BOOK IV. xwii. 6-xxvnr. 2 



without interruption, should now rest and recover 

 itself, if provision is to be made for the mature 

 wood of the future. For to break off the tips of 

 the rods for the purpose of checking rank growth, 

 or to remove twigs that are situated on the hard 

 part of the stock, unless it is necessary to preserve 

 one or two for renewing the vine ; as also to pull 

 off every green shoot that comes out of the head 

 and between the arms, and to strip away those sterile 

 shoots which all along the mature wood shade the 

 mother vine to no purpose, is a proper task for anyone 

 at all, even for a child. 



XX\^III. But the time for vine-trimming " must be 

 chosen, preferably, before the vine shows its flower, 

 though it is permissible to repeat the operation after- 

 wards. Therefore the intervening period of days, 

 when the berries are being formed, refuses us en- 

 trance to the vineyard, because it is not expedient 

 to disturb the fruit when it is in the blossom. But when 

 the fruit is passing from childhood and is in the 

 adolescent stage, so to speak, it is proper to bind it 

 and strip it of all leaves, and also to make it plump 

 by frequent diggings ; for fruit is made more plenti- 

 ful by pulverizing the soil.* And I do not deny 

 that most teachers of husbandry before me were 



a knife. With this sentence compare Pliny, K.H. XVII. 

 190, Pamjiinatio verna in confesso est ab Idibus Maiis, intra 

 dies X, vlique antequam fiorere incipiat. . . . De sequente 

 variant sententiae. Cum defloruit aliqui pampinandum putant, 

 alii sub ipsa maturitate. 



* Pulveratio meant the working of the ground about the vme 

 when it was dry, reducing it to powder, and raising clouds of 

 dust to settle on the leaves and fruit as a protection against 

 sun and fog; cf. XI. 2. 60; De Arb. 12. 1; Pliny, N.H. 

 XVII. 49. 



435 



