BOOK XVII. xxMv. i5o-.\\xv. 153 



after itself, as its shadow kills off supcrfluous suckers. 

 It is lopped before the end of the sixth year. The 

 props provided by one acre are enough for twenty 

 ncrcs of vines, as they even grow forked in two fi-om 

 the root, and they last till after the next lopping of 

 the plantation thcy coine from. 



The sessile-fruited oak is grown in a similar way, utkertreeg. 

 though later by three years in lopping, and lcss difficult 

 to propagate in whatevcr soil it is sown ; this is done 

 in spring, \nth an acorn (but only a sessile-oak is grown 

 from onc) in a hole nine inches deep, with two foot 

 spaces between the plants ; the ground is lightly hoed 

 four times a year. A sessile-oak grown as a prop 

 is least Hable to rot, and it makes new shoots when 

 If)pped most of any timbcr. Timber trees in addition 

 to those we have mcntioned are the ash, laurcl, 

 peach, hazel, apple, but these shoot more slowly and 

 whcn fixed in the ground scarcelv stand the action 

 of the soil, not to mention the damp. The elder, on 

 the contrary, which is very strong timber for a stake, 

 is grown froni cuttings hke thc poplar. About the 

 cypress we have already said cnough. xvi. 139 £f. 



XXXV. And now that a preliminarv accoimt has Thenne,Us 

 been given of what may be called the rigging tliat pZnling."'"'^ 

 supports the vines, it remains to give a particularly 

 careful description of the natui'e of the vines 

 themseh'es. 



The shoots of the vine, and of certain othcr trees 

 that have a somewliat spongy inner substance, have 

 stalks with knotted joints that make divisions across 

 the pith. The actual lengths of cane are short, 

 and get shorter towards the top, and they close up their 

 pieces between the knots with joints at each end. The 

 pith, or what is rcally thc life-giving soul of the 



105 



