476 pllny's natural histoky. [Eook XVII. 



sive lengtli to which it grows, bends downwards, and throws 

 the extremities of its branches into the earth ; these imme- 

 diately take root again, and would fill every place far and 

 wide, were it not that the arts of cultivation put a check to 

 it ; so much so, indeed, that it would almost appear that men 

 are born for nothing else but to take care of the earth. Hence 

 it is, that a thing that is in itself most noxious and most 

 baneful, has taught us the art of reproduction by layers and 

 quicksets. The ivy, too, has a similar property. 



Cato * says, that in addition to the vine, the fig, as well as 

 the olive, the pomegranate, every variety of the apple, the 

 laurel, the plum, the myrtle, the filbert, the nut of Praeneste, 

 and the plane, are capable of being propagated by layers. 



Layers 2 are of two kinds ; in the one, a branch, while still 

 adhering to the tree, is pressed downwards into a hole that 

 measures four feet every way : at the end of two years it is 

 cut at the part where it curves, and is then transplanted at 

 the expiration of three years more. If it is intended to carry 

 the plant to any distance, it is the best plan to place the layer, 

 directly it is taken up, either in an osier basket or any earthen 

 vessel, for its better security when carried. The other 3 mode 

 of reproduction by layers is a more costly one, and is effected 

 by summoning forth a root from the trunk of the tree even. 

 For this purpose, earthen vessels or baskets are provided, and 

 are then well packed with earth ; through these the extre- 

 mities of the branches are passed, and by this mode of encou- 

 ragement a root is obtained growing amid the fruit itself, and 

 at the very summit of the tree ; for it is at the summit that 

 this method is generally adopted. In this way has a bold and 

 daring inventiveness produced a new tree aloft and far away 

 from the ground. At the end of two years, in the manner 

 already stated, the layer is cut asunder, and then planted in 

 the ground, basket and all. 



The herb savin 4 is reproduced by layers, as also by slips ; it 



» De Re Rust. c. 51. 



2 The French call cultivation by layers "marcotte," as applied to trees 

 in general ; and " provignage," as applicable to the vine. The two methods 

 described by Pliny are still extensively practised. 



3 Taken from Cato, De Re Rust. c. 133. 



4 The Juniperus sabina of Linnaeus : see B. xxiv. c. 61. It produces 

 seed, and there is only one variety that is barren ; the plant being, in re- 

 ality, dioeceous. 



