BOOK V. VIII. 6-ix. 3 



bare gravel : for, although it does not die in this kind 7 

 of soil, yet it never acquires strength. It can, how- 

 ever, be planted on corn-land or where the straw- 

 berry-tree or holm-oak have stood ; for the ordinary 

 oak, even if it has been cut down, leaves behind roots 

 harmful to the olive-grove, the poison from which 

 kills the olive. So much for general remarks on this 

 type of tree as a whole ; I will now describe its cultiva- 

 tion in detail. 



IX. A nursery for your olive-grove should be pre- Nurseries 



J *» " -*■ _ for olivG" 



pared under the open sky on land which is moderately trees. 

 strong and juicy with soil which is neither dense nor 

 loose but rather broken up. This kind of soil generally 

 consists of black earth. When you have trenched it to 

 the depth of three feet and surrounded it with a deep 

 ditch, so that the cattle may have no access to it, 

 allow the ground to loosen up. Then take from 

 the most fruitful trees tall and flourishing young 

 branches, such as the hand can grasp when it takes 2 

 hold of them — that is to say of the thickness of a 

 handle — and cut off from these the freshest slips in 

 such a way as not to injure the bark or any other part 

 except where the saw has made its cut. This is quite 

 easy if you have first made a forked support and 

 protect with hay or straw the part above which you 

 are going to cut the branch, so that the slips which 

 are placed in the fork may be severed gently without 

 any damage to their bark. The slips then should be 3 

 cut to the length of a foot and a half with the saw, 

 and their wounds at each end smoothed with a 

 pruning-knife and marked with ruddle, in order that 

 the portion of the branch may be properly placed 

 in the position which the branch had occupied on the 

 tree, and with its top towards the sky ; for, if it is 



75 



