BOOK XVI. Lxxv. 194-LXXV1. 196 



the seven days next aftcr full moon are the best 

 for removing it. Beware absolutely of rough- 

 hewing or cutting or touching any timber unless it 

 is dry, and when it is frozen or wet with dew.' 

 Similarly the emperor Tiberius kept to the period 

 between two moons even in having his hair cut. 

 Marcus Varro advises the plan of having one's hair 

 cut just after fuU moon, as a precaution against 

 going bald. 



LXXVI. When the laroh and still more the silver fir Larch and 

 has been felled, a Hquid '^ flows from them for a long fhe^^eg 

 time. These are the tallest and the straightest of all «"^ habitati 

 the trees. For the masts and spars of ships the fir is 

 preferred because of its light weight. A property 

 shared by these trees and also by the pine is that 

 of having veins running through the wood in four 

 or in two divisions, or else only in one line. The 

 interior in the four-veined kind is the best timber 

 to cut up for inlaid wood-work and that in the two- 

 veined the worst,^ and softer than the other kinds; 

 experts can tell them at once from the bark. Fir 

 wood from the part of the tree that was near the 

 ground is free from knots. This timber after being 

 floated in a river in the way which we have de- 

 scribed is cleared of bulges, and when so treated § I86. 

 is called sappinus, while the upper part which is 

 knotted and harder is called club-wood. More- 

 over in the trees themselves the parts towards 

 the north-east are stronger ; and in general trees 

 from damp and shady places are inferior and 

 those from sunny places are closer grained and 

 durable ; on this account at Rome fir from the 

 Tuscan coast is preferred to that from the 

 Adriatic. 



515 



