444 flint's natueal histoev. [Book XYif. 



Those trees which are the slowest in bringing their fruits to 

 maturity, and require a more prolonged supply of nutriment, 

 receive benefit also from late rains, such as the vine, the olive, 

 and the pomegranate, for instance. These rains, however, are 

 required at different seasons by the different trees, some of 

 them coming to maturity at one period and some at another ; 

 hence it is that we see the very same rain productive of injury 

 to some trees and beneficial to others, even when they are of the 

 very same species, as in the pear for instance : for the winter 

 pear stands in need of rain at one period, and the early pear at 

 another, though at the same time they, all of them, require it 

 in an equal degree. Winter precedes the period of germina- 

 tion, and it is this fact that makes the north-east wind more 

 beneficial than the south, and renders the parts that lie in the 

 interior preferable to those near the coast, — the former being 

 generally the coldest, — mountainous districts better than level 

 ones, and rain at night better than showers in the day. Vege- 

 tation, too, receives a greater degree of benefit from the water 

 when the sun does not immediately soak it up. 



Connected, too, -with this subject is the question of the best 

 situation for planting vines, and the trees which support them. 

 Virgil 24 condemns a western aspect, while there are some persons, 

 again, who prefer it to an easterly one : I find, however, that 

 most authors approve of the south, though I do not think that 

 any abstract precepts 25 can be given in relation to the point. 

 The most careful attention on the part of the cultivator ought 

 to be paid to the nature of the soil, the character of the loca- 

 lity, and the respective influences of climate. The method ot 

 giving to the vine a southern aspect, as practised in Africa and 

 * * * * is injurious to the tree, as well as unhealthy for 

 the cultivator, from the very circumstance that the country 

 itself lies under a southern meridian : hence it is, that he who 

 selects for his plants there a western or a northerly aspect, will 

 combine on the most advantageous terms the benefits of soil 

 with those of climate. When Virgil condemns a western aspect, 

 there can be no doubt that he includes in his censure a northern 

 aspect as well : and yet, in Cisalpine Italy, where most of the 

 vineyards have an aspect to the north, it has been found by 

 experience that there are none that are more prolific. 



2 * Georg. ii. 398. 



25 Taken altogether, a southern aspect is preferable to all otheis. 



