462 pliny's natural histoey. [Book XVII. 



seasoned with smoke, and then steeped in urine, preparatory 

 to sowing. 27 Some persons put them in baskets of osier, and 

 tread them down with the feet in running water, until the 

 outer skin is removed, as it is found that the moisture 28 which 

 they contain is detrimental to them, and prevents them from 

 germinating. A trench is then dug, about a palm in depth, 

 and somewhere about twenty of the berries are then put into 

 it, being laid in a heap : this is usually done in the month of 

 March. These kinds of laurel admit of being propagated 

 from layers also ; but the triumphal 29 laurel can be reproduced 

 from cuttings only. 



All the varieties of the myrtle 30 are produced in Campania 

 from the berry only, but at Rome from layers. Democritus, 

 however, says that the Tarentine myrtle may be re-produced 

 another way. 31 They take the largest berries and pound them 

 lightly so as not to crush the pips : with the paste that is thus 

 made a rope is covered, and put lengthwise in the ground ; 

 the result of which is that a hedge is formed as thick as a wall, 

 with plenty of slips for transplanting. In the same way, too, 

 they plant brambles to make a hedge, by first covering a rope 

 of rushes with a paste made of bramble-berries. In case of 

 necessity, it is possible at the end of three years to transplant 

 the suckers of the laurel and the myrtle that have been thus 

 re-produced. 



With reference to the plants that are propagated from seed, 

 Mago treats at considerable length of the nut-trees — he says 

 that the almond 32 should be sown in a soft argillaceous earth, 

 upon a spot that looks towards the south — that it thrives also 

 in a hard, warm soil, but that in a soil which is either unctuous 

 or moist, it is sure to die, or else to bear no fruit. He recom- 

 mends also for sowing those more particularly which are of a 

 curved shape like a sickle, and the produce of a young tree, 



27 These methods of preparation are no longer employed. 



28 It is for this reason, as already stated, that they should be sown at 

 once. 



29 See B. xv. c. 39. He there calls it " sterilis," " barren." 



30 See B. xv. c. 37. The myrtle reproduces itself in its native countries 

 with great facility, but in such case tbe flowers are only single. "Where a 

 double flower is required, it is grown from layers. 



31 No better, Fee says, than the ordinary method of making a myrtle 

 hedge. 



32 The almond requires a dry, light earth, and a southern aspect. 



