BOOK IV. XXIX. 17-XXX. 2 



need of propagating this if only the stock is of so 

 moderate a thickness that the growth of a grafted 

 scion can cover the wound on all sides ; unless, how- 

 ever, the place left vacant in a vine whose head is 

 dead demands a replacement. When this is the case, 

 one of the two shoots is turned down for a layer, and 

 the other is carried up to the frame and set apart for 

 fruit. And it is not without advantage to rear shoots 

 from the vine which you have layered, as they sprout 

 from the arched part of the layer, which, if it so hap- 

 pens, you may either use for further layers or leave 

 for fruit.] « 



XXX. Inasmuch as we have discussed those matters 

 which it seemed could be taught to advantage for 

 the establishing and cultivating of vineyards, a method 

 must be set down for the provision of props, frames, 

 and withes. For these are prepared beforehand, 

 as dowries, so to speak, for the vineyards. And if 

 the farmer is destitute of these, he has no reason for 

 making vineyards, since everything that is needed will 

 have to be sought outside the farm ; and, just as 

 Atticus says, not only does the cost of purchase put a 

 burden upon the accounts of the overseer, but also the 

 procuring of them is a very great annoyance. For : 

 they must be brought together at a most inconvenient 

 season — in winter. Therefore osier-willows and reed 

 thickets must be provided beforehand, and also 

 ordinary woods or woods purposely planted with 

 chestnut trees. Atticus thinks that one iugerum of 

 osier-willows may suffice for binding twenty-five iugera 



" This passage, printed as it stands in the manuscripts 

 and editions, is obviously out of place. It appears to belong, 

 as Schneider points out, at the beginjiing of Sec. 12 of this 

 chapter, after the words radatur e duro. 



449 



