Chap. S3.] BEED-BEDS. 493 



osier willows will supply osiers 63 sufficient for twenty-five jugera 

 of vines. It is for a similar purpose that the white poplar 64 

 is grown ; the trenches being two feet deep and the cutting a 

 foot and a half in length. It is left to dry for a couple of days 

 before it is planted, and a space is left between the plants a foot 

 and a palm in width, after which they are covered with earth 

 to the depth of a couple of cubits. 



CHAP. 33. KEED-BEDS. 



The reed 65 requires a soil still moister even than that em- 

 ployed for the willow. It is planted by placing the bulb of 

 the root, that part which some people call the "eye," 66 in a 

 trench three quarters of a foot in depth, at intervals of two 

 feet and a half. A reed-bed will renew itself spontaneously 

 after the old one has been rooted up, a circumstance which it 

 has been found more beneficial to take advantage of than 

 merely to thin them, as was formerly the practice ; the roots 

 being in the habit of creeping and becoming interlaced, a 

 thing that ends eventually in the destruction of thebed. The 

 proper time for planting reeds is before the eyes begin to swell, 

 or, in other words, before the calends of March. 67 The reed 

 continues to increase until the winter solstice, but ceases to do 

 so when it begins to grow hard, a sign that it is fit for cutting. 

 It is generally thought, too, that the reed requires to bo 

 trenched round as often as the vine. 



The reed also is planted in a horizontal position, 68 and then 

 covered with earth to a very great depth ; by this method as 

 many plants spring up as there are eyes. It is propagated, also, 

 by planting out in trenches a foot in depth, care being taken to 

 cover up two of the eyes, while a third knot is left just on a 

 level with the ground ; the head, too, is bent downwards, that 

 it may not become charged with dew. The reed is usually cut 

 when the moon is on the wane. 69 When required for the 

 vineyard, it is better dried for a year than used in a green 

 state. 



63 For making baskets and bindings. 



64 The Populus canescens of Willdenow. 



65 The Arundo donax of Linnaeus. This account is mostly from Colu- 

 mella, B. iv. c. 32. " 66 B. xvi. c. 67. 67 First of March. 



6e This method is condemned by Columella, De Arbor. 29, as the pro- 

 duce is poor, meagre, and weak. It is but little practised at the present 

 day, 69 A mere superstition, of course. 



