5jg PLINY'S EATTJEAL HI3T0BY. [Book XVII- 



by the holdfasts. In the Gallic method of cultivation they 

 train out two branches at either side, if the trees are forty feet 

 apart, and four if only twenty; where they meet, these branches 

 are fastened together and made to grow in unison ; if, too, they 

 are anywhere deficient in number or strength, care is taken 

 to fortify them by the aid of small rods. In a case, however, 

 where the branches are not sufficiently long to meet, they are 

 artificially prolonged by means of a hook, and so united to the 

 tree that desires their company. The branches thus trained to 

 unite they used to prune at the end of the second year. But 

 where the vine is aged, it is a better plan to give them a longer 

 time to reach the adjoining tree, in case they should not have 

 gained the requisive thickness ; besides which, it is always 

 good to encourage the growth of the hard wood in the dragon 

 branches. 



There is yet another method, 66 which occupies a middle 

 place between this mode of propagation and that by layers. 

 It consists of laying the entire vine in the earth, and then 

 splitting the stock asunder by means of wedges ; the fibrous 

 portions are then trained out in as many furrows, care being 

 taken to support each of the slender plants by fastening it to 

 a stake, and not to cut away the branches that shoot from the 

 sides. The growers of Novara, not content with the mul- 

 titude of shoots that run from tree to tree, nor yet with an 

 abundance of branches, encourage the stock-branches to en- 

 twine around forks planted in the ground for the purpose ; a 

 method, however, which, in addition to the internal defects 

 arising from the soil, imparts a harshness to the wine. 



There is another fault, too, that is committed by the people 

 of Varracina, 67 near Rome— they only prune their vines every 

 other year ; not, indeed, because it is advantageous to the tree, 

 but from a fear lest, from the low prices fetched by their wines, 

 the expense might exceed the profits. At Carseoli they adopt 

 a middle course, by pruning away only the rotten parts of 

 the vine, as well as those which are beginning to wither, and 

 leaving the rest to bear fruit, after thus clearing away all 

 superfluous incumbrances. The only nutriment they give 

 it is this exemption from frequent pruning ; but unless the 

 soil should happen to be a very rich one, the vine, under such 



56 It is no longer used, and Fee doubts its utility. 

 « 7 Hardouin suggests " Tarracina." 



