BOOK XVII. XV. 77-xvT. 80 



3 ft. broad aiul even larger. Wheii tliey have been 

 planted, mouiids 3 ft. higli froin the «^round level 

 should be heapcd round them — the name for these 

 mounds in Campania is ' little altars '. The spacing 

 must be settled according to the nature of the place : 

 in level country it is suitable to plaiit the yoiing trees 

 wider apart. It is also proper to plant out poplars and 

 ashes earlier,because they bud more quickly — that is, 

 planting should start on the 13lh of February : these 

 treesalsogrowingfronicuttings. Inspacingout trees 

 and plantations and planning vineyards the diagonal 

 arrangement " of rows is commonly adopted and is 

 essential, being not only advantageous in allowing the 

 passage of air, but also agreeable in appearance, as in 

 whatever direction you look at the plantation a row of 

 trees strctches out in a straight line. In the case of 

 poplars the same method of growing them from seed 

 is used as with elms, and also the same inethod of 

 transplanting theni from nurseries or forests. 



XVI. It is consequcntly of the first importance for Trampiani- 

 shoots to be transplanted into similar or better soil, '"*' 

 and not moved from warm or early ripening positions 

 into cold or backward ones, nor yet from the latter to 

 the former cither ; and to dig the trenches soine time 

 in advance — if possible, long enough before to allow 

 the holes to get covered over with thick turf. Mago 

 advises a year in advance, so as to let the holes absorb 

 the sunshine and rain, or, if circumstanees do not 

 allow of this, he recommends making fires in the 

 middle of the holes two months before, and only 

 planting the seedlings in the holes so prepared just 

 after rain has fallen. He says that in a clay soil or a 

 hard soil the pits should measure 4 ft. 6 in. each way, 

 or 4: inches more on sloping sites, and he prescribes 



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