BOOK XVII. xiv. 74-xv. 77 



that day and that day oiily it is danfrerous for them 

 if there is the sniallest spriiikle of raiii or a breath 

 of wind ; whereas for the future the plants are 

 continually safe aiid sccure, and later on tliey have 

 a dishke for humidity. .Juiube-trees are also grown 

 from seed sown in A[)ril. Tubcr-apples are better 

 grafted on the wild plum, tlie quince or tlie buck- 

 thorn bush," the last being a wild thorn. Any thorn 

 also takes grafts of the sebesten-plum extremely 

 well, and also takes the sorb-plum salisfactorily. 



As for the recommendation to transfer plants from 

 the nursery to some other place before they are 

 planted out in the place assigned to them, 1 consider 

 that this causes unnecessary trouble, albeit this 

 process does guarantee the growth of leaves of a 

 larger size. 



X\'. Elm-seed should be collected about the fn-st omwingand 

 of March, before the tree isclothed with foliage, when 'fi^t^^^^^opiar^ 

 the seed is beginning to turn yellow. Thcn it should undash-treti. 

 bc lcft in the shadc to dry for two days, and after- 

 wards thickly sown in ground that has been broken up, 

 and a layer of earth sifted fine in a sieve should bc 

 sprinkled on it, of the thickness recommended in the §73. 

 case of cypresses ; and if no rain comes to your assist- 

 ance, it must be watered. A year afterwards the 

 plants should be removed from the rows of the beds 

 to the clm-grounds and planted at a distance of a foot 

 apart each way. Atinian elms '' it pays better to plant 

 in autumn, becausc they are irrown from cuttings, 

 having noseed. Fora grove in the neighbourhood of 

 the city they should be transplanted when thcy are 

 five yearsoId,or, assome hold, when they have reached 

 a hcight of twenty feet. Tliey should be set in what 

 is called a ' nine-squarefoot ' trencli, 3 ft. deep and 



53 



