BOOK IV. XXIX. 6-9 



importance that the twig which is ingrafted be not 

 long; and also that there be many eyes on it, from 

 which it may put forth shoots. And so, if the joints 

 are long, it ^vill be necessary to shorten the scion 

 to one or at most two eyes, lest we make it so long 

 that it cannot endure the storms and winds and rains 

 without being disturbed. 



Now when a vine is grafted it is either cut off or left 7 

 whole and bored through with an auger ; " but the for- 

 mer is the more usual graft and is known to almost 

 all farmers, Avhile the latter is less common and is 

 employed by few. Therefore I shall discuss first the 

 method which is more in use. The vine is gener- 8 

 ally cut above ground, though sometimes below, in 

 the place where it is most solid and free from 

 knots. When it is grafted close to the ground, the 

 graft is covered with earth to its very top ; but when 

 the graft is higher above ground, the cleft is carefully 

 daubed with kneaded clay and bound with an over- 

 laying of moss to ward offbeat and rains. The scion 

 is so shaped as to be not unlike a reed pen. The 

 piece that is pared off you should hold against the 

 cleft ; ^ and under this cleft there is need of a node 

 in the vine, to bind it together, as it were, and not 

 allow the crack to advance beyond that point. Even 9 

 if this node is four finger-breadths distant from the 

 point of cutting, still it will be proper that it be bound 

 before the vine is split, lest the wound spread wider 



" With the instructions that follow compare Cato's chapter 

 (41) on vine-grafting; also Pliny, N.H. XVII. 115-117, and 

 Palladius, IV. 1. 



* Sobel (Stud. Colum., pp. 11-18) explains that the paring 

 is to be used as a wedge to hold the cleft open while the scion 

 is being inserted. 



441 



