I] OF VINES 67 



oil. As for Cato's statement that elms and poplars 

 should be planted round the farm to provide leaves 

 for the sheep and cattle, and timber for use on the 

 form (this, however, is not necessary on all farms, 

 nor where it is so are leaves the chief object) they 

 may usefully be placed on the north side, as they 

 do not then cut off the sunlight. 



Scrofa added on the same authority that if the 



place be damp you should plant there shoots of 



poplar trees and make a reed plantation. It is first 



dug with a large spade, and then the eyes of the 



reed' are planted at intervals of three feet [and with 



'lem wild asparagus, that the garden variety may 



suit from it]. Both asparagus and reeds need 



-etty much the same kind of treatment. Osiers 



should be planted round the reed bed, to provide 



material for tying up the vines. 



CHAPTER XXV 



OF VINES 



As to the kind of place in which to plant vines you 

 must observe the following rules. The best and 



• Aptam esse, etc. I have inserted "and with them wild 

 asparai^s," etc., from Cato, 6, 3. The construction requires 

 something to be added, and the sense this. Palladlus, writing 

 about reed beds (iii, 23), says : " Amongst these you may also 

 scatter asparagus seeds ... for asparagus is grown and burnt 

 in the same way as reeds. *^ 



