ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, II. v. 4-6 



attached, as with the olive,^ they say that one must - 

 split the wood at the lower end and plant with a 

 stone on top ; and the fig and other trees must 

 be treated in like manner with the olive.^ The fig * 

 is also propagated by sharpening a stout shoot and 

 driving it in with a hammer, till only a small piece of 

 it is left above ground, and then piling sand above so 

 as to earth it up ; and they say that the plants thus 

 raised grow finer up to a certain age. 



Similar is the method used with vines, when they 

 are propagated by the ' peg ' ^ method ; for the peg 

 makes a passage for that sort of shoot on account of 

 its weakness ; and in the same manner men plant the 

 pomegranate and other trees. The fig progresses 

 more quickly and is less eaten by grubs, if the cutting 

 is set in a squill-bulb ^ ; in fact anything so planted is 

 vigorous and grows faster. All those trees which are 

 propagated by pieces cut from the stem should be 

 planted with the cut part downwards,' and the 

 pieces cut off should not be less than a handsbreadth in 

 length, as Mas said,^ and the bark should be left on. 

 From such pieces new shoots grow, and as they grow, 

 one should keep on heaping up earth about them, 

 till the tree becomes strong.^ This kind of propa- 

 gation is peculiar to the olive and myrtle, while the 

 others are more or less common to all trees. 



The fig is better than any other tree at striking 

 i*oots, and will, more than any other tree, grow by 

 any method of propagation. '^^ We are told that, 



' cj. Geop. 9. 11. 8. 



* 2. 5. 3, where however the method of propagation is 

 different. 



' iipnov AlA.; ofnireKri conj. VV. {quoad satis corroboreiurG ; 

 (lonec robur plania capiat Plin. 17. 124) ; 6.prireuv U ; Sotj 

 ■i»,v MV; ipri rdiv P^. " c/. C.P. 3. 7. 



