BOOK V. IX. 13-16 



that is, provision is going to be made for a crop of 

 corn." If you are providing only for the olive-trees 14 

 themselves, six pounds of goat's dung or a single 

 viodius of dry dung or a congius of unsalted lees of 

 oil will suffice. The dung ought to be put in during f 

 the autumn, so that, being thoroughly mixed in, it ' 

 may warm the roots of the olive in the winter. The 

 lees of oil should be poured upon those trees which are 

 not thriving very well ; for during the winter, if worms 

 and other creatures have got into them, they are 

 killed by this treatment. Generally too in dry as well 15 

 as in moist places the trees are infested with moss, 

 and unless you scrape it off with an iron instrument, 

 the olive-tree will not put forth fruit or an abundance 

 of leaves. Moreover, the olive-grove must be pruned 

 at intervals of several years; for it is well to re- 

 member the old proverb " He who ploughs the olive- 

 grove, asks it for fruit; he who manures it, begs for 

 fruit ; he who lops it, forces it to yield fruit." How- 

 ever, it will suffice to have pruned it every eighth 

 year, so that the fruit-bearing branches may not be 

 from time to time cut off. 



It happens also frequently that, though the trees 16 

 are thriving well, they fail to bear fruit. It is a good 

 plan to bore them with a Gallic auger and to put 

 tightly into the hole a green slip taken from a wild 

 olive-tree ; the result is that the tree, being as it were 

 impregnated with fruitful offspring, becomes more pro- 



" I.e. if corn is being sown between the olive-trees. 



^* formem SAac. 



" viridam talem SA : viridem talem ac. 



^* partem dimitti Aac : parte dimitti S. 



85 



