462 
Pliny's xatukal histoey. [Book XVII. 
seasoned with smoke, and then steeped in urine, preparatory 
to sowing.^"^ Some persons put them in baskets of osier, and 
tread them down with the feet in running water, until the 
outer skin is removed, as it is found that the moisture^^ which 
they contain is detrimental to them, and prevents them from 
germinating. A trench is then dug, about a palm in depth, 
and somewhere about twenty of the berries are then put into 
it, being laid in a heap : this is usually done in the month of 
March. These kinds of laurel admit of being propagated 
from layers also ; but the triumphaP^ laurel can be reproduced 
from cuttings only. 
All the varieties of the myrtle^^ are produced in Campania 
from the berry only, but at E-ome from layers. Democritus, 
however, says that the Tarentine myrtle may be re-produced 
another way.^^ They take the largest berries and pound them 
lightly so as not to crush the pips : with the paste that is thus 
made a rope is covered, and put lengthwise in the ground ; 
the result of which is that a hedge is formed as thick as a wall, 
with plenty of slips for transplanting. In the same way, too, 
they plant brambles to make a hedge, by first covering a rope 
of rushes with a paste made of bramble-berries. In case of 
necessity, it is possible at the end of three years to transplant 
the suckers of the laurel and the myrtle that have been thus 
re-produced. 
With reference to the plants that are propagated from seed, 
Mago treats at considerable length of the nut-trees — he says 
that the almond^^ should be sown in a soft argillaceous earth, 
upon a spot that looks towards the south^ — that it thrives also 
in a hard, warm soil, but that in a soil which is either unctuous 
or moist, it is sure to die, or else to bear no fruit. He recom- 
mends also for sowing those more particularly which are of a 
curved shape like a sickle, and the produce of a young tree, 
2'^ These methods of preparation are no longer employed. 
28 It is for this reason, as already stated, that they should be sown at 
once. 
29 See B. XV. c. 39. He there calls it sterilis," barren." 
30 See B. XV. c. 37. The myrtle reproduces itself in its native countiies 
with great facility, but in such case the flowers are only single. "Where a 
double flower is required, it is grown from layers. 
3^ No better, Fee says, than the ordinary method of making a myrtle 
hedge. 
The almond requires a dry, light earth, and a southern aspect. 
