THE planter's GUIDE. 



21 



only tliree or foui^ feet of the stem standing above ground, 

 it is soon covered from top to bottom with new shoots ; 

 and no part of it appears stunted or hidebound, as such 

 trees usually are in old Olive plantations. 



" The other method of planting is by means of sets, 

 which are formed of stout branches and put into the pits, 

 in a manner similar to that above described. In selecting 

 these, however, care must be taken that they are covered 

 with fresh and tender bark, such as young trees generally 

 produce. It is true, (as he observes,) the sets require 

 much more time than entire trees to arrive at matuiity ; 

 but they become, in the end, not less beautiful and healthy 

 than if they had sprung from plants which were raised in 

 the ordinary manner.^^ 



Notwithstanding this seeming nicety in the Roman 

 practice, and the probability that it might have led to the 

 estabhshment of principles, it is curious enough to per- 

 ceive that the art became retrograde, rather than proges- 

 sive, in the hands of the Romans. PaUadius, who wrote 

 more than a century after Seneca, and nearly two after 

 Varro and Columella, directs, in his work to be done in 

 November, that in transferring large trees all the branches 

 should be cut away previously to their removal, and con- 

 sequently the trees much more defaced and mutilated than 

 after the Greek manner — a precept which seems to be 

 but too faithftilly observed by most planters of the pre- 

 sent day.t 



If we descend, in our investigation, to modern times, we 

 shall not find that any considerable progress has been 

 made in the art beyond the knowledge of the ancient 

 nations. The difficulty of transplanting an old tree stiU 

 remained proverbial ; and Baptista Mantuanus, who 



* Note VIIL 



t Note IX. 



