BOOK IV. XXIV. 12-15 



of the arm, that they may neither disappoint the 

 hope of a vintage nor cause the wasting of their 

 own stem. Some men are more greedy in enticing 

 the fruit by allowing the growth of terminal and 

 medial shoots, and also by cutting the sprig next 

 to the hard wood into a reserve stub ; a thing which 

 I believe should not be done in any circumstances 

 unless strength of soil and stock permit it. For they 

 cover themselves with grapes to such an extent 

 that they cannot reach maturity if friendliness of 

 the land and a thrifty condition of the stock itself are 

 not present. The subsidiary branch, which is the 13 

 same as the reserve stub, should not be cut back into 

 a spur when the rods from which the next fruits are 

 expected are situated in a suitable place ; for when 

 you have bound them and bent them to look down- 

 ward towards the earth, you will force the growth of 

 hard wood below the binding. But if the vine has 14 

 sprung out from the head to a greater length than the 

 practice of husbandmen allows, and has crept out 

 with its arms to the roof-like "■ trellises that belong to 

 other vines, we shall leave close to the main stem a 

 strong reserve rod, and the largest possible, of two or 

 three joints, from which, as from a spur, firm wood 

 may be quickly fashioned into an arm the following 

 year; so that the vine, cut back and restored in this 

 way, may be kept within the frame. 



But in setting aside a reserve stub for growth the 15 

 following points must be especially observed. First, 

 that the wound shall not face upward toward the 

 heavens, but rather that it slope downward toward the 

 earth ; for in this way it is both protected from the 



166, Compluviata copiosior vino est, dicta a cavis aedium com- 

 pluviis. 



419 



