Chap. 16.] THE HOLES FOE TRAJTBTLASTIMG. 4/1 



adopting this plan the foliage- becomes all the thicker 75 and the 

 tetter able to protect the fruit, which is less liable to fall off in 

 consequence, and that the tree is rendered all the better for 

 climbing. Most people, however, take the greatest care to turn 

 to the south that part of the tree from which the branches have 

 been lopped at the top, little thinking that they expose it 

 thereby to a chance of splitting 76 from the excessive heat. For 

 my own part, I should prefer that this part of the tree should 

 face that point of the heavens which is occupied by the sun at 

 the fifth 77 or even the eighth hour of the day. People are also 

 equally unaware that they ought not, through neglect, to let 

 the roots be exposed to the air long enough to get dry; and 

 that the ground should not be worked about the roots of trees 

 while the wind is blowing from the north, or, indeed, from 

 any point of the heavens that lies between north and south- 

 east: or, at all events, that the roots should not be left to He 

 exposed to these winds ; the result of such modes of proceeding 

 being, that the trees die, the grower being all the while in 

 total ignorance of the cause. 



Cato 76 disapproves, too, of all wind and rain whenever the 

 work of transplanting is going on. When this is the case, it 

 will be beneficial to let as much adhere to the roots as possible 

 of the earth in which the tree has grown, and to cover them 

 all round with clods 79 of earth : it is for this reason that Cato^ 

 recommends that the young trees should be conveyed in baskets, 

 a very desirable method, no doubt. The same writer, too, ap- 

 proves of the earth that has been taken from the surface being 

 laid at the bottom of the hole. Some persons say, a that if a 

 laver of stones is placed beneath the root of the pomegranate, 

 the fruit will not split while upon the tree. In transplanting, it 



' 5 There would be no such result, Fee says. 



7 '" This is a useless precaution ; but at the same time, Pliny's fears of its 

 consequences are totally misplaced. 



"At 11 a.m., or 2 p.m. ; i. e. between south and south-east, and south 

 and south-west. 



w De Re Rust. 28. 



" Wet moss, or moist earth, is used for the purpose at the present day. 



" De Re Rust. 28. It is most desirable to transplant trees vrith a layer 

 of the earth in which they have grown ; but if carried out to any extent, 

 it would he an expensive proeeo. 



o " Tradunt." This expression shows that Pliny does not give credit 

 to the statement. Columella and Palladius speak of 'three stones being laid 

 under the root, evidently as a kind of charm. 



