444 
Pliny's katueal histoey. 
[Book XYII. 
Those trees which are the slowest in bringing their fruits to 
maturity, and require a more prolonged supply of nutriment, 
receive benefit also from late rains, such as the vine, the olive, 
and the pomegranate, for instance. These rains, however, are 
required at different seasons by the different trees, some of 
them coming to maturity at one period and some at another ; 
hence it is that we see the very same rain productive of injury 
to some trees and beneficial to others, even when they are of the 
very same species, as in the pear for instance : for the winter 
pear stands in need of rain at one period, and the early pear at 
another, though at the same time they, all of them, require it 
in an equal degree. "Winter precedes the period of germina- 
tion, and it is this fact that makes the north-east wind more 
beneficial than the south, and renders the parts that lie in the 
interior preferable to those near the coast, — the former being 
generally the coldest, — mountainous districts better than level 
ones, and rain at night better than showers in the day. Vege- 
tation, too, receives a greater degree of benefit from the water 
when the sun does not immediately soak it up. 
Connected, too, with this subject is the question of the best 
situation for planting vines, and the trees which support them. 
VirgiP* condemns a western aspect, while there are some persons, 
again, who prefer it to an easterly one : I find, however, that 
most authors approve of the south, though I do not think that 
any abstract precepts can be given in relation to the point. 
The most careful attention on the part of the cultivator ought 
to be paid to the nature of the soil, the character of the loca- 
lity, and the respective influences of climate. The method ot 
giving to the vine a southern aspect, as practised in Africa and 
* * * * ig injurious to the tree, as well as unhealthy for 
the cultivator, from the very circumstance that the country 
itself lies under a southern meridian : hence it is, that he who 
selects for his plants there a western or a northerly aspect, will 
combine on the most advantageous terms the benefits of soil 
with those of climate. When Yirgil condemns a western aspect, 
there can be no doubt that he includes in his censure a northern 
aspect as well : and yet, in Cisalpine Italy, where most of the 
vineyards have an aspect to the north, it has been found by 
experience that there are none that are more prolific. 
24 Georg. ii. 398. 
25 Taken altogetlier, a southern aspect is preferable to all others. 
