96 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



CHAPTER XLVI 



OF THE HABITS OF PLANTS 



With regard to such matters, nature displays in 

 plants many differences which are remarkable, as 

 the fact that one should be able to tell the time of 

 year from certain leaves, by their turning — as do 

 the olive, the white poplar, and the willow. For 

 when the leaves of these trees turn,^ we say that 

 the summer solstice is past. Equally remarkable 

 is what happens in the case of those flowers which 

 are called heliotropia^ from the fact that in the morn- 

 ing they face the rising sun, and follow its course 

 to where it sets, ever turning towards it. 



CHAPTER XLVII 



OF the care of crops 



Plants that have been reared in the nursery from 

 shoots, and whose sprouts are of a somewhat deli- 

 cate nature — as the olive and fig — must have their 

 tops protected each by two small boards which are 



^ Propter eorum verstiram. The "turning" of the leaves is 

 in relation to the quarter of the heaven they turn to. Pliny, 

 N. H., xviii, 28: Alia pa7te caelum respiciunt quam qua 

 spectavere pridie\ and Theophrastus (quoted by Victorius) 

 says : arpscpsiv yap doKovai rd vTrria neTcc Tpoirdg Qepivdg (Schneider 

 has ^({ifiepivdg !) Kui tovt(^ yvcjpit^ovcriv on yeysvrjvrai rpoTrai, 



