Chap. 27.] PLANTS WHICH GROW FROM A BRANCH. 485 



several varieties of the apple ; the tree, however, was but 

 very short-lived. But, with all our experiments, we find 

 it quite impossible to rival Nature ; for there are some 

 plants that can be reproduced in no other manner than spon- 

 taneously, and then only in wild and desert spots. The plane'' 17 

 is generally considered the best adapted to receive every kind 

 of graft, and next to it the robur ; both of them, however, 

 are very apt to spoil the flavour of the fruit. Some trees 

 admit of grafting upon them in any fashion, the fig and the 

 pomegranate for instance ; the vine, however, cannot be 

 grafted upon by scutcheon, nor, indeed, any other of the trees 

 which has a bark that is thin, weak, or cracked. So, too, 

 those trees which are dry, or which contain but little moisture, 

 will not admit of grafting by inoculation. This last method is 

 the most prolific of them all, and next to it that by scutcheon, 

 but neither of them can be depended upon, and this last more 

 particularly ; for when the adherence of the bark is the only 

 point of union the scutcheon is liable to be immediately dis- 

 placed by the slightest gust of wind. Grafting by insertion is 

 the most reliable method, and the tree so produced will bear 

 more fruit than one that is merely planted. 



(17.) We must not here omit one very singular circum- 

 stance. Corellius, a member of the Equestrian order at Home, 

 and a native of Ateste, grafted a chesnut, in the territory of 

 Neapolis, with a slip taken from the same tree, and from this 

 was produced the chesnut which is so highly esteemed, and 

 from him has derived its name. At a later period again, 

 Etereius, his freedman, grafted the Corellian 38 chesnut afresh. 

 There is this difference between the two ; the Corellian is 

 more prolific, but the Etereian is of superior quality. 



CHAP. 27. PLANTS WHICH GROW FROM. A BRANCH. 



It. is accident that has the credit of devising the other me- 

 thods of reproduction, and has taught us how to break off a 

 branch of a tree and plant it in the earth, from seeing stakes, 

 when driven in the earth, take root, and grow. It is in this 

 way that many of the trees are reproduced, and the fig more 

 particularly ; which may be propagated also by all the methods 

 previously stated, with the exception, indeed, of that by cuttings. 



37 The plane and the oak are no longer employed for the purpose. 



38 See B. xv. c. 25. 



