BOOK III. V. 2-vi. 2 



young plants at the proper time in lean ground, 

 they will be conscious of no great change when 

 transferred from mediocre to poor soil ; or if a more 

 fertile field is to be planted, they gain strength far 

 more quickly in the rich ground. On the other hand, 3 

 it is not at all consistent ^v^th reason to make a nursery 

 of vines in the very poorest ground, since the majority 

 of the slips die, and such as do survive are slow in 

 becoming fit for transplanting. A piece of average 

 and moderately dry ground, then, is best suited 

 for the nursery ; and it should first be worked with 

 the trenching-spade," which equals the depth of the 

 trenching when the ground is turned up to two and 

 one-half feet. Then, leaving three-foot spaces for 

 the cultivation of the plants, 600 cuttings are to be 

 set in each of the rows which measure 240 feet. 

 This number makes a total of 24,000 plants to the 4 

 iugerum.^ But the examination and choice of 

 shoots takes precedence of this care. For, as I have 

 often said before, the planting of the most approved 

 kind of stock is the foundation, so to speak, of the 

 aforesaid matter. 



VI. But the choice must be made with two con- 

 siderations in mind ; for it is not enough merely that 

 the mother vine from which the cuttings are sought 

 should be prolific, but a more discriminating method 

 must be employed, that they may be taken from 

 those parts of her body which are both generative 

 and especially fruitful. Moreover, the prolific vine 2 



by the foot two spits deep — twice the depth of the ordinary 

 spade {pala). 



* The iugerum would thus measure 240 X 120 feet (V. 2. 3), 

 and the cuttings would be set about five inches apart in the 

 row. 



267 



