Chap. 41.] THE FECUNDATION OF TREES. 381 



utterly fallacious, and all the junipers always present the same 

 sombre appearance. So, too, in life, the fortunes of many 

 men are ever without their time of blossoming. 



CHAP. 41. THE FECUNDATION OF TREES. GEEMINATION : THE 



APPEARANCE OF THE FRUIT. 



All trees germinate, however, 81 even those which do not 

 blossom. In this respect there is a very considerable differ- 

 ence in relation to *the various localities; for in the same 

 species we find that the tree, when planted in a marshy spot, 

 will germinate earlier than elsewhere ; next to that, the trees 

 that grow on the plains, and last of all those that are found in 

 the woods : the wild pear, too, is naturally later in budding 

 tli an the other pears. At the first breath of the west wind 82 

 the cornel buds, and close upon it the laurel ; then, a little 

 before the equinox, we find the lime and the maple germi- 

 nating. Among the earlier trees, too, are the poplar, the elm, 

 the willow, the alder, and the nut-trees. The plane buds, 

 too, at an early period. 



Others, again, germinate at the beginning of spring, the 

 holly, for instance, the terebinth, the paliurus, 82 * the chesnut, 

 and the glandiferous trees. On the other hand, the apple is 

 late in budding, and the cork-tree the very last of all. Some 

 trees germinate twice, whether it is that this arises from some 

 exuberant fertility of the soil, or from the inviting tempe- 

 rature of the atmosphere ; this takes place more particularly 

 in the several varieties of the cereals. Excessive germination, 

 however, has a tendency to weaken and exhaust the tree. 



Besides the spring budding, some trees have naturally an- 

 other budding, which depends upon the influence of their own 

 respective constellations, 83 a theory which we shall find an 



81 These remarks, borrowed from Theophrastus, are generally consis- 

 tent with our expeiience. 



82 Fee remarks that Pliny here copies from Theophrastus, a writer of 

 Greece, without making allowance for the difference of localities. Theo- 

 phrastus, however, gives the laurel an earlier period for budding than 

 Pliny does. 



82 * The Rhamnus paliurus of Linnaeus. 



83 This is entirely fanciful : though it is the case that in some trees, 

 the ligneous ones, namely,' there are two germinations in the year, one 

 at the beginning of spring, which acts more particularly on the branches, 

 and the other at the end of summer, which acts more upon the parts 

 nearer the roots. 



