BOOK IV. XXIV. 15-18 



frosts and shaded from the sun. Secondly, that the 

 cut shall not be made like an arrow-point but hoof- 

 shaped " rather ; for the former dies more quickly 

 and over a wider area, while the latter is checked 

 more slowly and within narrower limits. There is 

 also a practice which I observe to be employed, 

 and very wrongly, which should be especially avoided ; 

 for in their attention to graceful appearance, so that 

 the reserve stub may be shorter and like a thumb, 

 they cut the branch close to the joint. But this is 16 

 very detrimental, because the bud, being placed 

 next to the wound, suffers from frost and cold, and 

 afterwards from heat also. The best plan, then, is 

 to clip the subsidiary branch about midway between 

 the joints and to make a sloping cut behind the bud, 

 so that, as I have already said,* its tears may not 

 drop upon the budding eye and blind it. If there is 17 

 no opportunity for a cut branch, we must look about 

 for a knob which, even though cut very close in 

 the manner of a wart, may put forth a firm wood 

 branch the following spring, which we may leave either 

 for an arm or for fruit. If such a knob is not to be 

 found, the vine must be wounded with the knife and 

 caused to form a " sore " in that place where we wish to 

 draw out a shoot. 



Now I strongly believe that those branches which 

 we are making ready for bearing should be freed 

 of tendrils and secondary shoots. But one method 18 

 is employed in cutting these away, and another in 

 removing those that come out of the main stem. For 



" An oblique cut is to be made clear through, thus giving 

 the stub the appearance of a horse's hoof, with its flat surface 

 not round but of oblong shape. 



* Cf. IV. 9. 2. 



421 



