BOOK XVII. xLvii. 260-263 



barley straw in advance. Cherries are brought on 

 and made to ripen by applying lime to the roots ; 

 but with cherries also, as with all fruit, it is better 

 to thiii the crop, in ordcr to make the fruit left on 

 grow bigger. 



Some trces are improved by severe treatment or Medidnal 

 stimulated by a pungent application — for 'm9,\ax\ce'l^neTand 

 the palm and the mastich, which get nutriment "'^**- 

 from salt water. Ashes also have the effect of 

 salt, but it acts more gently ; consequently they 

 are sprinkled on figs and on rue, to prevent their 

 getting maggotty or rotting at the roots. It is also 

 advised to pour salt water on the roots of vines if they 

 are too full of moisture, but if their fruit falls ofF, to 

 sprinkle ashes with vinegar and smear them on the 

 vines themselves, or ashes with sandarach if the 

 grapes rot ; but if the vines do not bear, to sprinkle 

 and smear them Avith ashes mixed with strong vine- 

 gar ; and if they do not ripen their fruit but let it dry 

 up first, the vines should be lopped down to the roots 

 and the wound and fibres of the wood drenched with 

 strong vinegar and stale urine and covered up with 

 the mud so produccd, and repeatcdly dug round. 

 If olives give too httle promise of fruit, growci^s bare 

 their roots and expose them to the winter cold, and 

 the trees profit by this drastic treatment. All these 

 methods depend on the state of the weather in each 

 year and sometimes are required later and some- 

 times more speedily. Also fire is beneficial for some 

 plants, for instance recds, which when burnt ofFgrow 

 up again thicker and more pliable. Cato moreover xciri- 

 gives prescriptions for certain medicaments, also ^^^- 

 specifying quantitv — for the roots of the bigger trees 

 an amphora, for those of the smaller ones half that 



