BOOK II 



Of Propagation, especially of Trees. 



Of the ways in which trees and plants originate. Instances of 

 degeneration from seed. 



I. The ways in which trees and plants in general 

 originate are these : — spontaneous growth, growth 

 iTom seedj from a root, from a piece torn off, from a 

 branch or twig, from the trunk itself; or again from 

 small pieces into which the wood is cut up (for some 

 trees can be produced ^ even in this manner). Of 

 these methods spontaneous growth comes first, one 

 may say, but growth from seed or root would seem 

 most natural ; indeed these methods too may be 

 called spontaneous ; wherefore they are found even 

 in wild kinds, while the remaining methods depend 

 on human skill or at least on human choice. 



However all plants sbni; in one or other of these 

 ways, and most of them in more than one. Thus the 

 olive is grown in all the ways mentioned, except 

 iVom a twig ; for an olive-twig will not grow if it is 

 set in the ground, as a fig or pomegranate will grow 

 from their young shoots. Not but what some say 

 that cases have been known in which, when a stake 

 of olive-wood was planted to support ivy, it actually 

 lived along with it and became a tree ; but such 

 an instance is a rare exception, while the other 

 methods of growth are in most cases the natural 

 ones. The fig grows in all the ways mentioned, 



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