ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, II. v. 2-4 



Some say that no root goes down further than a 

 foot and a half, and accordingly they blame those who 

 plant deeper. However there are many instances 

 in which it appears that what they say does not 

 hold good ; a plant which is naturally deep-rooting 

 pushes much deeper if it finds either a deep mass 

 of soil or a position which favours such growth or 

 again the kind of ground which favours it. 1 In fact, 2 

 a man once said that when he was transplanting a 

 fir which he had uprooted with levers, he found that 

 it had a root more than eight cubits long, though 

 the whole of it had not been removed, but it was 

 broken off. 



The slips for planting should be taken, if possible, 

 with roots attached, or, failing that, from the lower 3 

 rather than from the higher parts of the tree, except 

 in the case of the vine ; those that have roots should 

 be set upright, 4 while in the case of those which 

 have none about 5 a handsbreadth or rather more ot 

 the slip should be buried. Some say that part even 

 of those which have roots should be buried, and that 

 the position 6 should be the same as that of the tree 

 from which the slip was taken, facing north or east 

 or south, as the case may be. With those plants 

 with which it is possible, shoots from the boughs 

 should also, they say, be planted, some being set on 

 the trees themselves, 7 as with olive pear apple and 

 fig, but in other cases, as in that of the vine, they 

 must be set separately, for that the vine cannot be 

 grafted on itself. 



If the slips cannot be taken with root or stock 



4 cf. C.P. 3. 6. 4; Xen. Oec. 19. 9. 



6 oaov conj. Sch.; olov P 2 Ald. 



6 cf. C.P. 3. 5. 2. 7 i.e. grafted. 



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