THE DARLEV Yl-.w. ,, 9 



Ac veluti annoso vaiidam cum robore quercum 

 Alpini Boreae, nunc hinc, nunc flatibus illinc 

 Eruere inter se certant ; it stridor, et alte 

 Consternunt terram concusso stipite frondes; 

 Ipsa haeret scopulis ; et quantum vertice ad auras 

 /Etherias, tantum radice in tar:ara tendit.* 



Long experience has taught me to think that a tree will always 

 flourish best if it grows from a seed sown where it is intended to 

 stand. And if trees are transplanted, the younger they are at the 

 time, the better they will grow in the long run. The Romans 

 were clearly of this opinion, for some of them thought that a 

 tree ought not to be less than two, nor more than three years 

 old when transplanted, but others a full year old.t No doubt 

 was entertained by them that the greatest care was to be 

 taken not to injure the roots in removing them, and that 

 as much of the soil in which they grew as adhered to the roots 

 should be removed with them.} Above all the trees must be 

 removed into similar or better soil, and not from warm and early 

 situations into cold or late ones, or vice versa.\ And the south 

 side of the plant was to be marked before removal, so that it 

 might be set in the same position with reference to the points 

 of the compass, and so the north side might not be split by being 

 opposite to the south, or the south side starved by the north. || 



The extreme care taken by the Romans to place the plant in 

 every respect in a similar position to that from which it had been 

 removed, plainly shows that they considered that trees flourished 



' Virg Mn. iv 441., Georg. ij. 291. Pliny Nat. Hist., L : xvi. c <6 Rob- 

 ora suas (rad.ces) .n profundum agnnt Si Virgilio, quidem, credin use^ulus 

 quantum corpore emmet, tantum radice descend*. So he doubted th depth 

 to which the top root descended, but not the fact P 



t Arborem nee minorem bima, nee majorem trima transferri quidam 

 prsecmiunt : aln, quum annum impleat. Din. Hist. Nat vvii 16 q 



JRadicum ejus magnam adhibendam curam, ut exemptas appareat non 



ls, qu.s dub.tet?-Ad ha* proderit quamplurimum terra in Sua 



vixennt, radicibus cohxrere. Ibid. ' n " ua 



8 Ante omnia iusimilem transfer,! terram, aut meliorem oportet nee ex 



as xsss a ^? gidos aut serotinos situs ' ut neque « If j " "»- 



II Non omUisset (Cato) si attmeret, meridianum cadi partem sdenare in 

 cort.ee, ut trans ata in iisdem et assuetis statueretur oriH ne V, i onte 



t i bKr , v-s.^ t n.s 9 bus ,mdere,uur > et ai ^ ent -Jstj'i&sr 



