484 plint's natural history. [Book XVII. 



in the stock, and a scutcheon 31 of the bark removed, due care 

 being taken that the knife does not go below it. A similar 

 piece of bark from another tree, with a protuberant bud upon 

 it, is then inserted in its place, care being taken that the union 

 is so exact that there is no room left for a cicatrix to form, and 

 the juncture so perfect as to leave no access to either damp or 

 air : still, however, it is always the best plan to protect the 

 scutcheon by means of a plaster of clay and a band. Those who 

 favour the modern fashions pretend that this method has been 

 only discovered in recent times ; but the fact is, that we find 

 it employed by the ancient Greeks, and described by Cato, 32 

 who recommends it for the olive and the fig ; and he goes so 

 far as to determine the very dimensions even, in accordance 

 with his usual exactness. The scutcheon, he says, when taken 

 off with the knife should be four 33 fingers in length, and three 

 in breadth. It is then fitted to the spot which it is to occupy, 

 and anointed with the mixture of his which has been pre- 

 viously described. 34 This method, too, he recommends for the 

 apple. 



Some persons have adopted another plan with the vine, 

 which consists partly -of that of grafting by scutcheon, and 

 partly by fissure ; they first remove a square piece of bark 

 from the stock, and then insert a slip in the place that is thus 

 laid bare. I once saw at Thulise, 35 near Tibur, a tree that had 

 been grafted 36 upon all these various ways, and loaded with fruit 

 of every kind. Upon one branch there were nuts to be seen, 

 upon another berries, upon another grapes, upon another 

 pears, upon another figs, and upon others pomegranates, and 



31 " Scutula." So called from its resemblance to a " little shield." 



32 De Be Bust. 42. 33 Cato says, three and a-half. 



34 Chalk and cow-dung. See c. 24 of this Book. 



35 Perhaps " Tulise ; " which would mean, according to Festus, the 

 "cascades" or " waterfalls" of Tibur. now Tivoli. 



36 Fee says, that if we take the word "grafted" here in the strictest 

 sense, Pliny must have seen as great a marvel as any of those mentioned 

 an the "Arabian Nights;" in fact, utter impossibilities. He thinks it 

 possible, however, that a kind of mock grafting may have been produced 

 in the case, still employed in some parts of Italy, and known as the 

 " greffe- Diane." A trunk of an orange tree is split, and slips of numerous 

 trees are than passed into it, which in time throw out their foliage and 

 blossoms in various parts of the tree, or at the top ; the consequence of 

 which is, that the stock appears to bear several varieties of blossoms at the 

 same moment. It is not improbable that Pliny was thus imposed upon. 



