BOOK V. V. 10-13 



what may be called horns, and thus the whole vine 

 must be spread in a circular form on all sides. The 11 

 method of pruning is the same as for vines which 

 are trained on frames, though it differs in one respect, 

 namely, that instead of longer firm- wood branches 

 stumps with four or five " eyes " are left, and instead 

 of " keepers " " short-cut branches with two " eyes " 

 are formed. Then in the vine which we described 

 as growing to a head, the shoot is pulled off close to 

 the mother-vine right up to the stock, one or two 



eyes " only being left which adhere to the trunk 

 itself. This can be done with safety in well- 12 

 watered and very rich districts when the strength of 

 the earth can supply both fruit and firm-wood. 

 Those who have vineyards formed in this way culti- 

 vate them mainly with ploughs and follow this 

 method of pulling off the arms from the vines, 

 because the heads themselves, having nothing pro- 

 jecting'' from them, are not liable to damage from 

 the plough or from the oxen. For in vines which 

 grow out into arms it generally happens that the 

 small bi'anches are broken off by the legs or horns 

 of the oxen, and often too by the handle of the plough 

 while the careful ploughman is striving to graze the 

 edge of the row with the ploughshare and to cultivate 

 the ground as near as possible to the vines. 



Such then is the cultivation applied to vines 13 

 whether they grow to arms or to a head, before they 

 bud. When they have budded, a digger follows the 

 ploughman and breaks with a hoe the parts which 

 the ploughman could not reach. Then, when the 

 vine puts forth its firm- wood branches, the vine- 

 trimmer follows and clears away the superfluous 

 shoots and allows those which are fruitful to grow ; 



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