BOOK XVII. xxxvii. 224-227 



special nanies for each of these diseases. Conse- 

 quently thcy turn black, and first there is pain all over 

 and thcn the parts mentioned also become emaciated 

 and brittle, and lastly comes wasting consumption and 

 death, the sap not cntering or not permeating the 

 parts affected. Figs are extremely liable to this 

 disease, but the wild fig is immune from all the 

 maladies we have so far specified. Scab is caused 

 by gentle falls of dew occurring after the rising of 

 the Pleiads ; for if the dew has been more copious 

 it gives the tree a good drenching, and does not 

 streak it with scab, although the green figs fall off ; 

 but if there has been excessive rain a fig-tree is 

 liable to another malady due to dampness of the 

 roots. 



In addition to worm-disease and star-bhght vines 

 suffer from a disease of the joints that is pecuUar to 

 them ; it is due to three causes — first, loss of buds 

 owing to stormy weather, second, as noted by Theo- <'f.Theophr., 

 phrastus, pruning done with an upward cut, and 14 g^ 

 third, damage caused by lack of skill in their culti- 

 vation ; for all injuries to which vines are Uable are 

 felt in their joints. One kind of star-bUght is dew- 

 disea.se, when the grape-vines shed their blossoms, 

 or when the grapes shrivel up into a hard lump before 

 they grow big. Vines are also sickly when they have 

 been nippcd by cold, the eyes being injured by frost- 

 bite after the branches have been pruned. This also 

 happens owing to unseasonable hot weather, since 

 everything depends on measure and on a fixed pro- 

 portion. Defccts may also be caused by the fault of 

 the vine-dressers, when the vines are tied too tight, 

 as has been said, or else when the digger trenching § 209. 

 round them has injured them with a damaging blow, 



157 



