Chop. 35.] CULTUEE OF THE YI]STE. 497 



slips that are thus planted sometimes bear the same year the 

 fruit that they would have borne if they had remained upon 

 the tree : this takes place when they have been planted in 

 good seasons and are replete with fecundity, for then they 

 bring to maturity the fruits the conception of which was com- 

 menced in another spot. Pig-trees that are thus planted may 

 very easily be transplanted in the third year. As some com- 

 pensation for the rapidity with which this tree becomes 86 old, 

 it has thus received the privilege of coming to maturity 87 at a 

 very early period. 



The vine throws out a great number of shoots. In the first 

 place, however, none of them are ever used for planting, 

 except those which are useless, and would have been cut away 

 as mere brushwood ; while, on the other hand, eveiy part is 

 pruned off that has borne fruit the previous year. In former 

 times, it was the custom to plant the slip with a head at the 

 extremity, consisting of a piece of the hard wood on each side 

 of it, the same, in fact, that is called a mallet shoot 88 at the 

 present day. In more recent times, however, the practice 

 has been adopted of pulling it off merely with a heel attached 

 to it, as in the fig; 89 and there is no kind of slip that takes 

 with greater certainty. A third method, again, has been added 

 to the former ones, and a more simple one as well, that of 

 taking the slip without any heel at all. These slips are 

 known by the name of arrow- 90 shoots, when they are twisted 

 before planting; and the same, when they are neither cut 

 short nor twisted, are called three-budded 91 slips. The same 

 sucker very often furnishes several slips of this kind. To 

 plant a stock-shoot 92 of the vine is unproductive, and, indeed, 

 no shoots will bear unless they are taken from a part that has 

 borne fruit already. A slip that has but few knots upon it, is 

 looked upon as likely not to bear ; while a great number of 

 buds is considered an indication of fruitfulness. Some persons 

 say that no suckers ought to be planted, but those which have 

 already blossomed. It is far from advantageous 93 to plant 



86 On the contrary, the fig-tree has been known to live to a very great 

 age. si s ee b. X vi. c. 51. 



88 This method of planting the vine is still extensively used ; especially 

 the low kinds. 89 gee c. 13 of this Book. 



9 ' Sagittse. si Trigemmes. 



93 " Pampinarius." This assertion has been found to be erroneous. 



93 This practice has been condemned by modern cultivators. 



VOL. III. K K 



