I 



I] OF THE GROWTH OF PLANTS 95 



3 below and above the ground. For in autumn or 

 winter the roots grow more below ground than do 



• the parts above, since they are protected and forced 

 by the warmth of the earth, whilst above ground 

 they are kept back ' by the more chilly atmosphere. 

 And places in the woods, near which no sower has 

 ever been, show this to be the case; for roots grow 

 before that which springs from them, yet" roots 

 go no further than where the sun's warmth reaches. 

 The growth of the roots depends on two things: 

 (i) The fact that nature gives greater extension to 

 roots of one kind of wood than to those of another, 

 and (2) that one kind of soil is more permeable 

 than another. 



* Coguntur. Victorius found in the MSS. finguntur. Petrus 

 Crescentius, a writer on agricultural subjects of the thirteenth 

 century, who copied large portions of Varro inaccurately and 

 with little understanding, has cinguntur. The passage of 

 Theophrastus which Varro copied is : on to. /xkv dvu) KutXverai 

 itd rbv TripiK akpa y^ruxphv ovra. Keil's coguntur translates 

 wrnXvirai. Cinguntur (are surrounded) goes well with Thv nepi^ 

 Upa. 



As Crescentius possibly had access to MSS. of earlier date 

 than any we possess, and as the change from finguntur to 

 cinguntur is much less than to coguntur^ I incline to the 

 cinguntur o{ Crescentius, despite his frequent inaccuracy, and 

 would translate "and are surrounded by a chillier atmosphere." 



' Nisi quo tepor venit solis. Pliny does not believe this. 

 Cf. N. H., xvi, 31 : Quidam non aliius descendere radices quam 

 solis calor tepefaciat, idque natura loci tenuioris crassiorisve 

 dixere^ quodfalsum arbitror. 



