! 



BOOK IV. XIII. 2-viv. 3 



of reeds also, when dried in the shade, do not serve 

 badly for this purpose. 



XIV. But like attention should be given to cuttings, 

 that after being cut back to one or two eyes in the 

 autumn or in spring, before the time of budding, 

 they shall be fastened to the frame. For these, as I 

 have said, the " horse " must be placed closer to 

 the ground than for matui'e vines in rows ; for it 

 should be not more than one foot in height, so as 

 to be of such a sort that the still tender shoots may 

 grasp it with their tendrils " and not be rooted out 

 by the winds. Then follows the digger, to break 

 up the surface soil evenly and finely with many 

 strokes of the two-pronged hoe. This level digging 

 we especially favour. For what they call the 2 

 " winter digging " in Spain — when earth is removed 

 from the vines and brought into the space between 

 the rows — seems to us unnecessary, because it has 

 been already preceded by the autumn ablaqueation, 

 which has exposed the upper rootlets and carried the 

 winter rains to the roots below. Again, the number 

 of diggings should be the same as of the first year, or 

 less by one ; for the ground is in special need of fre- 

 quent working until the vines shade it with their 

 growth and do not allow weeds to grow beneath them. 

 The same method of leaf-pruning should hold for this 3 

 year as for the year before. For the childhood of the 

 plants, so to speak, must still be held in check and the 

 plant allowed to grow to not more than one shoot ; 



" Capreoli. Cf. Varro, R.R. I. 31. 4, where the word is de- 

 rived from capio (grasp) ; also Isidore, Orig. XVII. 5. 11, Cap- 

 reoli dicti quod, rapiant arbores. 



" minus nam 07«. SAa, vett. edd. 



