ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, II. vii. 6-vm. i 



a hole, insert in its place a peg of oak-wood and 

 buryit^ in the earth, and some call this 'punishing' 

 the tree, since its luxuriance is thus chastened. 



Some do the same with the pear and with other 

 trees. In x\rcadia they have a similar process which is 

 called ' correcting ' the sorb (for that tree is com- 

 mon in that country). And they say that under 

 this treatment those trees that would not bear do 

 so, and those that would not ripen their fruit now 

 ripen ^ them well. ' It is also said that the almond 

 becomes sweet, instead of bitter, if one digs round 

 the stem and, having bored a hole about a palms- 

 breadth, allows the gum which exudes from all 

 sides * to flow down into it and collect. The object 

 of this Avould be alike to make the tree bear and to 

 improve the fruit. 



Of remedies fen- the shedding of the fruit : caprifcaiion. 



VIII. Trees which are apt to shed their fruit before 

 ripening 5 it are almond apple jwmegranate pear 

 and, above all, fig and date-palm ; and men try to 

 find the suitable remedies for this. This is the 

 reason for the process called ' caprification ' ; gall- 

 insects come out of the wild figs which are hanging 

 there,^ eat the tops of the cultivated figs and so 

 make them swell. ''^ The shedding of the fruit differs 

 according to the soil : in Italy * they say that it 

 does not occur, and so they do not use caprification,^ 



' iriaivovffi MVAld. ; Stfipovffi conj.W. ? -rfxalvovat, ' ripen,' 

 which is the word used in the parallel pass. C. P. 2. 9. 6, the 

 object of the process being to cause the figs to dry. 



8 Plin. 15. 81. ' Italy ' means South Italy, cf. 4. 5. 5 and 

 6 ; 5. 8. 1. 



• ipivdi^ovffiv conj. Bod. ; iptvovaiv Ald.H. 



