ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, V. i. 3-5 



they are harder to cut because the wood is tougher. 

 It is also recommended to do the cuttin/r when the 

 moon has set, since then the wood is harder and 

 less likely to rot. But, since the times when the 

 fruit ripens are different for different trees, it is 

 clear that the right moment for cutting also differs, 

 being later for those ^ trees which fruit later. 

 Wherefore some tr}- to define the time for the 

 cutting of each tree ; for instance for fir and silver- 

 fir the time is, they say, when they begin to peel ^ : 

 for beech lime maple and zygia in autumn ; for oak,^ 

 as has been said, when autumn is past. Some how- 

 ever say that the fir is ripe for cutting in spring, 

 when it has on it the thing called ' catkin,' * and the 

 pine when its ' cluster ' ^ is in bloom. Thus they 

 distinguish which trees are ripe for cutting at various 

 times ; however it is clear that in all cases the wood 

 is better when the tree is in its prime than when it 

 is quite young or has grown old, the wood of quite 

 young trees being too succulent, and that of old ones 

 too full of mineral matter. 



Of the inood of silver-Jir and fir. 



Silver-fir and fir are the most useful trees and in 

 the greatest variety of ways, and their ^ timber is 

 the fairest and largest. Yet they differ from one 

 another in many respects ; the fir is fleshier and has 

 few fibres, while the silver-fir has many fibres and is 

 not fleshy, so that in respect of each component it is 

 the reverse of the other, having stout fibres ^ but soft 



* cf. 1. 1. -211.; 3. 5. .5. 



' I.e. the male inflorescence. 



* ToCra conj. Sch. from G ; aina Ald.H. 

 ' cf. 3. 9. 7 ; Plin. 16. 184. 



421 



