BOOK IV. XXXII. 4-XXXI11. 2 



beginning ; in the latter it may be cut out and 

 thinned — an operation which farmers call castratio." 

 However, this repairing of a reed thicket is done 

 blindly, because it is not apparent on the surface 

 what should be removed or what should be left ; still 

 the reed suffers castration better before the time of 

 cutting, since the small canes, like pointers, show what 

 is to be plucked out. The time for redigging and 5 

 planting is before the eyes of the reed sprout. Then 

 the time for cutting is after the winter solstice ; for it 

 makes growi;h up to that time, and is then checked 

 when stiffened by the winter cold. The reed plot 

 must be dug as often as the vineyard ; but its leanness 

 must be relieved with ashes or other fertilizer, and for 

 this reason most people burn it over after it is cut. 



XXXIII. The chestnut tree * is next best to the 

 oaks, and for this reason it is suitable for supporting 

 vines. Its nut, too, when planted in prepared ground, 

 quickly springs up ; and when cut down, after five 

 years, it renews itself in the manner of the wllow, and 

 when made into a stake it lasts usually to the next 

 cutting. It likes a black and loose soil ; does not re- 

 fuse a damp, gravelly soil or crumbling tufa ; delights 

 in a shady slope ^\'ith a northern exposure ; and fears a 

 heavy soil that is full of red ochre. It is planted from 2 

 the month of November throughout the whole winter, 

 in ground that is dry and worked to a depth of two feet 

 and a half. The nuts are placed in a row, half a foot 

 apart ; and the rows are separated by five-foot inter- 



" Cf. Cato, 33. 2; Pliny, X.H. XVI. 206, XVII. 144, et al. 

 » Cf. Pliny XVII. 147-150. 



' nuce SA : nucem cM : crucem a. 



457 



