490 PLINY' S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XVII. 



advantageous method of ensuring an abundant increase. These 

 moments, too, are of peculiar importance in relation to the 

 process of grafting, as it is then that the two productions ma- 

 nifest a mutual desire of uniting. Those who prefer the spring 

 lor grafting commence operations immediately after the vernal 

 equinox, reckoning on the fact that then the buds are just 

 coming out, a thing that greatly facilitates the union of the 

 barks. On the other hand, those who prefer the autumn graft 

 immediately after the rising of- Arcturus, because then the graft 

 at once takes root in some degree, and becomes seasoned for 

 spring, so as not to exhaust its strength all at once in the pro- 

 cess of germination. However, there are certain fixed periods 

 of the year, , in all cases, for certain trees ; thus, the cherry, 

 for instance, and the almond, are either planted or grafted about 

 the winter solstice. For many trees the nature of the localitj 

 will be the best guide ; thus, where the soil is cold and moist 

 it is best to plant in spring, and where it is dry and hot, in 

 autumn. 



Taking Italy in general, the proper periods for these opera- 

 tions may be thus distributed : — The mulberry is planted at 

 any time between the ides of February 52 and the vernal equi- 

 nox ; the pear, in the autumn, but not beyond the fifteenth 

 day before the winter solstice ; the summer apples, the quince, 

 the sorb, and the plum, between mid-winter and the ides of 

 February : the Greek carob 53 and the peach, at any time in 

 autumn before the winter solstice ; the various nuts, such as 

 the walnut, pine, filbert, almond, and chesnut, between the 

 calends of March 54 and the ides of that month j 55 the willow 

 and the broom about the calends of March. The broom is 

 grown from seed, and in a dry soil, the willow from plants, in 

 a damp locality, as already stated on former occasions. 56 



(19.) That I may omit nothing to my knowledge of the 

 facts that I have anywhere been able to ascertain, I shall here 

 add a new method of grafting, which has been discovered by 

 Columella, 57 as he asserts, by the aid of which trees even of a 

 heterogeneous or dissociable nature may be made to unite ; 



32 13th of February. 53 B. xv. c 26. 



54 1st of March. 55 1,5th of March. 



56 B. xvi. cc. 30, 46, 67, and 78. 



57 De Re Rust. B. v. c. 11. A very absurd and useless method, Fee 

 remarks. 



