BOOK V. V. 16-17 



people when dealing with " staked " vines, especially 

 those of the Helvenacan " kind, bury the sprawling 

 shoots, as though they were layers, under the surface 

 of the soil, and then again erect them on reeds and 

 let them grow for fruit-bearing. These our husband- 

 men call viergi (" divers "), while the Gauls call them 

 candosocci (' ' layers ' ') , and they bury them for the simple 

 reason that they think that the earth provides more 

 nourishment for the fruit-bearing whips ; and so after 

 the vintage they cut them off as useless shoots and 

 remove them from the stem. Our advice, however, 

 is that these same rods, when they have been cut 

 away from the mother-vine, should be planted as 

 quick-sets in any vacant spaces in the rows where 

 vines have died or in a new vineyard which anyone 

 wants to establish ; for indeed the parts of the shoots 

 which had been buried have enough roots to take 

 hold immediately if they are put into plant-holes. 



There still remains the cultivation of the vine 17 

 which grows on the ground ; but this should not be 

 undertaken except where the climate is very boister- 

 ous ; for it presents a difficult task for the husband- 

 men and it never produces wine of a generous 

 flavour. Where local conditions admit of this form 

 of cultivation only, a hammer-shoot is put into 

 plant-holes two feet deep. When it has budded, 

 it is reduced to one firm-wood branch ; this in the first 

 year is confined to two " eyes." Then in the 

 following year, when it has put forth a profusion of 

 shoots, one is allowed to grow and the rest are 

 struck off. The shoot which has been allowed to 

 grow, when it has produced fruit, is pruned back to 



« See Book III. 2. 25 : Pliny, N.H. XIV. §§ 32-33; it pro- 

 duced a wine of a pale yellow colour. 



41 



