BOOK XVII. XXIX. 125-xxx. 127 



XXIX. \Ve shall best convey in Cato's own words cato, XLV. 

 the rules that he judged necessary to keep in looking 

 after olives : ' Make the olive slips that you arc rrenimeni 

 going to plant in the hole a yard long, and handle "Jjl^l^g 

 them carefullv so as not to daniage the bark when 

 cutting or trimming them. Make those you are 

 going to plant in the nursery a foot long. Plant them 

 thus : the place must be first dug over with a niattock 

 and have the soil well loosened ; when you put the 

 slip in, press down the slip with your foot ; if it does 

 not go down far enough, drive it in with a mallet or 

 a beetle, and be carcful not to break the bark while 

 vou are driving it in. Do not make a hole beforehand 

 with a dibble into which to put the slip : if you do not, 

 it will live better. The slips do not mature till 

 three vcars old, when the bark will turn. If you 

 plant them in holes or in furrows, put them in groups 

 of three and keep these apart. Check just by the 

 eve that they do not project more than four fingers' 

 breadth above the earth. — -In taking up an olive 

 tree vou should use great care and carry the roots 

 with as much earth as possible ; when you have well roto.Lxi. j 

 covered up the roots, tread them down well, so that 

 nothing may injure them. If anyone asks what is the 

 time for planting an olive, the answer is, where there 

 is a dry- soil, at seed-time, but where it is rich, in the 

 spring. — XXX. Begin to prune an olive-yard a fort- «"ato, XLiv. 

 night before the spring equinox ; the six weeks from ^' ' ' 

 then onward will be the right tinie for pruning. 

 Prune it in this wav : in a really fertile place, remove 

 all the parts that are dry and any branches broken 

 bv the wind ; in a place that is not fertile, trim awav 

 more and reduce well and disentangle out and make 

 the stocks smooth. — In the autumn season turn up 



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