BOOK V. IX. 3-6 



sunk into the ground in an inverted position, it will 

 take root with difficulty and, when it has gained 

 more strength, it will be barren for ever. You will 

 have to smear the tops and lower ends of the slips 

 with a mixture of dung and ashes and plunge them 

 completely underground in such a way that there 

 may be four inches of loose earth above them. But the 

 slips should be provided mth two marking-pegs, one 

 on each side ; these are of any kind of wood and are 

 placed a little distance away from the slips and are 

 tied together with a band, so that they may not 

 easily be knocked over separately. It is expedient 

 to do this because of the unobservance of the diggers, 

 so that, when you start tilling your nursery with 

 mattocks or hoes, the slips which you have planted 

 may not be injured. 



Some people think it better to cultivate olive-trees 

 by means of buds and to arrange them by means of 

 a cord on a similar principle ; * but in either case the 

 planting ought to take place after the spring 

 equinox, and during the first year the nursery ought 

 to be hoed over as often as possible. In the follow- 

 ing and subsequent years, when the rootlets of the 

 plants have gained strength, they should be cul- 

 tivated with rakes ; but for the first two years it is 

 best to abstain from pruning, and in the third year 

 two little branches should be left on each plant, and 

 the nursery should be frequently hoed. In the 

 fourth year the weaker of the two branches should 

 be cut away. Thus cultivated the small trees are 

 fit for transplantation in five years. In dry soil and 



" The text here is apparently corrupt beyond emendation : 

 the above is a translation of the reading of the MSS. with one 

 slight change. 



77 



