BOOK V. VI. 5-8 



elm is less flourishing. The elm is preferred by most 

 people, because it both accommodates itself very well 

 to the vine and provides food most acceptable to 

 oxen and flourishes in various kinds of soil. So if it 

 is desired to establish a new plantation, nurseries of 

 elms or ash-trees should be prepared on the system 

 which we have described hereafter ; for poplars are 

 better put straight into the plantation in the form of 

 tree-tops planted in the ground. We will, therefore, 

 prepare the ground with a double mattock where 

 the earth is rich and moderately moist, and in the 

 spring-time, after the soil has been carefully harrowed 

 and broken up, we shall mark it out into beds. We 

 shall then cast upon the beds the elm-seed which 

 will now be of a ruddy colour and has been exposed 

 to the sun for several days, but still retaining some 

 juice and stickiness, and we shall thickly cover the 

 beds all over with the seed and scatter crumbling 

 earth over them with a sieve to the depth of two 

 inches and give them a moderate watering and cover 

 the beds with straw, so that the heads of the plants, 

 when they come up, may not be pecked off by birds. 

 Then, when the plants have crept forth, we shall 

 collect the straw and pull up the weeds by hand — ■ 

 a process which must be carried out gently and 

 carefully, so that the still tender and short little 

 roots of the elms may not be pulled up with the 

 weeds. We shall have the beds themselves planned 

 so as to be so narrow that those who are going to 

 weed them can easily reach to the middle of them 

 with their hands ; for, if they are broader, the 

 seedlings themselves will be trodden upon and receive 

 damage. Then in the summer, before the sun rises 

 or towards evening, the nursery-beds ought to be 



47 



