BOOK IV. XXXIII. 2-4 



vals. The chestnut is committed to furrows sunk to 

 a depth of three-fourths of a foot ; and when these 

 furrows are planted ^^^th nuts, and before they are 

 levelled off, short reeds are set beside the chestnuts, 

 so that, with these markers of the planting, they may 

 be dug and weeded with greater safety. As soon as 3 

 the plants have formed a stem — and they may be 

 transplanted when two years old — they are thinned 

 out ; and two feet of room is left free for the young 

 saplings, lest crowding weaken the plants. The 

 planting is closer, moreover, because of various 

 mishaps: for the nut is sometimes dried up by 

 droughts before it springs forth, or it decays from 

 excessive wetness; and sometimes it is destroyed 

 by underground animals, such as mice and moles. 

 For these reasons young plantations of chestnut often 4 

 grow up in thin numbers; and when it is necessary 

 to increase them, it is better that a near-by sapling, 

 if such a one is suitable, be bent over and propagated 

 in the manner of a layer, than that it be taken up and 

 replanted. For such a sapUng, being undisturbed 

 at its base, sends out shoots vigorously ; but one that 

 is torn out by the roots and transplanted is retarded 

 for two years thereafter. On this account it has been 

 found more advantageous to start trees of this sort 

 from nuts rather than from quicksets. The spaces 

 allotted to this planting, as described above, admit 

 2880 chestnut trees ; of which total, as Atticus says, 

 every iugerum of land \vill easily yield 12000 props. 

 For the lengths cut closest to the stump generally 

 supply four stakes when split, and then the second 

 cuts of the same tree yield two ; and this sort of spUt 



' vi fluvias SA : bifluvias a. 



459 



