BOOK XVII. XI. 64-.\iii. 67 



from a cutting from the root or from a slip ; but the 

 citron needs a warm situation. whereas the sorb re- 

 quires a cool and damp one. 



XII. Nature has also taught the art of making Tree 

 nurseries, as from the roots of many trees there shoots """«^*- 

 up a teeming cluster of progeny, and the mothcr tree 

 bears offspring destined to be killed by herself, inas- 

 much as her shadow stifles the disorderly throng — as 



in the case of laurels, pomegranates, planes, cherries 

 and plums ; although with a few trees in this class, for 

 instance elms and palms, the branches spare the young 

 suckers. But young shoots of this nature are only 

 produced by trees whose roots are led by their love 

 of sun and rain to move about on the surface of the 

 ground. All of these it is customary not to put in 

 their own ground at once, but first to give them to a 

 foster-mother and let them grow up in seed-plots, 

 and then change their habitation again, this removal 

 having a marvellously civiHzing effect even on wild 

 trees, whether it be the case that, Hke human beings, 

 trees also have a nature that is greedy for novelty 

 and travel, or whether on going away they leave 

 their venom bchind when the plant is torn up from 

 the root, and Hke animals are tamed by handHiig. 



XIII. Also Nature demonstrated another kind o( Growing 

 propaffation resembHnff thc previous one, and suckers ■''''"'" "''^' 



rr^o »1 ana sucker. 



torn away irom trees continued to Hve ; in tiiis 

 procedure the sHps are torn away with their haunch as 

 well, and carry off with them some portion also from 

 their mother's body with its fibrous substance. This 

 is a method used in striking pomegranates, hazels, 

 apples, sorbs, medlars, ash plants, figs, and above all 

 vines ; but the quince if struck in this way deteriorates 

 in quaHty. From the same method a way was 



47 



