BOOK IV 



OF THE TREES AND PLANTS SPECIAL TO PARTICULAR 

 DISTRICTS AND POSITIONS. 



Of the importance of position and climate. 



I. THE differences between trees of the same kind 

 have already been considered. Now all grow fairer 

 and are more vigorous in their proper positions ; for 

 wild, no less than cultivated trees, have each their 

 own positions : some love wet and marshy ground, as 

 black poplar abele willow, and in general those that 

 grow by rivers ; some love exposed x and sunny 

 positions ; some prefer a shady place. The fir is 

 fairest and tallest in a sunny position, and does not 

 grow at all in a shady one ; the silver-fir on the 

 contrary is fairest in a shady place, and not so 

 vigorous in a sunny one. 



Thus there is in Arcadia near the place called 

 Krane a low-lying district sheltered from wind, into 

 which they say that the sun never strikes ; and in 

 this district the silver-firs excel greatly in height and 

 stoutness, though they have not such close grain 

 nor such comely wood, but quite the reverse, like 

 the fir when it grows in a shady place. Where- 

 fore men do not use these for expensive work, such 

 as doors or other choice articles, but rather for 

 ship-building and house-building. For excellent 



1 fvffKcirt'is should mean 'sheltered,' but cannot in this 

 context, nor in C.P. 1. 13. 11 and 12: the word seems to 

 have been confused with ftiffKowos. 



287 



