and by the same method and the same arrangement you will make up the number of the plants.

In a word, however many feet you have decided for the distance between the plants, you will take the total length and the total breadth and add the units mentioned above. This being so, it follows that the iugerum of land, which is 240 feet long and 120 feet broad, if the distance between the plants is three feet (and this we consider to be the smallest distance which should be left when planting vines), will accommodate 81 plants in its length, and in its breadth, with a distance of five feet between them, it will hold 25 plants. These numbers when multiplied together make 2025.

If the vineyard is arranged with intervals of four feet each way, the row which runs lengthways will contain 61 plants, and the row which runs breadthways 31 plants; this gives 1891 vines to a iugerum.

If the vineyard be laid out so that there are intervals of four feet lengthways and five feet breadthways, the row which runs lengthways will have 61 plants and that which runs breadthways 25 plants. If the planting is carried out with intervals of five feet, the row will contain 49 plants lengthways and 25 breadthways; the two numbers multiplied together makel225. If, however, you have decided to lay out the same area with the vines at intervals of six feet, there is no doubt that 41 vines must be assigned to the length and 21 to the breadth;

these numbers multiplied together make a total of 861. But if the vineyard has to be arranged with intervals of seven feet, a row will accommodate 35 heads lengthways and 18 breadthways; these numbers multiplied together make 630, and this, we shall say, is the number of plants which must be got ready.

But if the vineyard is to be planted with intervals of eight feet, a row will accommodate 31 plants lengthways and 16 breadthways; these numbers multiplied together make 496. If the interval is to be nine feet, a row will hold 27 plants lengthways and 14 breadthways; these numbers multiplied together make 378. With intervals of ten feet, a row will hold 25 plants lengthways and 13 breadthways; these numbers multiplied together make 325. So that our discussion may not be infinitely prolonged, we shall carry out our planting by using the same proportion to suit the wider spacing which any one of us prefers. Let what we have said about the measurement of land and the number of plants suffice. I now return to my proposed order of subjects.

I have found that there are several kinds of vines in the provinces; but of those of which I have personal knowledge those resembling small trees and standing by themselves on a short stock without any support are the most highly approved. Next come those which are supported by props and placed each on a single frame; these the peasants call horsed a vines. Next come those which are fastened round canes fixed in the ground and are bent into curves and circles, their firm-wood branches being tied by means of props formed of reeds.

These some people call staked vines. The type which comes last in esteem is the vine which lies flat on the ground and which, being as it were projected from the stock as soon as it grows out of the earth, stretches all over the ground.

The conditions under which all these vines are planted are almost identical. The plants are placed either in a plant-hole or in a furrow, since the farmers of foreign races are unacquainted with trenching, which indeed is almost superfluous in places where the soil crumbles and has fallen to pieces of its own accord, for, as Vergil says; a

'Tis this that with the plough we imitate, that is to say in fact by trenching.

b Thus the Campanians, though they might take a neighbouring example from us, do not employ this method of working the ground, because the ease with which their soil can be cultivated calls for less labour; but wherever a dense soil calls for a greater expenditure on the part of the provincial peasant, what we effect by soil-preparation he achieves by making a furrow in order that he may set his plants in soil which has already been worked into a looser condition.

But that I may deal particularly with each kind of the vine of which I have proposed to speak, I will resume the order already mentioned. The vine which stands by virtue of its own strength without any prop must in rather loose soil be placed in a planting-hole, in denser soil in a furrow, but both planting-holes and furrows are very beneficial, if, in temperate regions where the summer is not excessively hot, they are made a year before the vine- yards are planted.

Inquiry, however, must first be made into the excellence of the soil; for if the plants are going to be set in hungry and poor land, planting-holes or furrows must be made just before the time of planting. If they are made a year before the vineyard is planted, it is quite enough for the planting- ' hole to be dug three feet in length and depth, but two feet in width; or, if we are going to leave four feet between the rows, it is generally reckoned more convenient to give the planting-hole the same measurement in every dimension without, however, sinking them to a greater depth than three feet. Each plant, then, will be applied to the four corners after fine soil has been put into the bottom of the planting-holes, which will then be filled in.

As to the spaces between the rows we have this much advice to offer, that farmers should understand that, if they intend to cultivate their vineyards with the plough, wider intervals must be left, but they can be narrower if hoes a are used; but they should never be wider than ten feet or narrower than four. Many people, however, arrange the rows so as to leave two or at most three feet in a straight line between the plants, while on the other hand they make the transverse spaces wider, so that the digger or ploughman may pass freely.

The precautions taken in planting ought not to differ from those which I directed in my Third Book. b Mago, the Carthaginian, however, makes one addition to this system of planting, namely, that the plants should be put into the ground in such a way that the whole plant-hole is not immediately filled with soil but about half of it is gradually levelled up in the two following years; for he thinks that in this way the vine is forced to drive its roots downwards.

I shall not deny that this can be done with advantage in dry places; but where either the district is marshy or the climate rainy, I am of opinion that it should certainly not be done, for excessive moisture standing in the half-filled plant-holes kills the plants before they can gain strength. Therefore I think that it is more expedient that the plant-holes should be filled up again after the vine-stock has been put into them, but, when the plants have taken root, immediately after the autumn equinox, the soil round them ought to be carefully dug up a to a good depth and, after the rootlets which they may have put forth on the surface of the ground have been cut away, the earth ought to be filled in again after a few days.

In this way two inconveniences will be avoided; firstly, the roots are not drawn to the upper part of the soil, and, secondly, the plants will not be troubled by excessive rains while they are still weak. When, however, they have become quite strong, there is no doubt that they are greatly benefited by the rains from heaven; and so, in places where the mildness of the winter allows it, it will be expedient to leave the vines uncovered and to keep the soil round them loose the whole winter.

As regards the sort of vine-plants, the authorities are not agreed amongst themselves.Some think that it is better to plant a vineyard with mallet-shoots from the first, others think that it should be planted with quick-sets; I have already stated my opinion in the earlier part of this work. b However, I now add this further point, that there are some lands where vines which have been transplanted do not answer as well as those which have not been moved, but that this happens very rarely. It must also be noted that we ought to try diligently to discover:

What every clime may yield and what refuse. a

When, therefore, the plant has been put into the ground, whether it be a mallet-shoot or a quick-set, it is proper to adjust it in such a way that the vine may stand up without any prop.This, however, cannot be achieved immediately.

For unless you have provided the vine with a support when it is tender and weak, the young shoots will creep along and keep close to the ground. So, when the plant is set in the earth, a reed is attached to it, so that it may, as it were, watch over its infancy and train it and raise it to such stature as the husbandman allows it to reach. This, moreover, ought not to be high, for it must be checked when it reaches a foot and a half. Afterwards, when it gains strength and can already stand without any help, it comes to maturity by the growth of its head or its branches.

For here too there are two methods of cultivation, some people preferring vines which grow to a head, others those which grow out in arms. Those who delight in shaping a vine into arms should preserve whatever it puts forth near the scar where the young vine has had its top removed, and divide it into four arms a foot long in such a way that each of them looks towards a different region of the sky.6 But these arms are not allowed to reach this height immediately in the first year, lest the vine be too heavily laden while it is still weak, but they must only reach the length which I have indicated after numerous prunings. Next there must be left projecting from these arms what may be called horns, and thus the whole vine must be spread in a circular form on all sides.

The method of pruning is the same as for vines which are trained on frames, though it differs in one respect, namely, that instead of longer firm-wood branches stumps with four or five eyes are left, and instead of keepers a short-cut branches with two eyes are formed. Then in the vine which we described as growing to a head, the shoot is pulled off close to the mother-vine right up to the stock, one or two eyes only being left which adhere to the trunk itself.

This can be done with safety in well-watered and very rich districts when the strength of the earth can supply both fruit and firm-wood. Those who have vineyards formed in this way cultivate them mainly with ploughs and follow this method of pulling off the arms from the vines, because the heads themselves, having nothing projecting 6 from them, are not liable to damage from the plough or from the oxen. For in vines which grow out into arms it generally happens that the small branches are broken off by the legs or horns of the oxen, and often too by the handle of the plough while the careful ploughman is striving to graze the edge of the row with the ploughshare and to cultivate the ground as near as possible to the vines.

Such then is the cultivation applied to vines whether they grow to arms or to a head, before they bud. When they have budded, a digger follows the ploughman and breaks with a hoe the parts which the ploughman could not reach. Then, when the vine puts forth its firm-wood branches, the vine-trimmer follows and clears away the superfluous shoots and allows those which are fruitful to grow;

and when these have hardened they arc tied up into a kind of crown. This is done for two reasons: firstly, lest, if they are allowed to run free, the shoots should creep forward and become over-luxuriant, and use up all the shoots nourishment, and, secondly, in order that the vine, being tied back, may give the ploughman and the digger free access again for carrying on the cultivation of it.

The following will be the method of trimming.

In places which are shady and damp and cold, the vine should be stripped in summer and the leaves plucked from the shoots, so that the fruit may reach maturity and not become mouldy and rot away.In dry, warm and sunny places, on the contrary, the clusters of grapes should be covered by its shoots, and, if the vine is not sufficiently covered with foliage, the fruit should be protected with leaves brought from elsewhere and sometimes with straw. Indeed, my paternal uncle, Marcus Columella, a man learned in the noble sciences and a most industrious farmer of the province of Baetica, used to shelter his vines about the rising of the Dogstar with palm-mats, because usually during the period of the said constellation some parts of that district are so troubled by the East wind, which the inhabitants call Vulturnus, that, unless the vines are shaded with coverings, the fruit is scorched as it were with a fiery breath.

Such is the method of cultivating both the vine which grows into a head and that which grows into arms.The vine which is placed on a single rail, or that of which the firm-wood is allowed to grow and which is tied in a circular form to props of reeds, requires almost the same treatment as that trained on a frame. I have, however, noticed that some people when dealing with " staked " vines, especially those of the Helvenacan a kind, bury the sprawling shoots, as though they were layers, under the surface of the soil, and then again erect them on reeds and let them grow for fruit-bearing. These our husbandmen call mergi (" divers "), while the Gauls call them candosocci(" layers"), and they bury them for the simple reason that they think that the earth provides more nourishment for the fruit-bearing whips; and so after the vintage they cut them off as useless shoots and remove them from the stem. Our advice, however, is that these same rods, when they have been cut away from the mother-vine, should be planted as quick-sets in any vacant spaces in the rows where vines have died or in a new vineyard which anyone wants to establish; for indeed the parts of the shoots which had been buried have enough roots to take hold immediately if they are put into plant-holes.

There still remains the cultivation of the vine which grows on the ground; but this should not be undertaken except where the climate is very boisterous; for it presents a difficult task for the husbandmen and it never produces wine of a generous flavour. Where local conditions admit of this form of cultivation only, a hammer-shoot is put into plant-holes two feet deep. When it has budded, it is reduced to one firm-wood branch; this in the first year is confined to two eyes. Then in the following year, when it has put forth a profusion of shoots, one is allowed to grow and the rest are struck off. The shoot which has been allowed to grow, when it has produced fruit, is pruned back to such a distance that, as it lies on the ground, it does not reach beyond the space between the rows.

Nor is there a great difference between the pruning of a recumbent vine and of one which stands upright, except that the firm-wood branches in the vine which lies on the ground should be allowed to grow to a shorter length and the stumps ought to be left narrower so as to resemble knobs.

But after the pruning, which in this kind of vine ought naturally to be carried out in the autumn, the whole vine is bent, aside into one of the two spaces between the rows; and the part which was previously occupied is either dug up or ploughed, and when it has been thoroughly cultivated, it receives the same vine back again, so that the other space may also be cultivated. About the trimming of this kind of vineyard, there is little agreement between the authorities. Some say that the vine ought not to be stripped, that it may the-better conceal the fruit from injury by the wind and by wild beasts; others hold that it should be trimmed only sparingly, so that the vine may not be wholly burdened with superfluous leaves and yet may be able to cover or conceal the fruit. The latter method seems to me too to be the more expedient.

We have now said enough about vines; must now give directions about trees. a He who wishes to have a thick and profitable plantation for supporting vines with the trees set at equal distances from one another will take care that it does not grow sparse because the trees have died and will be careful to remove any tree as soon as it is afflicted with old age or damaged by storm and substitute a young growth in its place. This he will easily be able to achieve if he has a nursery for elms ready prepared.

In what manner and of what kind of trees it must be formed, I shall have no objection to stating forthwith.

It is generally agreed that there are two kinds of elms, the Gallic and the native; the former is called the Atinian, a the latter our own Italian.

Tremellius Scrofa 6 was wrong when he expressed the opinion that the Atinian elm does not bear samera, which is the seed of that tree; it certainly produces it but rather thinly and for that reason most people think that it is actually barren, since the seeds are hidden among the foliage which it produces at its first budding. That is why no one now grows it from seed but by means of shoots.

This elm is much more luxuriant and taller than ours and produces foliage which is more acceptable to oxen; when you have fed cattle on it constantly and then begin to give them foliage of the other kind, you will cause them to feel a loathing for the latter. Therefore, if possible, we shall plant a whole field with the Atinian kind of elm only, or, failing that, we shall take care, in arranging the rows, to plant native and Atinian elms to the same number alternately. In this way we shall always have a mixture of foliage for use and the cattle, attracted by this kind of seasoning for their food, will finish off with greater heartiness the full ration allotted to them.

But the poplar seems to sustain the vine best of all trees, then the elm, and after it the ash.The poplar tree, because it provides foliage which is scanty and unsuitable for cattle, has been rejected by most people; the ash, because it is most acceptable to goats and sheep and of some use for oxen, is rightly planted in rough and mountainous places in which the elm is less flourishing.

The elm is preferred by most people, because it both accommodates itself very well to the vine and provides food most acceptable to oxen and flourishes in various kinds of soil. So if it is desired to establish a new plantation, nurseries of elms or ash-trees should be prepared on the system which Ave have described hereafter; for poplars are better put straight into the plantation in the form of tree-tops planted in the ground. We will, therefore, prepare the ground with a double mattock where the earth is rich and moderately moist, and in the spring-time, after the soil has been carefully harrowed and broken up, Ave shall mark it out into beds.

We shall then cast upon the beds the elm-seed which will now be of a ruddy colour and has been exposed to the sun for several days, but still retaining some juice and stickiness, and Ave shall thickly cover the beds all over with the seed and scatter crumbling earth over them with a sieve to the depth of two inches and give them a moderate watering and cover the beds with straw, so that the heads of the plants, when they come up, may not be pecked off by birds. Then, when the plants have crept forth, Ave shall collect the straw and pull up the weeds by hand—a process which must be carried out gently and carefully, so that the still tender and short little roots of the elms may not be pulled up with the weeds.

We shall have the beds themselves planned so as to be so narrow that those who are going to weed them can easily reach to the middle of them with their hands; for, if they are broader, the seedlings themselves will be trodden upon and receive damage. Then in the summer, before the sun rises or towards evening, the nursery-beds ought to be sprinkled from time to time rather than soaked, and when the plantshave growth three feet high,they should be transferred to another nursery-bed, and that they may not strike their roots too deep (for this afterwards involves much labour in lifting them when we are going to transfer them to another nursery-bed), we shall have to dig not very large plant-holes a foot and a half apart.

Next the roots, if they are short, will have to be bent as it were into a knot, or, if they are too long, into a circle resembling a crown and, after being smeared with ox-dung, they must be lowered into small plant-holes and carefully trodden down all round. The plants, too, which are gathered on their stocks a can be set out in the same manner, and this is essential in the case of the Atinian elm which is not raised from seed.

It is better to set this kind of elm in the autumn rather than in the spring, and its small branches are twisted little by little by hand, since in its first two years it dreads the blow of an iron implement. Finally, in its third year it is scraped with a sharp pruning-hook, and when it is fit for transplantation (that is, from the season of autumn, when the ground has been thoroughly soaked with rain, until the spring, before the root of the elm is likely to lose its bark while being removed from the soil), then is the proper time for planting it. Next plant-holes measuring three feet each way must be made if the soil is loose, but, if it is dense, furrows of the same depth and width must be prepared to receive the trees. But also in a soil which is exposed to dew and mist the elms must be planted in such a way that their branches may be directed towards the east and west, in order that the middle of the trees, to which the vine is applied and fastened, may receive more sunlight.

But if we have in view the sowing of cereals also, the trees should be placed, if the soil is rich, at intervals of forty feet from one another, but if it is thin and nothing is planted in it, at intervals of twenty feet.

Then when they begin to grow tali, they must be shaped with the pruning-hook and successive " stages " must be arranged; for the husbandmen call prominent branches and trunks by this name and either cut them closer with the knife or let them grow longer, that the vines may spread more loosely, the latter process being better on rich soil, the former on thin soil. The " stages " should be not less than three feet apart from one another and so shaped that an upper branch may not be in the same line as a lower; for the lower branch will rub against the budding shoot let down from the upper branch and shake off the fruit.

But whatever tree you plant, you should not prune it during the next two years.Then afterwards, if the elm receives only a little growth, in the spring, before it sheds its bark, its top must be lopped off near the small branch which appears to be the most healthy, but in such a way as to leave above it on the trunk a stump nine inches long, towards which the branch can be trained and then applied and fastened, that, when it has been thus caught, it may provide a top for the tree. Then after a year the stump must be cut away and the place smoothed off. If, however, the tree has no suitable small branch, it will be enough if nine feet from the ground it is left standing and the upper part lopped off, in order that the new rods which it will have put forth may be safe from injury by cattle.

If possible, the tree should be cut through with a single blow; if not, it will have to be sawn through and the wound smoothed off with a pruning-hook and covered with mud mixed with straw, so that it may not be damaged by the sun or the rain. After a year or two, when the little branches which have come forth have duly gained strength, it will be fitting that those which are superfluous should be pruned away and those which are suitable should be allowed to grow freely and take their place in the row.

If an elm has made good progress since it was planted, its topmost rods should be freed from knots with a pruning-hook; but if the small branches are vigorous, they should be cut off with a knife in such a way that you leave a little stump projecting from the trunk. Then when the tree has gained strength, whatever can be reached with a pruning-hook should be cut away and smoothed off, without, however, any wound being inflicted on the body of the mother-tree. It will be proper to shape the young elm in the following manner. Where the soil is rich, eight feet should be left from the ground, without any branches, or seven feet in poor soil; then above this the tree must be divided into three parts throughout its circumference, and small branches, one on each of the three sides, should be allowed to grow and be allotted to the first stage.

Then, three feet above, other branches must be allowed to grow in such a manner that their position is not in the same line as in the stage underneath; and the tree will have to be arranged on the same principle right up to the top. In stripping the tree care must be taken that the knobs which are left where the rods have been cut away do not project too much, and that they are not, on the other hand, so much smoothed away that the trunk itself is damaged or stripped of its bark; for an elm takes little pleasure in being bared to the quick.

Also we must avoid making one wound out of two, for the bark does not easily grow over a scar of this kind. The elm requires constant attention, not only in training it carefully but also in digging round the trunk and in alternate years cutting off with a knife or tying back any foliage which has grown from it, so that excessive shade may not harm the vine. Then when the tree has reached a good age, a wound will be made in it near the ground in such a way that a hole is made reaching to the pith and a passage thus given to the moisture, which it has formed in its upper portion. It is well also to plant the vine before the tree has reached its full strength.

But if you wed a tender young elm to a vine, it will now not support the weight; if you couple a vine with an old elm, it will kill its mate.

The trees and the vines, therefore, ought to be nearly equal in age and strength. In order to wed the tree and the vine, a trench ought to be made for the quick-set two feet wide and the same number of feet deep, if the soil is light (but if it is heavy, two feet and three-quarters deep) and six or at least five feet long. The trench, however, should not be less than a foot and a half from the tree; for if you put the vine close to the roots of the elm, it will not strike root properly and, when it has taken hold, it will be smothered by the growth of the tree. If circumstances allow, make the trench in the autumn, that it may be' softened by the rains and frosts; then, about the time of the spring equinox, in order more quickly to clothe the elm, two vines a foot apart should be put into the trench, and care should be taken that they are not planted when the north winds are blowing, nor when the vines are wet with dew, but when they are dry.

This rule I lay down not only when vines are being planted but also elms and the other trees; also, that, when they are removed from the nursery-bed, one side should be marked with ruddle to warn us not to plant trees in any position other than that in which they stood in the nursery-bed; for it is very important that they should face that quarter of the sky to which they have been accustomed from their early days.

In sunny positions, however, when the climate is neither very cold nor too rainy, both trees and vines are better planted in the autumn after the equinox. They should be planted on the principle of putting beneath them to a depth of half a foot top-soil which has been broken by the plough and uncoiling all the roots and covering the plants when they are set with dunged soil, which I consider the best course, or, if not, at least with broken soil, and treading round the actual stem of the plant.

The vines should be set at the edge of the trench and their firm-wood branches stretched along the trench and then erected into the tree and protected by railings from damage by cattle. In very hot localities the plants should be attached to the tree on the north side, in cold places to the south side, in a temperate climate either on the east or on the west side, so that they may not have to endure the sun or the shade all day.

Celsus a is of opinion that at the next pruning-season it is better to refrain from using the knife and that the shoots themselves should be twisted and wrapped round the tree in the shape of a crown, so that this bending-back may cause a profusion of firm-wood branches, the strongest of which we may make the head of the vine in the following year.

But long experience has taught me that it is much more expedient to apply the pruning-hook to the vines on the first possible opportunity and not allow them to become bushy with superfluous shoots. I also hold that the firm-wood branch which is to be allowed to grow at first, should be cut back with the knife as far as the second or third bud, so that it may put forth more vigorous shoots, which, when they have taken hold of the first " story " of the tree, will be trained in different directions at the next pruning, and furthermore will every year be raised to the story above, one firm-wood branch being always left which, applied to the trunk, will face towards the top of the tree.

Once the vine is set in its place a fixed rule is applied to it by husbandmen.

Most of them crowd the lower " stories " with firm-wood branches, their object being a more abundant yield of fruit and easier cultivation. But those whose chief object is high quality in the wine, encourage the vine to mount to the top of the trees, and, as each firm-wood shoot offers itself, they stretch it out to the highest possible branch in such a way that the top of the vine keeps pace with the top of the tree, that is, that the two furthest vine-shoots are applied to the trunk of the tree so that they face its top and, as each branch gathers strength, it takes up the burden of the vine. On the stouter branches more shoots should be placed, separate from one another, but fewer on the slenderer branches, and the young vine should be attached to the tree with three bindings, one on the stem of the tree four feet from the ground, a second holding the vine at its top, and a third clasping it in the middle. A binding should not be placed at the bottom, since it takes away the strength of the vine; however, it is sometimes considered necessary when the tree has had its branches lopped off or when the vine, growing too strong, runs riot.

The other points to be observed in pruning are that the old shoots, upon which the fruit of the previous year has hung, should be all cut away, but the new ones should be allowed to grow after their tendrils have been cut back all round and the side-shoots which have grown from them have been lopped off—if the vine is in a flourishing state, the furthest shoots should be let down a through the top of the branches, if the vine is slender, the shoots nearest to the stock, and if it is of middling size, those in the middle. For the furthest shoot produces the most fruit, the nearest the least and exhausts and enfeebles the vine.

It is of great benefit to vines to unbind them every year; for they can then be more conveniently freed from knots and they are refreshed by being bound in another place and they are less damaged and recover strength better.

Also it is expedient that the shoots themselves should be so placed upon the " stories " of the tree that they hang down, being attached at the third or fourth bud, and that they should not be bound too tightly, lest the vine-twig be cut by the osier. But if the " story " is so far away that the firm-wood branch cannot conveniently be made to reach it, we shall bind the shoot itself to the vine, attaching it above the third bud. We give instructions that this should be done because it is the part of the shoot that is bent over which is clothed with fruit, and it is the part which, being tied with a band, grows upwards that provides the firm-wood branches for the following year.

There are two kinds of the fruit-bearing shoots themselves, one that comes out of the hard-wood of the vine, which, because in the first year it usually puts forth leaves but no fruit, is called a tendril-bearing shoot, and another which is produced from a one-year-old shoot and, because it bears fruit immediately, is called a fructuary shoot.

In order that we may have plenty of shoots of this kind in our vineyard, the portions of the shoots up to three buds must be tied back, so that whatever is below the band may produce firm-wood. Then, afterwards, when the vine has increased in years and strength, the cross-branches must be conveyed to all the nearest trees and after two years must be cut away and others which are younger must be trained across; for when they grow old they wear out the vine. Sometimes too, when the vine cannot occupy the whole tree, it has been found useful to bend part of it down and sink it into the earth and raise two or three layers again into the same tree, so that it may be surrounded by several vines and so be more quickly covered.

A tendril-bearing shoot ought not to be allowed to grow on a young vine, unless it has grown in a place where it is required, so that it may be wedded to a branch which lacks a vine-shoot.

Tendril-bearing shoots which grow in the right place on old vines are useful and are generally cut back to the third bud and allowed to grow with very good results; for in the following year they produce firm-wood in abundance. But if any tendril growing in the right place is broken in the process of pruning or tying, provided that it has some bud left, it should not be entirely removed, since in the following year it will produce an even stronger firm-wood branch from a single bud.

Shoots are called " precipitated " which, sprung from rods one year old, are tied to the hard wood.

These bear fruit very freely but do much damage to the mother-vine; and so a shoot ought not to be " precipitated " except from the ends of the branches or if the vine has surmounted the top of the tree. If, however, anyone wishes to let this kind of stem grow freely for the sake of the fruit, let him twist the shoot, and then tie it in that position and bend it over; for it will put forth flourishing firm-wood behind the point at which you have twisted it, and also, when it is bent over, it will attract less strength to itself, even though it bears an abundance of fruit. A shoot which has been bent over ought not to be allowed to continue so for more than one year.

Another kind of shoot which grows from a young vine and hangs down tied to the tender part of the vine, we call firm-wood; it produces a good crop both of fruit and of new sprouts, and if two rods are allowed to grow from one head, both, nevertheless, are called firm-wood; for I have pointed out above what strength the leaf-bearing shoot possesses. The " throat-shoot " a is that which grows out of the middle between two branches, as it were in a fork. This I have found to be the worst kind of shoot, because it does not bear fruit and it weakens both of the branches between which it has grown. It must, therefore, be removed.

Most people have believed that a strong, luxuriant vine becomes more fertile, if it is loaded with many shoots which are allowed to grow, but they are wrong; for it produces more leaf-bearing shoots from its more numerous rods and, when it has covered itself with abundant foliage, it flowers less well and holds the fog and dew too long and loses all its clusters of grapes. I am, therefore, in favour of distributing a strong vine over the boughs of the supporting tree and spreading it in the form of cross-branches and thinning it out and bending over a certain number of grape-bearing shoots, and, if it is not luxuriant enough, leaving the firm-wood loose. This method will make the vine more productive.

Just as a dense plantation is commendable from the point of view of the fruit and for its fine appearance, so when it becomes thin through lapse of time it is equally unprofitable and ugly to look upon. To prevent this, it is the duty of a careful owner of property to remove every tree as soon as it becomes enfeebled by age and to plant a young tree in its place and not to crowd it round with quick-sets a—although there may be facilities for doing so—but, what is far better, to set layers from near at hand. In both cases the method is very similar to that which we have already set forth. We have now given enough instruction about Italian plantations. plantations.

There is another kind of plantation found in Gaul, which is called that of dwarf trees. b It requires a low and not very leafy tree, and the guelder-rose tree c seems to be the most suitable for this purpose, a tree which closely resembles the cornel-tree.

Indeed the cornel-tree, the horn-beam and sometimes the mountain-ash and the willow are planted by most people to this very end; but willows should not be planted except in watery places, where other trees take root with difficulty, because it spoils the flavour of the wine. The elm also can be adapted to this purpose a by having its top cut off while it is still young, so that it does not exceed the height of fifteen feet; for I have noticed that the plantation of dwarf trees is usually so ordered that the " stories " are arranged at the height of eight feet in dry, sloping places, and twelve feet on flat, marshy ground. But usually this tree is divided up into three branches, upon each of which several arms are allowed to grow on both sides; then almost all the rods are pared off at the time when the vines are pruned, so that they may not cause a shade.

If no cereal is sown amongst the dwarf trees, spaces of twenty feet are left on either side; but if one indulges in crops, forty feet are left on one side and twenty on the other.

In all other respects operations are carried out on the same principle as in an Italian plantation, namely, that the vines are planted in long holes, that they may be looked after with the same care, and trained along the boughs of the trees, and the young cross-branches joined together every year from the nearest trees and the old ones cut off. If one cross-branch does not reach to another, it should be connected by a rod running between them. When later the fruit bows the vine down with its weight, it should be supported by props put underneath it. This kind of plantation, just like all kinds of other trees, produces a greater abundance of fruit the deeper the ground is ploughed and dug round it; whether it pays the owner of the property to make it is shown by the profit which it returns.

The cultivation of any kind of tree is simpler than that of the vine, and the olive-tree, the queen of all trees, requires the least expenditure of all.

For, although it does not bear fruit year after year but generally in alternate years, it is held in very high esteem because it is maintained by very light cultivation and, when it is not covered with fruit, it calls for scarcely any expenditure; also, if anything is expended upon it, it promptly multiplies its crop of fruit.

If it is neglected for several years, it does not deteriorate like the vine, but even during this period it nevertheless yields something to the owner of the property and, when cultivation is again applied to it, it recovers in a single year. We have, therefore, besides others thought it well to give careful instructions about this kind of tree.

I fancy that there are as many kinds of olive-trees as of vines, but ten in all have come under my notice: a the Posia,b the Licinian, the Sergian, the Nevian,c the Culminian,d the Orchis,e the Royal, the Shuttle,f the Myrtle.

Of these the berry of the Posia is the most agreeable, that of the Royal the showiest, and both are more suitable for eating than for oil.

The oil from the Posia has an excellent flavour as long as it is green, but it goes bad within a year. The Orchis also and the Shuttle-olive are better gathered for eating than for their oil. The Licinian produces the best oil, the Sergian the most abundant, and, generally speaking, all the bigger olives are more suitable for eating, the smaller for oil. No olive-trees of these kinds can stand a very warm or a very cold climate; and so in very hot regions the olive-tree rejoices in the north side of a hill, in cool districts in the south side; but it does not like either low-lying or lofty situations but prefers moderate slopes such as we see in the Sabine territory in Italy and all over the province of Baetica.

a Most people think that this tree either cannot live or is not productive more than a hundred miles from the sea, but in some places it thrives well. The Posia stands the heat best, the Sergian the cold.

The most suitable kind of ground for olive-trees is that which has gravel underneath, if chalk mixed with coarse sand forms the top-soil. Not less highly esteemed is ground where there is rich sand, but denser soil also is well adapted to receive this tree, if it is moist and fertile. Chalk must be wholly rejected, and even more land which abounds in springs and where ooze is always standing. Land which is lean because of sand is unfriendly to the olive-tree; so is bare gravel:

for, although it does not die in this kind of soil, yet it never acquires strength. It can, however, be planted on corn-land or where the strawberry-tree or holm-oak have stood; for the ordinary oak, even if it has been cut down, leaves behind roots harmful to the olive-grove, the poison from which kills the olive. So much for general remarks on this type of tree as a whole; I will now describe its cultivation in detail.

A nursery for your olive-grove should be prepared under the open sky on land which is moderately trees, strong and juicy with soil which is neither dense nor loose but rather broken up.

This kind of soil generally consists of black earth. When you have trenched it to the depth of three feet and surrounded it with a deep ditch, so that the cattle may have no access to it, allow the ground to loosen up. Then take from the most fruitful trees tall and flourishing young branches, such as the hand can grasp when it takes hold of them—that is to say of the thickness of a handle—and cut off from these the freshest slips in such a way as not to injure the bark or any other part except where the saw has made its cut.

This is quite easy if you have first made a forked support and protect with hay or straw the part above which you are going to cut the branch, so that the slips which arc placed in the fork may be severed gently without any damage to their bark. The slips then should be cut to the length of a foot and a half with the saw, and their wounds at each end smoothed with a. pruning-knife and marked with ruddle, in order that the portion of the branch may be properly placed in the position which the branch had occupied on the tree, and with its top towards the sky; for, if it is sunk into the ground in an inverted position, it will take root with difficulty and, when it has gained more strength, it will be barren for ever.

You will have to smear the tops and lower ends of the slips with a mixture of dung and ashes and plunge them completely underground in such a way that there may be four inches of loose earth above them. But the slips should be provided with two marking-pegs, one on each side; these are of any kind of wood and are placed a little distance away from the slips and are tied together with a band, so that they may not easily be knocked over separately. It is expedient to do this because of the unobservance of the diggers, so that, when you start tilling your nursery with mattocks or hoes, the slips which you have planted may not be injured.

Some people think it better to cultivate olive-trees by means of buds and to arrange them by means of a cord on a similar principle; a but in either case the planting ought to take place after the spring equinox, and during the first year the nursery ought to be hoed over as often as possible.

In the following and subsequent years, when the rootlets of the plants have gained strength, they should be cultivated with rakes; but for the first two years it is best to abstain from pruning, and in the third year two little branches should be left on each plant, and the nursery should be frequently hoed. In the fourth year the weaker of the two branches should be cut away. Thus cultivated the small trees are fit for transplantation in five years. In dry soil and where there is very little moisture the plants are best put out in the olive-grove during the autumn, but, where the soil is rich and damp, in the spring just before they come into bud.

Four-foot plant-holes are prepared for them a year earlier, or, if there is not an abundance of time before the trees are planted, let straw and twigs be thrown in and the plant-holes burnt, so that the fire may make them friable, as the sun and frost ought to have done. On ground which is rich and fit for growing corn the space between the rows ought to be sixty feet in one direction and forty in the other: if the soil is poor and not suitable for crops, twenty-five feet. But it is proper that the rows should be aligned towards the west, that they may be cooled by the summer-breeze blowing through them.

The small trees themselves may be transplanted in the following manner. Before you pull up a little tree from the soil,[a] mark on it with ruddle the side of it which faces south, so that it may be planted in the same manner as in the nursery. Next let a space of one foot be left round the little tree in a circle and then let the plant be pulled up with its own turf, and that this turf may not be broken up in the process of removal, you must weave together moderate-sized twigs taken from rods and apply them to the lump of earth which is being removed and so bind it with osiers that the soil, being pressed together, may be held as it were enclosed.

Then having dug up the lowest part, you must gently move the lump of earth and bind it to the rods put under it and transfer the plant.

Before it is placed in the ground, you will have to dig up the soil in the plant-hole with hoes; then you should put in soil which has been broken up with the plough, provided that the top-soil shall be rather rich, and strew it with seeds underneath;a and, if there is any water standing in the plant-holes, it should all be drained away before the trees are put in. Next minute stones or gravel mixed with rich soil must be thrown in and, after seeds have been put in, the sides of the plant-hole must be pared away all round and some manure put in among them. If, however, it is not convenient to remove the plant with its own earth, it is best to strip the stem of all its leaves and, after smoothing its wounds and daubing them with mud and ashes, place it in the plant-hole or furrow. A stem is quite ready for moving b which is as thick as a man's arm; one of much greater and stronger growth can also be transplanted, but it must be so placed if it is not in any danger from cattle, that only a little of it projects above the plant-hole; it then produces more luxuriant foliage. If, however, the attacks of cattle cannot be avoided in any other way, the stem will be planted so as to project further from the ground, so that it may be free from such injury by cattle.

The plants must also be watered, when droughts occur, and they must not be touched with the knife unless two years have passed; and, firstly, they ought to be trimmed so that there is only a single stem which exceeds the height of the tallest ox; and, secondly, lest in ploughing an ox should hit it with his haunch or any other part of his body, it is best to protect the plants with fences, even plants that are established.

When the olive grove is established and has reached maturity, you must divide it into two parts, so that they may be clothed with fruit in alternate years; for the olive-tree does not produce an abundance two years in succession.When the ground underneath has not been sown with a crop, the tree is putting forth its shoots; when the ground is full of sown crop, the tree is bearing fruit; the olive-grove, therefore, being thus divided, gives an equal return every year.

But it ought to be ploughed at least twice a year and dug deep all round the trees with hoes; for after the solstice, when the ground gapes open from the heat, care must be taken that the sun does not penetrate to the roots of the trees through the cracks. After the autumn equinox the trees ought to be trenched all round, so that, if the olive-grove is on a slope, ditches may be formed from the higher ground to convey water to the trunks of the trees. Next every shoot which springs from the lowest part of the stem must be removed each year, and every third year the olive-trees must be fed with dung. The olive-grove will be manured by the same method as that which I suggested in the second book,a if, that is, provision is going to be made for a crop of corn.0

If you are providing only for the olive-trees themselves, six pounds of goat's dung or a single modius of dry dung or a congius of unsalted lees of oil will suffice.

The dung ought to be put in during the autumn, so that, being thoroughly mixed in, it may warm the roots of the olive in the winter. The lees of oil should be poured upon those trees which are not thriving very well; for during the winter, if worms and other creatures have got into them, they are killed by this treatment. Generally too in dry as well as in moist places the trees are infested with moss and unless you scrape it off with an iron instrument, the olive-tree will not put forth fruit or an abundance of leaves. Moreover, the olive-grove must be pruned at intervals of several years; for it is well to remember the old proverb He who ploughs the olive-grove, asks it for fruit; he who manures it, begs for fruit; he who lops it, forces it to yield fruit. However, it will suffice to have pruned it every eighth year, so that the fruit-bearing branches may not be from time to time cut off.

It happens also frequently that, though the trees are thriving well, they fail to bear fruit. It is a good plan to bore them with a Gallic auger and to put tightly into the hole a green slip taken from a wild olive-tree; the result is that the tree, being as it were impregnated with fruitful offspring, becomes more pro- ductive.

But it must also be assisted by being dug round and by unsalted lees of oil mixed with pigs' urine or stale human urine, a fixed quantity of each being observed; for a very large tree an urn will be fully enough, if the same quantity of water is mixed with it. Olive-trees also often refuse to bear fruit because of the badness of the soil. This we shall remedy in the following manner. We shall dig deep trenches in circles round them and then put more or less lime round them according to the size of the tree, though the smallest tree requires a modius. If there is no result from this remedy, we shall have to have recourse to the assistance of grafting. How an olive-tree should be ingrafted we will describe hereafter. Sometimes also one branch of an olive-tree flourishes somewhat more than the rest and, unless you cut it back, the whole tree will languish.

This must suffice for our description of olive-groves. It remains to deal with the treatment of fruit-bearing trees, on which subject we will give instructions forthwith.

a Before you set the plants I advise you to protect the bounds of your orchard with walls or a fence or a ditch and to deny a passage not only to cattle but also to man, for if their tops are frequently pulled off by the hand of man or gnawed away by cattle, the plants are forever unable to reach their full growth.

It is expedient to arrange the trees accord- ing to their kinds, chiefly in order to prevent the weak from being overwhelmed by the stronger, because the former is not equal to the latter either in strength or in size and reaches maturity in a different period of time.

Ground which is suitable for vines is also advantageous for trees. You will dig the plant-hole in which you wish to put a plant a year beforehand, for then it will be softened by the sun or the rain, and that which has been put into it will take root quickly. But if you are in a hurry to make the plant-hole and to set the plants in the same year, dig the plant-holes at least two months beforehand and afterwards warm the holes by burning straw in them.

The broader and wider you make them, the more luxuriant and abundant will be the fruit which you will gather. Let your plant-hole be like an oven, wider at the bottom than at the top, so that the roots may spread more loosely, and less cold in winter and less heat in summer may penetrate through the narrow mouth, and also that on sloping ground the earth which is heaped up in it may not be washed away by rains.

Plant the trees at wide intervals, so that, when they have grown, they may have room to spread their branches.

For if you set them thickly, neither will you be able to plant anything underneath them, nor will they be themselves fruitful unless you thin them out; and so it is well to leave forty or at least thirty feet between the rows. Choose plants at least as thick as the handle of a hoe and straight, smooth, tall, free from excrescences and with sound bark.

Such plants will take root well and quickly. If you take branches from trees, choose them from those which bear good and abundant fruit every year, taking them from the " shoulders " which face the rising sun. If you have set a plant with its root you will perceive that the growth will be quicker than in the other plants. A tree which is ingrafted is more fruitful than one which is not, that is, than one which is planted in the form of a branch or of a small plant. But, before you transplant small trees, note what winds they had formerly faced, and afterwards get to work and transfer them from a sloping, dry position to moist soil.

Preferably plant a tree which has three prongs, and let it project at least three feet from the ground. If you wish to put two or three small trees in the same trench, take care that they do not touch one another, since then they will be killed by worms. When you set plants, lower right into the bottom of the trench, on the right and on the left hand side, bundles of twigs of the thickness of the arm in such a way that they project a little above the soil, so that in summer you may with little trouble convey water through them to the roots.

Set trees and seedlings with roots in autumn, that is, about October 15th, but plant cuttings and branches in the early spring before the trees begin to bud; and, in order that the moth may not damage fig-tree seedlings, put in the bottom of the trench a slip from a mastic-tree with its top inverted.

Do not plant a fig-tree in cold weather.It likes sunny positions, where there are pebbles and gravel, and sometimes also rocky places. This kind of tree quickly gains strength if you make your trenches roomy and wide. The various kinds of fig-tree, although they differ greatly in flavour and habit, are planted in the same manner, allowance being made for the difference of soil.

In cold places and where the autumn season is wet, you should plant those whose fruits ripen early, so that you may gather the fruit before the rain comes; but plant winter figs in warm places. If, on the other hand, you wish to make a fig-tree bear late fruit, which it does not naturally do, shake down the unripe or early fruit, and it will then produce another crop which it will defer to the winter. Sometimes too, when the trees begin to bear leaves, it is beneficial to cut off the extreme tops of the fig-tree with a knife; the trees are then sturdier and more prolific. It will be always a good plan, as soon as the fig-tree begins to put forth leaves, to dissolve ruddle in lees of olive-oil and pour it together with human ordure over the roots. This makes the fruit more abundant and the inner part of the fig fuller and better. You should chiefly plant the Livian,a African, Chalcidian,b Fulcan,c Lydian, Callistruthian,d Astropian,e Rhodian, Libyan and Tiburnian f fig-trees, also all those which bear a floweret twice or three times a year.

You should plant the almond-tree, since it is the first tree to put out buds, about February 1st.

It requires hard, warm, dry ground; for if you plant a nut in places which have different qualities from these, it generally rots. Before you put the nut in the ground, soak it in honey-water, which should not be too sweet; it will then, when it comes to maturity, produce fruit of a pleasanter flavour, and meanwhile its foliage will grow better and quicker. Place three nuts so as to form a triangle and let them be at least a hand's breadth away from one another, and let one apex of the triangle face towards the West. Every nut sends out one root and creeps out of the ground with a single stem. When the root has reached the bottom of the planting-hole, it is checked by the hardness of the soil and bent back and puts forth from itself other roots like the branches of a tree.

You will be able to make an almond and a filbert into a Tarentine nut in the following manner.In the planting-hole in which you intend to sow the nuts place fine soil to a depth of half a foot and set in it a fennel-root. When the fennel has grown up, split it and secrete in the pith of it an almond or a filbert without its shell, and then cover it over with earth. Do this before March 1st or between March 7th and 15th. You should at the same time plant the walnut, the pinenut and the chestnut.

It is correct to plant the pomegranate in the spring up to April 1st.

But if it bears fruit which is bitter and not sweet, this will be remedied by the following method: moisten the roots with sow-dung and human ordure and stale urine. This will both render the tree fertile and during the first years cause the fruit to have a vinous taste; after five years it makes it sweet and its kernels soft. We ourselves have mixed just a little juice of alexanders with wine and smeared the uppermost tops of the tree. This has remedied the tartness of the fruit. To prevent pomegranates from bursting on the tree, the remedy is to place three stones at the very root of the tree when you plant it; if, however, you have already planted it sow a squill near the root of the tree. According to another method, when the fruit is already ripe and before it bursts, you should twist the little boughs on which it hangs. By the same method the fruit will keep without decaying for a whole year.

Plant the pear-tree in the autumn before winter comes, so that at least twenty-five days remain before mid-winter.

In order that the tree may be fruitful when it has come to maturity, trench deeply round it and split the trunk close to the very root and into the fissure insert a wedge of pitch-pine and leave it there; then, when the loosened soil has been filled in, throw ashes over the ground. We must take care to plant our orchards with the most excellent pear-trees that we can find.

These are the Crustuminian,a the Royal, the Signine,b the Tarentine, which are called Syrian, the Purple, the Superb, the Barley-pear,c the Anician,d the Naevian,e the Favonian, f the Lateritan,g the Dolabellian,h the Turranian,i the Warden-pear,J the Honey-pear, the Early-ripe, the Venus-pear and certain others, which it is a long task to enumerate now. Moreover, the following kinds of apple should be especially sought after, the Scaudian,k the Matian,l the Globeapple, the Cestine,m the Pelusian,n the Amerian,o the Syrian, the Honey-apple and the Cydpnian p (of which there are three kinds, the Sparrow-apple, the Golden apple and the Must-apple q). All these cause not only pleasure but also good health.

Service-apples also and apricots and peaches have no small charm. You should plant apple-trees, service-trees and plum trees after the middle of winter and until February 13th. The time for planting mulberries is from February 13th to the spring equinox.

The carob-tree, which some people called Ceration,a and the peach-tree you should plant during the autumn before winter comes. If an almond is not productive enough, make a hole in the tree and drive in a stone and so allow the bark of the tree to grow over.

It is proper to plant out the branches of all kinds of fruit trees about March 1st in gardens on raised beds after the soil has been well worked and manured.

Care must be taken to trim them while the little branches are young and tender and in the first year the seedlings should be reduced to a single stem. When autumn has come on, before the cold nips the tops, it is well to strip off all the foliage and to cover the trees with caps, as it were, of thick reeds which have their knots intact on one side, and thus protect the still tender rods from cold and frosts. Then after twenty-four months you will be able quite safely (to do whichever you wish of two things—either to transplant and arrange them in rows or else to en-graft them.

Any kind of scion can be grafted on any tree, if it is not dissimilar in respect of bark to the tree in which it is grafted; indeed if it also bears similar fruit and at the same season, it can perfectly well be grafted without any scruple. Further, the ancients have handed down to us three kinds of grafting; one in which the tree, which has been cut and cleft, receives the scions which have been cut; the second, in which the tree having been cut admits grafts between the bark and the hard wood (both these methods belong to the season of spring); and the third, when the tree receives actual buds with a little bark into a part of it which has been stripped of the bark.

The last kind the husbandmen call emplastration a or, according to some, inoculation. b This type of grafting is best employed in the summer. When we have imparted the method of these graftings, we will also set forth another which we have discovered.

You should engraft all other trees as soon as they begin to put forth buds and when the moon is waxing, but the olive-tree about the spring equinox and until April 13th.See that the tree from which you intend to graft and are going to take scions for insertion is young and fruitful and has frequent knots and, as soon as the buds begin to swell, choose from among the small branches which are a year old those which face the sun's rising and are sound and have the thickness of the little finger.

The scions should have two or three points. You should cut the tree into which you wish to insert the scion carefully with a saw in the part which is most healthy and free from scars, and you will take care not to damage the bark. Then, when you have cut away part of the trunk, smooth over the wound with a sharp iron instrument; then put a kind of thin wedge of iron or bone between the bark and the firm-wood to a depth of not less than three inches, but do so carefully so as not to damage or break the bark. Afterwards with a sharp pruning-knife pare down the scions which you wish to insert, at their bottom end to such a size as will fill the space given by a wedge which has been thrust in, in such a way as not to damage the cambium or the bark on the other side.

When you have got the scions ready, pull out the wedge and immediately push down the scions into the holes which you made by driving in the wedge between the bark and the firm-wood.

Put in the scions by inserting the end where you have pared them down in such a way that they stand out half-afoot or more from the tree. You will be correct in inserting two grafts in one tree, or more if the trunk is larger, provided that the space between them is not less than four inches. In doing so take into account the size of the tree and the quality of the bark. When you have put in all the scions that the tree will stand, bind the tree with elm-bark or reeds or osiers; next with well-worked clay mixed with straw daub the whole of the wound and the space between the grafts to the point at which the scions still project at least four inches.

Then put moss over the clay and bind it on so that the rain may not seep through. Some people, however, prefer to make a place for the slips in the trunk of the tree with a saw and then smooth the parts in which cuts have been made with a thin surgical-knife and then fit in the grafts. If the tree which you wish to engraft is small, cut it off low down so that it projects a foot and a half from the ground; then, after cutting it down, carefully smooth the wound and split the stock in the middle a little way with a sharp knife, so that there is a cleft of three inches in it.

Then insert a wedge by which the cleft may be kept open, and thrust down into it scions which have been pared away on both sides, in such a way as to make the bark of the scion exactly meet the bark of the tree. When you have carefully fitted in the scions, pull out the wedge and bind the tree in the manner described above; then heap the earth round the tree right up to the graft. This will give the best protection from wind and heat.

A third kind of grafting is our own invention; being a very delicate operation, it is not suited to every kind of tree.Generally speaking those trees admit of this kind of grafting which have moist, juicy and strong bark, like the fig-tree; for this both yields a great abundance of milk and has a stout bark, and so a graft can be very successfully inserted by the following method.

On the tree from which you wish to take your grafts, you should seek out young and healthy branches, and you should look out on them for a bud which has a good appearance and gives sure promise of producing a sprout. Make a mark round it enclosing two square inches, so that the bud is in the middle, and then make an incision all round it with a sharp knife and remove the bark carefully so as not to damage the bud. Also choose the healthiest branch of the other tree, which you are going to inoculate, and cut out a part of the bark of the same dimensions as before and strip the bark off the firm-wood. Then fit the scutcheon which you have prepared to the part which you have bared, so that it exactly corresponds to the area on the other tree from which the bark has been stripped.

Having done this, bind the bud well all round and be careful not to damage the sprout itself. Then daub the joints of the wound and the ties round them with mud, leaving a space, so that the bud may be free and not be constricted by the binding. Cut away the shoot and upper branches of the tree into which you have inserted the graft, so that there may be nothing to which the sap can be drawn off or benefit from the sap to another part rather than the graft. After the twenty-first day unbind the scutcheon. This kind of grafting is very successful with the olive also.

The fourth method of grafting we have already explained when we treated of vines; so it is superfluous to repeat here the method of " terebration already described.

But since the ancients denied that any kind of scion could be grafted on any kind of tree and, according to the limitation which we made use of just now,b established as a hard and fast rule that only those scions can unite which resemble the trees in which they are inserted in bark and rind and fruit, we have thought it advisable to destroy this erroneous opinion and to hand down to posterity a method by which any kind of scion can be grafted upon any kind of tree.That we may not weary the reader with too long a discourse, we will submit a single example by following which any kind of scion can be grafted upon a different kind of tree.

Dig a trench measuring four feet each way at such a distance from an olive-tree that the ends of the branches can reach it.Then plant a small fig-tree in the trench, and be careful that it grows strong and healthy. After two years, when it has made enough growth, bend down the branch of the olive-tree which seems to be the healthiest and bind it to the stock of the fig-tree.

Then lop off the rest of the branches and leave only the tops which you wish to engraft; then cut through the trunk of the fig-tree and smooth off the wound and split it in the middle with a wedge. Then pare the tops of the olive-tree, still adhering to the mother-tree, on both sides, and then insert a them in the cleft in the fig-tree, and take away the wedge and carefully tie the little branches so that no force may tear them away. Then after an interval of three years the fig-tree will coalesce with the olive-tree, and finally, in the fourth year, when they have become properly united, you will cut off the little olive branches from the mother-tree, just as if they were layers. This is the way in which you will graft any kind of scion on any kind of tree. But before we make an end of this book, since in the earlier books we treat of almost every kind of small tree, I regard it as a brief and opportune task to give instructions about the shrub-trefoil. b

It is very important to have as much shrub trefoil as possible on your land, because it is most useful for chickens, bees, sheep, goats, oxen and cattle of every kind, which quickly grow fat upon it and it makes ewes yield a very large quantity of milk; moreover you could also use it for eight months of the year as green fodder and afterwards as dry.

Furthermore, on any ground whatsoever, even if it be very lean, it quickly takes root, and it bears any ill-treatment without taking harm. Indeed if women suffer from lack of milk, dry shrub-trefoil ought to be steeped in water and, after it has soaked for a whole night, on the following day three heminae of the juice squeezed out of it should be mixed with a little wine and given them to drink; in this way they themselves will enjoy good health, and the children will grow strong on the abundance of milk provided for them. Shrub-trefoil can be sown either in the autumn about October 15th or in the spring.

When you have worked the soil thoroughly, make little beds and in the autumn sow there the seed of the shrub-trefoil as you would that of basil.

Then in the spring set out the plants so that they are distant four feet each way from one another. If you have no seed, plant out tops of shrub-trefoil in the spring and heap well-manured soil round them. If rain has not come on, water them on the fifteen following days. As soon as a plant begins to put forth young foliage, hoe the ground. Then after three years cut down the plants and give them to the cattle. Fifteen pounds of shrub-trefoil when it is green is quite enough a for a horse, and twenty pounds for an ox, and it should be given to the other animals according to their strength. Shrub-trefoil can also be quite conveniently propagated by planting boughs round the fence of a field, since it easily takes root and stands up to rough usage.

If you give it dry, give it rather sparingly, since it has more strength, and soak it first in water and after taking it out of the water, mix it with chaff. When you wish to dry it, cut shrub-trefoil about the month of September, when its seed begins to grow large, and keep it in the sun for a few hours until it withers; then dry it in the shade and store it.

In what has gone before I have given ample instruction about trees; in the next book I intend to deal with the care of cattle and the remedies for their diseases.