BOOK XVII. XXIV. 111-114 



and smearing it round it. From his remarks on the 

 subject it is easily seen that at that period they used 

 to insert the graft between the wood and the bark 

 and not otherwise, nor used they to put the slips 

 more than two inches in. He advises grafting pear seasomfor 

 and apples during the spring and fifty days after ?^"/""''- 

 midsummer and after the vintage, but olives and figs 

 only in the spring and when a cloudless moon is 

 shining, and moreover in the aftemoon and not if 

 there is a south wind blowing. It is remarkable 

 that he is not content to have safeguarded the graft 

 in the manner described, and to have protected 

 it against rain and frost by means of turf and 

 soft bundles of split osiers, but he says it must be 

 covered with a layer of bugloss — a species of plant — 

 as well, and that this should be tied on \vith a layer 

 of straw ; whereas nowadays they think it is very 

 adequately packed with a wrapping of mud and 

 chaff, the graft projecting two inches from the bark. 

 Those who do their grafting in spring are pressed 

 for time, as the buds are just shooting, except in 

 the case of the ohve, the eyes of which are pregnant 

 for a ver>' long time, and it has a very small amount 

 of sap under the bark, which when too abundant 

 is injurious to the grafts. But with pomegranates 

 and the fig and other trees of a dry nature it is far 

 from beneficial to put off grafting till a late season. 

 A pear-tree however may be grafted when actually 

 in blossom, and the process may be carried forward 

 even into Mav. If however cuttings of fruit trees 

 have to be brought from a considerable distance, it 

 is beheved that they best preserve their sap if they 

 are inserted in a turnip, and it is best to store them 

 near a stream or a pond, packed between two hoUow 



79 



