Chap. 46.] PEOPER MODE OE MANUEING TKEES. 531 



flight, there are no seeds to be found within the fruit : from 

 this it would appear that the seeds have been transformed 

 into these gnats. Indeed, these insects are so eager to take 

 their flight, that they mostly leave behind them either a leg 

 or a part of a wing on their departure. There is another 

 species of gnat, 46 too, that grows in the fig, which in its indo- 

 lence and malignity strongly resembles the drone of the bee- 

 hive, and shows itself a deadly enemy to the one that is of 

 real utility ; it is called centrina, and in killing the others 

 it meets its own death. 



Moths, too, attack the seeds of the fig: the best plan of getting 

 rid of them, is to bury a slip of mastich, 47 turned upside down, in 

 the same trench. The fig, too, is rendered extremely productive 48 

 by soaking red earth in amurca, and laying it, with some ma- 

 nure, upon the roots of the tree, just as it is beginning to 

 throw out leaves. Among the wild figs, the black ones, and 

 those which grow in rocky places, are the most esteemed, from 

 the fact of the fruit containing the most seed. Caprification 

 takes place most advantageously just after rain. 



CHAP. 45. EEEOES THAT MAY BE COMMITTED IN PRUNING. 



But, before everything, especial care should be taken that 

 intended remedies are not productive of ill results ; as these 

 may arise from either remedial measures being applied in ex- 

 cess or at unseasonable times. Clearing away the branches is 

 of the greatest benefit to trees, but to slaughter 49 them this 

 way every year, is productive of the very worst results. The 

 vine is the only tree that requires lopping every year, the 

 myrtle, the pomegranate, and olive every other ; the reason 

 being that these trees shoot with great rapidity. The other 

 trees are lopped less frequently, and none of them in autumn ; 

 the trunk even is never scraped, 50 except in spring. In prun- 

 ing a tree, all that is removed beyond what is absolutely neces- 

 sary, is so much withdrawn from its vitality. 



CHAP. 46. THE PEOPEE MODE OF MANIJEING TEEES. 



The same precautions, too, are to be regarded in manuring, 

 at the base, and deposits an egg in each seed, which is ultimately eaten by 

 the larva ; hence the supposed transformation. 



46 A kind of wasp, probably. 



47 A puerility borrowed from Columella, B. v. c. 10. 



48 From Columella, B. v. c. 10. 49 Trucidatio. 



50 For the removal of moss and lichens, which obstruct evaporation, and 

 collect .moisture to an inconvenient degree, besides harbouring insects. 



